As your car has a DPF why have you chosen a Mid-SAPS C2/3 oil? Everyone uses C1 on these engines and reports of engine failure are so rare as to be not worth worrying about. The wider the viscosity range also means the more the oil will shear so you may end up with a 0w-20 oil at the next analysis..... 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

On the oil front, I think most people who use Shell, including me, are using Shell AJ-L 5w30 C1 which is slightly different to what you are using. Whether it has any difference I don’t know.
Always fancied having an oil sample check but never got there. 2012 Orkney Grey Westminster 4.4TDV8 with Ivory interior.........nice!
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Just one Montesa now, 349 White Wonder
Austin A40 Farina MK2
1975 Morris Marina 1.8TC

It’s not just the engine oil that needs to warm up…
But also transfer box and transmission oil

I believe the engine revs are higher / gears held longer during warmup to ensure enough oil flow with the thicker oil. This will be governed by engine temps ( maybe oil temp) and I can't think how the engine would know what the oil viscosity is? 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

JayGee wrote:

As your car has a DPF why have you chosen a Mid-SAPS C2/3 oil? Everyone uses C1 on these engines and reports of engine failure are so rare as to be not worth worrying about. The wider the viscosity range also means the more the oil will shear so you may end up with a 0w-20 oil at the next analysis.....

 2018 SE SDV8 4.4 Byron Blue

Fox889 wrote:

On the oil front, I think most people who use Shell, including me, are using Shell AJ-L 5w30 C1 which is slightly different to what you are using. Whether it has any difference I don’t know.
Always fancied having an oil sample check but never got there.

c1 is low saps, ash content 0.5% where c2 is mid saps, 0.8% ash.
in a nutshell c2 has 60% more ash in it than c1  2018 SE SDV8 4.4 Byron Blue

What's the only way for 'oil' to reach the DPF?
Right, when it's burned.
Maybe via exhaust valve stems too.

When I first got my 4.4TDV8 I bought a liter of the recommended oil, to be able to add some oil after my first long trip to see my parents, that's 550km one way.
A car that's used mainly for shorter trips is known to drop the oil level after longer drives: all the volatile components burn off, lowering the oil level.
Long story short: that oil bottle is still on my shelf, never opened.

There is no doubt in my mind the Helix Ultra will do no harm to my DPF.

To say an oil with a wider viscosity range is more prone to shearing down is simply not true.
It's all about the base oil.
The Helix Ultra is made from GTL base stock.
That stuff is rated as high as conventional POA Group IV base stock, and that's the good stuff!
Having read much about the base stocks used in pretty much all 5W-30 C1 oils I found, being CAS 5464742-54-7, I decided I wanted something else as that's really old style hydrotreated heavy paraffinic base stock, group III.
Not even real synthetic oil, in my opinion.
The GTL - Gas To Liquid - is.
Time will tell, as with everything.

The 0W at cold starts, and any start not at operating temp is a cold start imo, will be better for the oil flow as thinner oil flows not faster, as the oil pump is a positive displacement pump, but more oil will flow through the engine as the oil pump bypass opens later/less.
Oil also distributes heat through the engine.
More oil flow = more heat flow = faster warm up = less fuel consumption.
At operating temp the Helix Ultra is still a 30W and one on the thicker side, actually.

About the ash.
The ACEA spec shows the required ash levels are 'less than'.
So C1 should have less then 0,5% and C2/C3 less than 0,8%.
This doesn't mean C2/C3 must have 0.8% ash.
For Phosphorus - and Phosphorus alone - there is a from-to limit.
C1 less than 0,05%
C2/C3 from 0,07%-0,09%
Ohhh...!
That's almost double!
In theory.
A virgin oil analysis of the Helix Ultra would settle this argument, maybe there are to be found online.

Engine oil is always good for a nice debate  2012 4.4TDV8
2000 Honda S2000

Oil is continualy burnt in the engine from the turbo seals and not just the valve seals and how do you know how much SAPS % it takes to create ash? Just because your oil level doesn't go down doesn't mean the engine is not using oil as it's being topped up by fuel . With these cars now on high mileages the remaining capacity in the DPF is much reduced so anything that adds to the ash load is not a good idea IMO and I'd rather trade more DPF life for a minor improvement in warm up times. C1 works so why change it?. C1 is available cheaply and this is a major concideration when you are changing oil at 5k miles and not the official service intervals as the main reason (actualy only) to change oil is to get rid of the soot and the fuel contamination with the later being higher as DPF capacity diminishes and a high mileage engine burns more oil. Run it for 5k miles / 7k km and do another analysis. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Right, the turbos, I forgot about those.
Yes, they could be a passage for engine oil to reach the DPF.

Over the now 6 years of driving my 4.4 I never noticed the oil level to drop or rise.
Not during daily commutes, not after occasional longer drives, not during & after 800-1000km drives a day, for 4-5 days in a row, going to Lapland.
I would bet my engine doesn't consume much oil and doesn't constantly have the now reported 7% fuel in it either.

My DPF is clean as it was cleaned to 5mbar pressure difference.
My car doesn't have a 240000km filled up DPF that I have to baby around, avoiding amber/red warnings.

Shell, (yes, this is advertising too) claims this oil is the most advanced emissions-compatible technology to keep DPF's clean and protected from ash buildup.
The GTL base oil supports this claim though.

Sure, the 5W-30 C1 that was in there worked.
Wear metals were low, even after 25859km.
Soot levels were low, MEASURED at 0,4%, even after 25859km.
TBN was low but still active, not being close to zero, even after 25859km.
Based on this data, why should I change oil after 7000 km?
Based on my data, what would anyone?

Why don't YOU take a sample after 7000km and share the results to confirm why and/or justify why you changed your engine oil way before the official change interval?
Learn from me: don't take the sample within a week of DPF regeneration.

 2012 4.4TDV8
2000 Honda S2000

Quote:

Yes, there is way to much fuel in the oil.
Hopefully because I was "playing around" with my recently bought IID and forced regenerations, only 3 days before taking the oil sample.
I guess 3 days of driving (about 120km) isn't enough to get rid of the fuel.

Quote:

Learn from me: don't take the sample within a week of DPF regeneration

Quote:

Once the fuel is in the oil and diluting it ... it stays there, no matter how much driving you do after the regen.

If you have fuel dilution in a diesel engine, it wont all magically burn away, if any, no matter how hard you work the engine.

Especially when you have engines with Euro emissions control that are not free to vent to atmosphere.
Think about it! The PCV system stops crankcase emissions and only a small percentage would be mixed with fresh intake air. You are probably producing more liquid dilution than you could possibly remove vapour dilution. Also the Boiling point on diesel depending on grade could be 225C-300C

Some interesting reading regarding DPF architecture below mainly about Discovery/Discovery sport and jaguar engines. Some really good embedded links regarding the scientific theory etc.

Dont believe it doesn't concern your engines -it does, poor DPF architecture design is the clue. Maybe the older TDV8 engines with DPF have different architecture to L405 that part I haven't really explored but suspect they are pretty similar.

https://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/u...d%20DS.pdf

System operation, note stage 2 and unburnt fuel
https://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/u...ration.pdf

JLR letter to dealers "Range Rovers may suffer oil dilution"
https://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/u...lained.pdf

@ Spitfire Regarding your SAPs theory I would expect that manufacturers will adhere to the maximum allowed for C1 etc, reducing more than recommended maximum, costs money and it would possibly effect other important additive properties like detergent etc etc 2018 SE SDV8 4.4 Byron Blue

JayGee wrote:

With these cars now on high mileages the remaining capacity in the DPF is much reduced so anything that adds to the ash load is not a good idea

SpitfireS wrote:

Quote:

Once the fuel is in the oil and diluting it ... it stays there, no matter how much driving you do after the regen.

Diesel fuel will evaporate, less fast than petrol, but still.
There are volatile parts in (even fresh!) engine oil too.
How much is measured and it's call the NOACK value.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noack_volatility_test
Even when oil sump temps will never reach 250C, some engine parts will certainly get very hot, hotter than the sump oil and they are cooled by oil.
If you think the crank case is a closed environment: remember the crank case ventilation.

So volatile components will and do have a chance to get out of the oil, especially during longer drives.