Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) OK Now I'm nervous

[rjones]

I got my oil test back and it said:aluminum 10 avg. 4..... chromium 10 avg. 2... ... iron 86 avg. 29 ... ... . what's the deal? they said "that these are metals found in the upper cylinder area,we have no explanationfor this"... . hmm can it be from all the work I've been doing to it? Ex. KDP... drilling out the cover which is aluminum?? Everything else came up ok... ... anybody out there have a opinion that will calm down my ulser??... ... ... . Rick

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Good chance that's it - I assume you have recently changed oil - I'd run it for a few thousand miles and then get another sample off to be analyzed...

 

[LSMITH]

What were the rest of the numbers? It does make a difference.

 

[rjones]

Originally posted by LSMITH

What were the rest of the numbers? It does make a difference.

all the other numbers were below the average rating..... they said it all checked out fine.....

 

[E7mack96]

??? isn't chromium from the rings??

 

[LSMITH]

Sounds like upper cylinder wear to me, but without the rest of the numbers it is hard to tell. You would not just happen to be running a 5w-30 oil would you? Thin oil can contribute. The chromium and iron did likely not come from the KDP fix, that is most likely from the cylinders and rings. The aluminum could come from the piston skirt too and not the KDP fix. Excessive cylinder pressures from lots of fuel and lots of timing advance can contribute too.



Were the viscosities in line for the oil? Was the TBN depleted? Was the silicon level above about 15? Was the soot elevated at all? Potassium? Sodium?

 

[radixr]

Analysis Numbers

My aluminum, chromium and iron numbers jumped also (although not to as high a level as yours) after doing the KDP fix. I wouldn't worry until the next oil change. My numbers dropped back to normal and I bet yours will too.

 

[illflem]

Seems to me that any aluminum that may have come from the jig fix would be rather large. If even a small piece went in your oil sample it would probably come up as several thousand ppm in the test unless it was somehow ground up fine, which I highly doubt.

 

[rjones]

here are the other numbers



TBN@8. 5

insolubles@. 04

Royal purple 15w40



aluminum@10

chromium@10

iron@86

copper@6

lead@2

tin@0

molybdenum@75

nickel@1

manganese@0 silver@0

titanium@0

potassin@0

boron@16

silicon@9

sodium@10

calcium@3533

magnesium@116

phosphorus@927

zinc@1152

barium@1

 

[LSMITH]

Based on all of the other numbers I would run the oil another 3000 miles and sample again. It is in good shape aside from the iron. If you changed it sample again at the next interval. It could be contamination of some sort like radixr said happened to him. The levels are not scary yet, but I would keep an eye on it.

 

[Bug Out]

A note on 5W40 oil

just for info, I ran 5W40 Shell rotella synt. from cal to oklahoma and back pulling a 15,000# 5th wheel trailer. (22,000# + GCVW)



I drove hard both directions, keeping the RPM'S in the mid 2300-2600 most of the time.



Just a bit under 5000 miles and the oil lab said there was hardly any wear signs and they were hard pressed to believe I had any miles on the oil.



The metals on the test were substantially less then my prior oil tests with only 3000miles on 15W40 rotella.



I use 5W40 now, but don't care for the price. . But i'll live with it. .