oil analysis results for CGI engine?

[GBergen]

I haven't posted on here for quite a while, primarily because all has been going well and I'm not as savvy as many here, to respond to questions posted.
At the third oil change (29671 miles 107 hours idle 619 driving 726 on engine) I had my 1st oil analysis done by the local caterpillar shop. Today I received the report back and wondered if this looks normal for the CGI engines with less than 30k on them? About 90% of the driving hours / miles are towing but not heavy load, plenty of mountains though.
1st oil change was at 9700 5w-40
2nd at 19471 10W-30 Valvoline
3rd at 29671 10w-30 Valvoline
Mopar OEM oil filters
6.7L HO
I took the sample by starting to drain oil and after about 30 seconds I collected the sample in the stream.

The CAT report doesn't provide "normal" or expected levels on the report so I thought I'd ask those folks that are more experienced with this information than I am.
Am I pleased or concerned about these results? I wasn't sure if the CGI engine would yield different information than the Gen 3.

 

[GBergen]

Oh well, 47 views and no responses.
I will have to delay being concerned until there are three or more UOA reports from my engine to compare.
This snapshot and sample set of 1, isn't enough to determine if there are any issues or not.

 

[AH64ID]

I don’t see any issues, but where is the rest of the report. There is a lot of valuable data that’s not there.

How much towing did you do on that report? How much before that oil was ran. On these engines higher copper is usually leeched out of the oil cooler early in its life when it gets hot from towing.

 

[brucejohnson]

Here is what I have gotten. Oil changes were done to meet time or quick follow-up on numbers.
first was factory fill. The other two were Rotella T6 5W-40.

 

[GBergen]

Thanks for having a look, I wasn't sure if the CGI engine would leach anything unusual that would skew the results.
This sample was at 29600+ with three oil changes before it.
Most of that last oil change was towing from Caldwell, to Tucson and other parts of Arizona and back in March, April. A trip towing to McCall was in there too.
I still need to have patience about the results to see if there is a trend over the next few samples.
The meter hours on this report are wrong, I stood next to the operator at the CAT office to get the correct information into my file so the subsequent samples will be a more accurate.
here is the first sheet of the report. Thanks again for having a look!

 

[AH64ID]

I can’t say I’m a fan of that report. There isn’t TBN, which is important, and there isn’t a description of the values like soot.

Soot is usually reported in percent, so what does 26 mean?

For future reports I think I’d go with a different company, like OAI testing (who our local Cummins shop uses/recommends).

As mentioned, no issues for a young motor but if you continue to monitor you’ll want to see those iron and copper numbers drop.

 

[GBergen]

Alrightythen, I'll order a kit from them (OAI) when I return from the trip. There should be about 7000 on the oil when I get back. This time I'll sample from the dipstick instead of from the drain outflow.
I too am wanting to see the copper and iron values decrease.
Do you have a sample of the OAI report? A friend of mine showed me a sample of his blackstone report, and it has a comment section that verbally compares the current sample to the previous and had some recommendations for any modification to the sample / oil change mileage. There was narrative about the higher and lower values and possible reasons for the change.
I call the CAT oil analysis area on Overland, in Meridian and was told the soot value is in micrograms and it's not a concern at that level. I told him that it would be exceedingly helpful if they were to add normal / expected ranges on the report for novices like me to compare to.
Thanks for having a look!
Cheers.