Castrol 5W40 (from dealer) Analysis Results from Blackstone... any idea about some of the comments?
 

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I live in Vancouver, so we get a TON of rain, not sure if that explains moisture in oil?! What else could it be?

Does this show that oil was broken down in high temps and lost its viscosity?

What kind of oil? Here is my latest (different types of 5w40) for comparison.
 

They said all was good with both even though the viscosity was *slightly* low...

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sorry, I cut that part out, it's Castrol 5W40 European forumla from dealer

Why 7qt of make-up oil?

mine is not an expert opinion, but here's my take on it..
 

1) take their commentary with a grain of salt. i have seen them make errors. if you want expert opinion, pay for terry's analysis or post on bobistheoilguy.com forums.

2) moisture takes longer to burn off in colder weather. combine that with short trips and it could explain the situation?

3) i'm not sure what "moisture damage in additives" means. maybe you can ask them to elaborate.

4) oil does break down under high temp and load. the thing to look for would be HTHS rating for that particular oil. i believe audi specified a minimum of 3.1 for its turbo application. i imagine the 5w40 is close to 4.

based on <a href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/visc.html">this chart</a>, it looks like SAE 40 weight starts about 70-85 SUS@210F. my guess is blackstone has seen an average of 65-78 for that weight on their average 5800mi change (maybe not for that particular brand of oil however -- another thing to ask them).

without the fuel, water, or antifreeze, my guess is that the oil just broke down due to stress.

did you happen to use any FI cleaners, seafoam, etc?

Any white smoke from the tailpipe for more than a minute or so after start-up?

I would guess that water can chemically react and bond with some of the additives

I strongly recommend Motul over Castrol

hmm, that must have been a mistake, I've had 1-1.5 litres of make up oil

like totally white? I've never noticed any... its a bit thick upon start in cold weather though