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 ?

I personally would not replace and drain this used Amsoil SS 5W30 oil at 15000 km or below , instead I would attempt to run till 20,000 km or thereabout as I had no qualms running up to 17,000 km with oils like semisyn Total 10W40, fully synthetic in Shell Ultra 5W40 and Mobil 1 0W40 .

This Amsoil is a very 'powerful' oil with OEM approvals from GM/Ford/Honda and being A5B5 with huge doses of Molybdenum and Boron as per a 2019 VOA attached below .

As your OCI 'comfort' level is probably not as high as mine , for a start you may consider 2000-3000 km extra over your 'record' OCI km and verify with Blotter Spot Test .



Edit :You may refer to Post #1 for VOAs' of other oils .

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 30 2020, 06:10 PM

Do you recommend changing oil filter in between long intervals or buying a more expensive oil filter (for eg. K&N/Amsoil/etc.)?

Hi e-lite ,

I do not buy into the marketing on 'undoubtedly' super duper qualities of boutique oil filter (ignore air filters for now as you are refering to oil filters ) brands like K&N/Amsoil etc (my apology to related fan crowds out there yeah) not that it is inferior or fake or whatnot , but I am not concerned about 'better quality' of boutique oil filters in the context of 'conventional' wisdom in replacing oil filters at every 2 oil changes of 5000 km , totaling 10,000 km in my Avanza/Mitsubishi wira recommendation .

In newer Asian models where OEM recommends OCI of 10,000 km , I expect some (not sure) OEM recommends oil filter change at every oil change , meaning oil filter life is still 10,000 km .

I would love to learn from you readers where 20,000 km oil filter life is recommended (at 2 X 10,000 km OCI) for I really don't know for a fact in local OEM practice .

Hence, my Avanza/wira RM12 cheapo oil filter provided by my mechanic (whose oil filter brand recommendation that I entrusted him to ) has all along been progressively replaced at 2 X 6000 km ;
> then 2 X 8000 km ;
> then 2 X 10,000 km totalling 20,000 km oil filter life .

However, for now I do not manage to convince my mechanic on 2 X 15,000 km oil filter change/life but settle and stay at 1 time 15,000 - 17000 km .

My assessments above are based on various foreign (U.S and Russia) UOA's vis-a-vis metal wear limits set by UOA laboratories and images/photos of various Blotter Spot Tests .

Note: I had not considered here European OEM's oil filter life recommendatons , thus far .


Edit: On the bold above , I am prepared to discuss further with readers on my logics or line of thinking , not with a view of challenging one's position or preferences or bias or decision etc .
This discusssion would be meaningful if it is specific to a particular unit oil filter with published and known 'enhanced quality specifications' such as micron size ratings/filtering efficiencies etc vs that of general RM12 oil filter .

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 31 2020, 12:14 PM

Mobil 1 New Life 0W40 (Tesco) MB229.5
Oil Life : 12,367 km (72 hour blotter)
ODO :306,197 km in
Car model: Toyota Avanza 1.3L
Engine: K3VE Multi Port Injection
Added some 100 mL of graphited engine oil



A light gray centre zone but not darkerned indicates quite low level of combustion by-products .

Absence of darkened perimeter ring/aureole zone surrounding centre zone indicates no agglomeration of dirt/carbons and detergency/dispersancy capability in tip top conditions .

Generally light coloured and transparent diffusion zone indicating low levels of dirt/carbon/contaminants .

Exterior jagged edge not as darked as like before , indicating absence/low levels of water moisture .

Outermost translucent zone/halo seems no sign of fuel dilution .

Intended to go on for another few thousand km .

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 2 2020, 01:27 PM

Mizu 5w30 fully syn
Oil Life : 2582km (3 hour blotter) - 2 Dec 2019
ODO : 196252 km
Car model: Perodua Myvi 1.3L