Here is my returned engine oil analysis from Blackstone Laboratories ... 6,779 miles on this sample, total milage: 20,506 miles, using Mobil 1 5W20 synthetic oil with a Mobile 1 oil filter M 1- 110 ...
"We normally consider a new engine to be past wear-in in about 10,000 miles, but sometimes it takes longer then that. Most wear has settled into nice, low levels, though silicon is lingering a little high. It should come down with the next couple of oil changes. The TBN (Total Base Number) read 2.5, so you're getting low on active additive. We consider a reading of 1.0 or lower to be too low. Insolubles ( oil oxidation due to heat, use and blow-by) were normal at 0.4%, showing good oil filtration and complete combustion. Looking good! Stay at 6,500 to 7,000 miles for now."
SUS VISCOSITY @ 210* F should be:53 - 62 Tested values were: 53.7
FLASHPOINT IN *F " >355 " 360
FUEL % " <2.0 " <0.5
ANTIFREEZE % " 0 " 0.0
WATER % " <0.1 " 0.0
INSOLUBLES % " <0.6 " 0.4

Silicon Level: This oil change: 17 First oil change: 131 Universal Averages: 9
Aluminum: " 5 " 12 " 5
Chromium: " 4 " 3 " 1
Iron: " 21 " 3 " 54
Lead: " 1 " 3 " 1
Molybdenum: " 67 " 385 " 71

Here is my returned engine oil analysis from Blackstone Laboratories ... 6,779 miles on this sample, total milage: 20,506 miles, using Mobil 1 5W20 synthetic oil with a Mobile 1 oil filter M 1- 110 ...
"We normally consider a new engine to be past wear-in in about 10,000 miles, but sometimes it takes longer then that. Most wear has settled into nice, low levels, though silicon is lingering a little high. It should come down with the next couple of oil changes. The TBN (Total Base Number) read 2.5, so you're getting low on active additive. We consider a reading of 1.0 or lower to be too low. Insolubles ( oil oxidation due to heat, use and blow-by) were normal at 0.4%, showing good oil filtration and complete combustion. Looking good! Stay at 6,500 to 7,000 miles for now."
SUS VISCOSITY @ 210* F should be:53 - 62 Tested values were: 53.7
FLASHPOINT IN *F " >355 " 360
FUEL % " <2.0 " <0.5
ANTIFREEZE % " 0 " 0.0
WATER % " <0.1 " 0.0
INSOLUBLES % " <0.6 " 0.4

Silicon Level: This oil change: 17 First oil change: 131 Universal Averages: 9
Aluminum: " 5 " 12 " 5
Chromium: " 4 " 3 " 1
Iron: " 21 " 3 " 54
Lead: " 1 " 3 " 1
Molybdenum: " 67 " 385 " 71

Awesome post Nick, Very good news they agree with the trucks computer to go 6,500 to 7,000 miles. Thanks buddy.

Ron (5S Dude)

What I like about the Blackstone Laboratories engine oil analysis is that this is done by a group of professionals who have no agenda to please a company with a good report on their company products. After all the discusion in here on oil types and oil filters, I think this analysis should show the results of a good oil filter and a even better oil. Notice the report states that wear-in is still in process at over 20,000 miles. In my case, I can "back-up" my reasoning...

sorry !! I don't understand Greek:D but I take it that its a good report.
does it mean that there is an advantage of using synthetic as far as engine wear is concerned? because the same interval is recommended for dine oil change.is it not?
can someone translate it in simple English for someone like me who has never seen an oil report before...please:)

What a great post. Thank you for the info. Hubby says that he has heard of Blackstone and all positive. Personally, I don't think one can go wrong with going with/by HAL. Thanks for sharing.

Which 6779 miles? When did you switch to Mobil 1?

6700, 7500, my service light just came on and I only have 5200 miles. I don't think that I should be concerned, just curious why mine came on so early as compared to some of your trucks. OBTW I use the truck to commute back and forth to work and Home Depot, etc. No off road stuff or abuse in any way.

6700, 7500, my service light just came on and I only have 5200 miles. I don't think that I should be concerned, just curious why mine came on so early as compared to some of your trucks.
That's the beauty of Maintenance Minder. It calculates the intervals based on how each truck is driven. It would be nothing more than a glorified oil change sticker if it simply told all of us to change oil every x miles/x months. :)

My <15% came on at 5200, which is probably on low mile side of what others are seeing, but I attribute it to 90% stop and go driving at less than 40 mph. I too have just switched to Mobil 1 5-20 at my first oil change at 5400 miles and now have about 6200 total on the truck. Very little difference in gas mileage if any has been noticed in first 3 fill ups after oil change and also little to no difference in performance with the synthetic on board. It ran smoothly with initial dino and continues to do so after synthetic change over. Those expecting miracles after a switch to synthetic should temper their dreams and deal with the good facts that synthetic will give added protection in extreme conditions, but not much advantage in every day driving. I noticed that your Moly number has come in at low end of scale and I have read many times in this forum that Moly number would be wise to try and keep higher on scale. have others with analysis seen different readings with other brands of oil?

Good to know. I'll be switching to Mobil 1 (EP) or Amsoil at 5k miles and begin my Blackstone analysis as well at that point. I'm curious to know where my changes should be at. For me it's not just the added protection with synth, it's the extended intervals. I'm also going to look into a bypass filter *Amsoil*, no idea if they have plans to make one for this truck.

Thanks Nicholas, I've been anticipating your report. I have your first analysis in front of me that was taken with the factory fill (dino) at 6,863 miles. That was a good report but it too showed a rather low TBN level (1.2). I would expect this from dino oil going nearly 7000 miles. The current report, with about the same number of miles, shows a little better TBN of 2.5, which is good but I thought would have been even greater with synthetic. Most synthetics should be able to go to nearly 10,000 miles under normal driving conditions but that is streatching it.

For those that are wondering, TBN refers to the amount of active additive your oil has left. The higher the number, the more punch your oil has and the better the protection (1.0 is considered low by Blackstone). This is one reason why I like to use LC20 with my oil. It extends the useability or life of the oil out to where the monitor usually kicks in (for most people that seems to be between 6,000-7,000 miles). Most dino looses a lot of its life around the 5,000 mile mark. In fact, LubeControl shows reports where dino oil along with their product extends the useable life of the oil to 10,000 miles - synthetic like performance - which one expects from an ester based product. In any event, you will seldom see a report back from Blackstone that suggests going 10,000 miles or more with any oil, including synthetic.

Engine wear is not a concern as it is still new, and, as they pointed out, should stabilize with the next couple analysis. Perhaps these engines just are slow to "break-in". The decrease in your moly count comes from the fact that MobilOne does not have a lot of moly in its virgin state and the assembly lubes, which supposedly accounted for the high moly content (385 units) of your first report, have now been pretty much depleted. I think moly is important as an engine wears (just my opinion but I think Honda agrees) and that is why I recently changed oil (6008 miles) and replaced it with Havoline 5w20, which has the highest moly additive of any oil I know (except Redline).

But moly is not an end all and there are many great oils that contain little if any moly at all, including MobilOne. Although I do not have in front of me the moly content of virgin MobilOne 5w20, I do have it for 0w20 and it is 82 units. The 5w20 should not be too different in this regard. Havoline 5w20 comes out of the bottle with a wopping 406 units of moly. How this translates to engine wear and overall protection of either oil can not be determined at this early a stage in a motor's life. A couple more UOAs and the trend should be more clear. I intend to have a UOA performed by Blackstone (with input by Terry Dyson) at some point with my Havoline. To compare that with yours will be interesting, especially when the LC20 is factored in.

I agree with Ridge that the monitor seems accurate and does indeed suggest oil change intervals that mirror individual driving habits. I also agree that synthetic oil provides better and longer protection overall and, as Bill said, synthetic certainly protects better under certain, specific conditions but I too am not sure that it is that much better than dino under most normal conditions. I do not plan on using it because of my driving conditions and habits - for me, it would be a waste of money, especially since I plan on getting a new Ridgeline every 50,000 miles (about 5 years for me). This of course is subject to change once I get my UOA. If I find the monitor is lying to me or the engine just does not like the oil I am using, I will change in a heart beat.

Overall, I think this is a good report and you should be able to use this oil and filter combo for the life of the truck with no problem whatsoever. Having said that, watch the silicon level which seem a little high as Blackstone pointed out. MobileOne oils have between 3 and 5 units of silicon out of the bottle and Havoline has 1. Therefore, neither should impact a great deal on a the final total. In fact, no oil really impacted on this count during your first analysis. Rather, that high figure was most likely due to the first use of sealers and sand-casted parts (which is just what Blackstone reported to you the first time around).

My <15% came on at 5200, which is probably on low mile side of what others are seeing, but I attribute it to 90% stop and go driving at less than 40 mph.
As a point of reference, my odometer was at 5,869 when the OLM hit the 15% mark. I jumped the gun and had the first oil change done at this time because I didn't want to wait until after my holiday travels. Approximately 3,000-3,500 of those miles were the result of two long trips (Interstate highways) under heavy load. The rest was local stop and go traffic. It will be interesting to see when it hits 15% under my normal driving conditions (local stop and go). I'm now running Havoline dino 5W-20 because it's been said many times that it contains a large dose of the moly that our engines apparently crave. <shrug>

With that said...

After reading the oil discussions on this forum and on BITOG, I'm under the impression that at least 95% of us could run any brand of oil that meets the API specs required by Honda and never experience any negative consequences.

Can someone please print out the original report again. It would be a helpful source doc to keep handy. Thanks.

Thank you ShortSpark!!! Yours was the best explantation of my oil anaylsis as I understand it. For those interested, go to the Blackstone Laboratories website and spend a few minutes reading it...it will help explain a few questions that some of you all have. I believe that the real "secret" is to change oil and oil filter (why would you leave a pint or so of dirty oil in the engine by not changing the oil filter at the same time as you change oil?) when the oil moniter determines it is time due to the engine conditions (engine starts - rpm's - timed intervals - etc.). We all paid a fair sum for our vehicles and I hope that most of us want to care for them as best as possible (at least I know I want to).
By the way, not here to try selling synthetic or dino oil for that matter...just to share some information with those who want to compare...nothing more. Do find it interesting that some of the top vehicle manufactures in the world are now using synthetic oil as intial factory fills. Most avaition engines also use synthetic oil asdo our electric generators here in this plant (torn down every four years understand these units spin at 3,600 rpm, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

Can someone post their opinion as to where I'm at. I changed the oil at 3,000 miles and replaced with dino and "SLICK 50". Did I screw up? Am I ok?
I'll digest all input and go on from there. Thanks in advance.

(why would you leave a pint or so of dirty oil in the engine by not changing the oil filter at the same time as you change oil?)
"I've heard" that a filter becomes more efficient with use since, for lack of better terminology, the trapped particles tighten the weave. Of course if this is true, there would be a point of diminishing returns, as the filter would eventually become too clogged to function as it should. I'm not saying that I believe it (I change oil and filter each time) but it's just something else to muddy the water in the decision-making process. <shrug> :confused:

We all paid a fair sum for our vehicles and I hope that most of us want to care for them as best as possible (at least I know I want to).
Amen! I'd like to discover the sweet spot between necessary and overkill so that I can attain adequate protection without wasting money. :)

By the way, not here to try selling synthetic or dino oil for that matter...just to share some information with those who want to compare...nothing more.
I appreciate your analysis reports, Nicholas, and I thank you for sharing them. :)

Brookynboy, you probably changed out a bit early at 3,000. It is debateable and probably will be by the oil hobbyists on this forum if you lost any of the "benefits" of leaving the break-in oil in engine for the full time frame of 5000 to 7500 interval the computer believes was specified for your driving style. The Monitor life reading at the time you changed out is an important part of the "benefit" you forfeited. If you were at 70% at 3000 then you probably will have lost some good breakin effect, but if you were at 30% you probably got most of the effect. That being said, listen to the moinitor from now on and use quality oil products going forward and be aware that changing the oil early and resetting your monitor has also affected the timing of future messages you are expected to receive for other maintenance items that are now going to come quicker than you need to perform them. Look through the forum here for some recent postings on the recommended maintenance schedules for non-oil changes and live inside those guidelines.

Ridged, as far as the extra money...I really don't think that should play into the decision. 5 quarts of Synthetic costs $10-$15 more than dino these days (about double the cost), but over say 100,000 miles at 6,700 miles/oil change over a 5-10 year period, that's only about $150 - $200 more, or $20 - $40 per year. That doesn't seem like it should be an issue.
I agree that the amount is trivial but if nothing is actually gained, I can use the $20-$40 for something else, like CDs to listen to while driving my Ridge. We all have our own comfort level when it comes to maintenance and that is the ultimate factor. :)

One question I have, since the Havoline dino sounds good according to your reports (as more informed people), is if I already switched to Synthetic at first oil change, is there anything wrong with switching back to the Havoline in the future??
I'm certainly no expert but I've heard that it won't hurt a thing. It might be critical if you switched after 50,000-100,000 miles but I'll let the experts cover that issue (if it IS in fact an issue). :)

Usually, I count every penny, but I'm trying to become more "pound wise and penny foolish" to totally terrorize a phrase.
Nuttin' wrong with that. 'Tis generally less expensive and more convenient to prevent problems than it is to repair them. :)

I don't think switching back to dino, or back to synthetic for that matter hurts anything. People do that all the time. The only thing I've heard is that if you have a high mileage vehicle going to synthetic "might" cause leakage. If that is the case, it is not the oil that causes it but a problem already there that the synthetic brought to your attention. I've never heard of synthetic oil being the actual culprit - but who knows.

All I know is that a driver needs to try to make informed decisions about maintenance and pick the products he or she thinks will work for specific driving conditions and experiment with the products within a tight framework. That is about the best one can hope to do. Tools such as other owners' experiences and, in the case of oil, used oil analysis, will assist the driver in making these informed decisions but, in and of themselves, are not a necessity.

For most of us that have the money to buy a rather expensive vehicle like the Ridgeline, the cost of a few quarts of oil now and then is not a factor that should weigh heavily on our decision. For example, if someday if think I would be better off with a $25 filter and $8 a quart oil I'll buy them without worrying about the money because I have decided that I need them; therefore, I am not wasting money. But if I conclude I do not need these things, then I sure am not going to throw my money away.

If a person does not want to get into these issues deeply they don't have to. Honda makes reliable and trouble free motors and always have. As far as I know, Honda has never produced a sludge prone engine like some makers have. At the user level, none of this has to be rocket science. All one need do is follow the manual as to the kind of oil to use, stick with major brands of oil and filters and change according to the OLM (which is the best tool Honda could provide us for proper oil change intervals). Beyond that, all the rest of this stuff is basically an interesting form of entertainment.

Thanks for the info, but does this mean that Synthetic is okay to wait until 15% and not regular oil?

Thanks for the info, but does this mean that Synthetic is okay to wait until 15% and not regular oil?
I view it like this... Honda set up the monitor based on their recommendations for regular dino oil, so yeah it's fine to wait until the computer says change it. Synthetic, which I have decided to use thanks to the many informative posts here at the ROC, gives me an extra margin of safety when the engine is stressed for some reason. I understand that it could also allow for longer change intervals, but I do not plan on going there... just gonna follow the computer. You of course will find some here that will change it earlier based on their own comfort level. There is a poll somewhere on the subject of what owners intend to do about this issue.

I've actually been doing it every 4000 miles. Maybe I should wait a little longer...

Here's the poll.
http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3152

I know one issue with changing earlier than indicated by the monitor is that subsequent reminders may be affected for other later services, but I haven't looked into that in any detail. They should call it the MM for Mystery Monitor. :rolleyes:

After reading your report and checking out Blackstone I ordered a test kit and their pump for pulling oil up the from the top. Figuring that "Nicholas sent me" might not register I credited the ROC with the referral.

I've got oil but no Ridgeline until the 07's are out. Can't hurt the prospective sale of the present vehicle to show the results of oil analysis.

Bump, For everyone INFO