Very good blotter spot without any structures , which is very good news .

There is absence of centre zone/centre core (of about 8 mm diameter) indicating cleaniness of used oil .

Absence of perimeter ring (of about 10 mm diameter) indicates complete absence of agglomeration of dirt or combustion by-products , which is at super low levels if any .

The diffusion zone (of about 32-35 mm outer diameter) is clean and light yellowish coloured ,showing low levels of contaminants within the used oil .Detergency and dispersancy properties are in top shape .

There is also absence of water moisture and fuel dilution phenomenon .

Generally , everything is very normal and this Amsoil SS 5W30 still has plenty of life to go on .

This post has been edited by zeng: May 27 2020, 12:18 PM

many thanks for bro zeng explanations
planned to run on 15,000km to check on oil life span
will come back again on 7000km

hi bro zeng, can u help me on this? syntium 800 10-40 running 1k only, notice very little white smoke coming from exhaust even after engine warm up, verry worried on this



This post has been edited by OvenBaked: May 27 2020, 02:24 PM

Hi,
What is the engine model type and odometer in km ?
48 hour of blotter spot ?
Do you have white/blue smoke in first engine start in the morning and engine oil level is dropping ?

White smoke means water moisture and blue smoke means engine oil burning .

Campro VVT, odo 67k km, smoke coming even after long journey on hot day, notice no engine oil lose, maybe so little hard to notice, but everytime i check even in the morning the level is ok


blotter test after 48hour

There is absence of darkened centre zone/core and perimeter ring , which is a good news .

Diffusion zone is of slightly grayish, quite a 'surprise' to me for a 1k km used oil with 67k km Odometer .

No sign of water moisture . This is typical of low usage oil .

There is slight indication of fuel dilution phenomenon . Is this blotter spot test sample taken after short drive of < say, 15 minutes ?

Overall, this 1k km used oil is still in good shape and fit for further use IMO .

Not knowing much about Campro engine 'characteristics' , the smoke you claim to observe could not be from water .

Logic suggests the smoke could be related to engine oil consumption , it could also be due to incomplete fuel combustion/ignition system which is unlikely with quite 'new' engine life ,but then you may have fuel dilution issue here .

Smell of the exhaust gas and engine oil level drop/increase at 5000/10000 km usage may give some clue . IDK .

This post has been edited by zeng: May 29 2020, 01:26 PM

but engine oil with detergent will clean the engine, thus the oil might look darker in colour, but the properties are still good, or maybe more superior

Yes taken sample after a short drive, guess tuner didnt tune my car right, gonna rebuild and retune back soon, thanks bro zeng!

Why the need to spend big $$$ on unnecessary rebuild ?

Blotter spot sampling after a short drive could contribute to the fuel halo/fuel dilution signs .

The tuner may have done it right as intended , but surely elimination of fuel dilution may not be part of the requirement of the selected tuning .

Already contact the tuner, suspect piston ring worn out or valve seal, maybe he run too much on the dyno, pushing the engine to the limit

gonna rebuilt and do big upgrade on the internal part hehe

Hi all,

My car low mileage daily now. 3k km since Feb. Town driving mostly due to change of workplace, previously 80km daily.

Now thought of reverting to cheap mineral i.e Helix 15w40/ GTX 15w40. Sufficient protection?

Car's total mileage around 230k, Campro engine. Change say every 6-8 months ok?

Any 15W40 would offer even stronger (or thicker) oil film thickness protection than any 0W/5W-40 or 0W/5W30 with quite similar additive package .
Yes, you get higher level of protection relatively .
I would prefer one with a stronger European specs ACEA A3/B3 found in Helix 15W40 , not sure about GTX though .
6-8 months oil change ? From blotter spot tests performance , I personaly see no problem with up to 12 months or 8000-9000 km in a typical mineral engine oil .
You can test and observe with blotters and evaluate , free of charge and convenient .

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 7 2020, 09:35 AM

My old school mech has been using HX5 15w40 for the longest time I serviced with him before he retired. Always added one tin Bardahl B1 and he mentioned can stretch more than 5k kms. Guess there is some truth in his words. Next round change I would post some blotter test here.

First time doing the blotter spot test...

Car model: Myvi D20N
Engine: 2NR-VE
EO: Perodua 0W20
ODO: ~43K km
Oil mileage: ~6161km


Upon dropping after approx. 20min of driving


After 48hr


After 72hr

This post has been edited by Blank19: Jul 14 2020, 10:50 PM

Hi Bro ,

Sorry for the delayed response . Was busy last few days .

This 6161 km blotter of Perodua is free of structures meaning good news as the oil is quite clean and very minimal harmful debris or combustion contaminants .

Basing on picture outer diameter of 54 mm (as equivalent to 32 or 33 mm OD in original blotter sample in your hand) after a right click , the 13 diameter size of deposit/centre zone is kind of absent from blotter and generally not opaque or darkened with mild transparency . It means the 6161 km sample has very low levels of soot and no coagulation of combustion carbon debris within the used oil .

The perimeter ring or aureole zone in annulus shape between Diameters 13 mm size and 16 mm size is sort of absent too as the annulus is not darkened . It means the dispersancy/detergency properties of the used oil has not begun to breakdown and is still in top performance condition .

The dispersion zone between Diameters 16 mm and 54 mm size is very slightly grayish (and not very darkened) indicating very low levels of oil oxidation and minimal oxidised carbon contaminants which are very well dispersed by the used oil and its additive .

External to the 54 mm outer diameter of this blotter is the fuel dilution zone , which appears to be absent as there is no circular halo around it , meaning there is no problem of petrol fuel dilution in your Myvi engine .

There is also absence of darkened starburst jagged-look shape 'annulus' around the 54 mm diameter size outer edge indicating your used oil sample is very free of water moisture content , which is another good news .

As usual , there is absence of glycol/coolant in the used oil sample .

Hence, this used Perodua 0W20 oil at mileage 6161 km usage still has plenty of life left for you to carry on , IMHO .

Attached below here, the green rectangles represent my interpretation of this 6161 km oil sample .


This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 16 2020, 05:13 PM

No worries at all and thanks for the detailed analysis bro zeng.
These would be a good reference for the next blotter test when the oil is approaching the "recommended" 10k OCI

It is good practice to compare blotter spot test images as the oil usage is in progress , to learn and 'feel' how the used oil is deteriorating with use , extended or otherwise .

Assuming your intended OCI is 10K km , it makes good sense for the benefit of other readers here to share samples at 8000ish km mileage and subsequently a day or two before 10K mileage oil change day and upload here accordingly as part of 'learning' for all on oil life deterioration/progression from real life cases .

Edit: By the way , you could go to Post #1 of this thread for links to other blotter spot images of different km mileage, same or different engine and other different oil brands and viscosity grades , to have a feel of comparative relative performance of your set of engine oil/engine model vis-a-vis all others .

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 17 2020, 10:35 AM

Honda City GM2 year 2009
Current Odo : 128,730
Date: 28/07/2020
Blotter time : 10:00am (picture after 24hrs)
oil age : 6,912km
Engine oil used : Amsoil Signature Series 5w30




Photo after 48hrs

This post has been edited by 90Boyz: Jul 30 2020, 09:23 AM

Hi Bro ,
There is absence of both dark centre/deposit zone and darkened aureole perimeter ring , also known as 'no structures' of several circular rings , which are good news in pristine condition of this 6912 km used oil .

Across the slightly grayish diffussion zone indicates a mild or low level of contaminants/debris/soot .

Absence of external jagged brown edge may mean absence of water moisture content .

There appears no fuel dilution problem .

This 6912 km Amsoil used oil is serviceable for a while , IMHO .

Thanks bro Zeng for the explanation
Just to ask this oil in your opinion what mileage it can goes ?