This 7000 km blotter of Perodua SS 5W30 SM gold bottle looks good to me.
Yes, blotter spot test has its limitations. Hence I try to be consistent using the same type of paper, with the same 'steps' of making an oil drop, wait for 48/72 hours to take pictures ..... under similar lighting conditions if possible.

This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 30 2018, 09:05 PM

Actually using the same piece of paper for the blotter test.
And from observation, 24/48 hrs no diff to my naked eyes

i found interesting post here, let's discuss as i have been in auto industry for more than 10 years. it's interesting that nowadays engine oil can last for more than 20,000km easily. anyway the SC or general workshop still recommending the old ways of OCI such as Mineral for 5K, Semi 8K and Fully 10K.

and our Malaysia market is so fussed/obsessed about the word SEMI and FULLY. actually is a same oil!..the oil marketer making tonnes of monies by selling SEMI and FULLY labelled oils.

i only changed my engine oil every 20K or 6 months without blotter test as for the past 10 years. transmission oil even longer...... last change was 3 years ago.

Malaysia driving environment relatively clean. so 20K no problems at all with FILTON RM 5.00 oil filter.

i prefer stick to SL grade as mentioned at 1st post due to as API SL grade tends to have higher ZDDP and calcium comparing to SM or SN grade..

opted for higher OCI, go for SL grade. wont be wrong. We have no air pollution regulations here, so guess what, some of the cars are even without catalytic converter. go for it !

to have higher OCI, the base oil composition is pretty damn important rather than additives itself.

This post has been edited by joshuaa85: May 1 2018, 12:31 AM

Bitog on Honda Full Synthetic 0W30 from Malaysia

8k km oil. Got it changed as I normally change oil around this mileage.
Looks not much diff from 7k km. Maybe a little darker.


Attached thumbnail(s)

This 8000 km Perodua SS 5W30 SM oil doesn't look spent, as there isn't an obvious clear centre ring, indicating oil dispersancy property is still strong.

This post has been edited by zeng: May 15 2018, 04:41 PM

Think photo a little blur. It's not sharp. Poor camera. The black centre ring was obvious in previous oil drop at 6k km.

Felt so much smoother after oil change. Maybe psycho effect. It won't last long though.

This post has been edited by ahsam1212: May 15 2018, 10:16 PM

Bardahl MXP 5W-40 FS
173,191 km mileage
4,322 km usage
Livina 1.6 NA
Photo at 48 hours

Any comments?

Hi Bro,
at 4322 km , this Bardahl MXP FS 5W40 shows very light grey in 'outer' zones as there is absence of centre zone.
Outermost zones indicates certain fuel dilution or regular cold short trips.
Good serviceable used oil still with a lot of life in it, I suppose.
I personally won't replace this oil anytime soon though.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 2 2018, 10:17 AM

Hi zeng,
Thank you the comments. Seem like this oil is decent. Mechanic recommends the mainstream brands though.

Usually change oil at 7000 to 8000km intervals. Shortened the interval (from 10000km) coz oil loss (about 1L, top up from min to max) around 5000 to 6000km mileage. Yearly mileage approximately 9000km.

This post has been edited by putra23: Jun 4 2018, 09:44 AM

Bro zeng, taken after short ride 15 mins from pasar, 4k km, 4 months oil. Pic taken after 24 hours.

Any comments is welcomed.

Going to switch to aisin as per recommended but I have another bottle of this in stock. Will finish it up and continue take sample for the other bros reference




Attached thumbnail(s)

Hi Bro,
In relation to the previous 3000 km blotter, this 4000 km blotter stronger colour in dark yellowish with a bit of dark greying in the centre/diffusion zones ....... indicating current oil has higher level than before of dirt,contaminants etc which is normal phenomenon as oil is in use longer time.

This 4000 km HMGO oil sample is more coloured or more yellowish, and appears weaker then most other samples of equivalent km ....... may mean that engine condition may not be as clean , say for example caused by prolonged short trip operation. It may not indicate poor quality of HMGO per se as any blotter spot we are reading is a result of:
a)other than quality of engine oil in use;
b)clean/dirty internal condition of engine and its ignition system; and
c)how a vehicle is operated as frequent short trips vs 200-300 km outstation trips once a while etc.

Before magnifying/enlarging picture, the blotter shows a faint shape of centre zone area, but there is no clear sharp coloured perimeter ring(or line or annulus) yet .... indicating this 4000 km oil is still good to use.

How centre zone area and how centre perimeter ring/annulus develops is what we want to pay special attention to, for it shows various stages of the on-set of dispersancy breakdown (which is not the case with this 4000 km yet), going on to the complete breakdown of dispersancy (which all of us doesn't want to reach that stage for engine protection).

At the end of the day, I'm not really recommending you Aisin over HGMO yet but it's good to compare with blotter spot tests as a tool ...... vis-a-vis methods like using gut-feeling speculation preference talk etc.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 8 2018, 09:05 AM

-delete-

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 8 2018, 09:04 AM

Agree with what you have said. This is just one of the tools to check. at the end of the day, it might not be accurate but this is for reference only.

I always have short trip. my office is just 12-15km away, with lotsa jam, that took almost an hour to reach. only have long distance trip on NSE a few months once.

yeah. it might not do justice to the HGMO, if my engine condition is not good, that's why I wanted to try aisin as comparison too.

Hi All

This is my test in my KTM RC390 motorcycle fuel injected. The oil is Mobil Delvac MX only has 740km track time or 20 hours on it.

Is my blotter test worrying as I suspect severe fuel dilution in oil. I can smell fuel in the oil also

This post has been edited by e-lite: Jun 16 2018, 12:14 PM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Hi Elite,

This Mobil Delvac MX 15W40 (can you confirm please?) blotter generally has 3 zones namely:
a)Quite a large area of (elongated) centre zone that is surrounded by a faint shape of grey-coloured perimeter ring:-
This centre zone is very mildly grey or dark coloured indicating quite a small/mild amount of contaminants like soots, combustion by-products, dirt etc
The engine combustion system seems good to me.

b)Relatively small area of intermediate 'diffusion' zone indicating additional capacity to absord more contaminants from the system if any;and

c)Relatively large area of outer-most (fuel dilution) zone indicating a large amount of low viscosity light density oil (gasoline fuel in this case) are being spread outwards, away from the centre zone. It also means a higher level of fuel dilution in this blotter spot test.

Is this fuel dilution severe ? Well, compared to other blotter spot samples here, it's more serious or extensive.
However looking at its contaminant levels in centre and intermediate zones, I would interpret the fuel dilution as not detrimental to the continuing service of this oil sample at 740 km 20 hour track time.
By the way, what's OEM recommendation on oil change interval in km or hour track time ?

The virgin KV100C of this Delvac MX 15W40 is 15.5 cSt, and it may have dropped by as much as up to 20% as a result of fuel dilution. However the blotter spot indicates acceptable level of contaminants (with capacity to absorb more contaminants) , hence personally I won't be replacing this used oil.

Heck, I have zero experience on motorcycle oil thing btw.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 18 2018, 03:03 PM

Thanks for your response. I fully agree with you. As the oil mileage is only 740km, soot levels/blackness is acceptable.

OEM recommendation is 5000km intervals.

I changed out my used oil already because I was worried. I was going to run for 1800km initially. Anyways Mobil Delvac MX is only RM11 per liter and my motorcycle only takes 1.6 liter.

I'll take a sample again after next trackday to monitor again. Thanks zeng

This post has been edited by e-lite: Jun 18 2018, 04:39 PM

Dear zeng,
Appreciate your opinion on this 48-hr blotter spot image. Thank you.

Car make: Nissan AD RESORT 1.6L (Carburetor)
Engine oil: Petro-Canada Duron SHP 15w40
Oil mileage: 11,145 km
Engine total mileage : 295,388 km
Driving condition: 90% stop-go , 4-5 times engine on/off daily

Hi chemistry,
This 48 hr blotter spot has a very large centre zone , but without a clear ,dark-coloured perimeter ring around the centre zone (which is a good news) indicating a very potent or strong dispersancy (and detergency) capability typical of a modern HDEO diesel oil.
Btw, this PC Duron SHP 15W40 is a semi-synthetic HDEO with ultra high specifications in CK4,E9, ECF-3, other than dual rated SN.
The rather grey colour of the centre zone indicates quite an amount of combustion by-products and contaminants etc in this 11,145 km used oil sample from a carburrettor old tech engine.
The intermediate diffusion zone is good and clear.
However, I find it interesting for being unable to 'see' the outermost transparent zone surrounding the jagged edges, indicating near zero fuel dilution despite your claim of 90% stop & go traffic condition.
It appears to me this engine is very well maintained.
This used oil sample appears to be serviceable for probably another 1500-3000 km , IMHO or speculation.

Dear Zeng,
Many thanks for your detailed explanation. This engine has been using Duron semi synthetic for at least 5 times (each interval 10-15k km) so I suppose I treat it not bad haha, meanwhile many other AD RESORT owners already start using mineral oil with 5k interval practice.
Good to know that fuel dilution is not present (or negligible perhaps).
The engine is still running strong and quiet despite fuel consumption at the high side caused by frequent start-stop and stop-go as well as "nature" of a carburetor. I could not ask for more, really.