Oil Analysis Question

[SuperSteeler]

Just got my results back from Blackstone (they're in my photo gallery). Everything looked good except I had some soot in the oil which caused the viscosity to be slightly out of the normal range. With a stock truck like mine, how does that happen?

 

[steved]

Just got my results back from Blackstone (they're in my photo gallery). Everything looked good except I had some soot in the oil which caused the viscosity to be slightly out of the normal range. With a stock truck like mine, how does that happen?

The 04. 5 "600CTD" is an emissions motor... it has an added thrid injection event when the exhaust valve is open... that results in a lot of extra soot in the oil.



About the only thing you can do to prevent it would be to install a bypass filter that will catch the soot as it aglomerates (sticks together).



For an example of what a bypass will do (not knowing the miles on your UOA, or the soot level), I have a UOA with just over 8k miles on CJ-4 Rotella... my insoluables were at 0. 3% (viscosity was 75. 7 SUS). IIRC, the previous UOA with just shy of 10k miles was 0. 2% (viscosity was still well within normal)...



I have a very similar truck to yours...



Hope this helps,



steved

 

[SuperSteeler]

Thanks Steve. Unless the soot becomes a major problem in the future I'll probably leave well enough alone. I was glad to see my silicon levels were low meaning my BHAF was doing its job and I didn't have any fuel in the oil. For the peace of mind it was well worth the $22.

 

[steved]

Thanks Steve. Unless the soot becomes a major problem in the future I'll probably leave well enough alone. I was glad to see my silicon levels were low meaning my BHAF was doing its job and I didn't have any fuel in the oil. For the peace of mind it was well worth the $22.

If the soot concerns you, back the OCI down slightly... like if you are doing a 15k OCI, back it down to a 10k OCI... something like that. You could confirm that works by having another UOA completed.



Silicon can also be an oil additive... I forget which oil has relatively high silicon levels right out of the bottle.



UOAs give a pretty good peace-of-mind when you don't really know what is going on...



steved

 

[05mxdiesel]

I wouldn't worry about it, you uoa looks good. I had a stint of rotella that read above the normal viscosity range for a 40w and blackstone said it was soot as well, next uoa came back looking good. Be glad you got a nice wearing cummins.



By the way I use to be from your neck of the woods, my grandparents live in tarrs, up the hill from you.

 

[TurboCanScoot]

Did I read the Oil Anylsis Correctly?

Did you run the oil for 7500 mi? What kind of oil are you using? How long was the oil in the truck? Are you changing out the filter in between oil changes? What type of oil filter are you using? What kind of driving hiway/city miles?



I have been running the purple stuff. The first anylsis I took on an extended trip, about 9500 mi. I ran the oil for 5K hiway mi and for about a month and it came out clean. I just changed my oil again and sent in the sample and are waiting for the results. The new batch has 6500 mi with 95% city miles. The oil was in the truck for about a year and I run the stock Dodge filter.



Thanks Richard

 

[SuperSteeler]

7500 mile intervals, Rotella 15W-40, fleetguard filters done only at oil change, 90% hiway.