Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Silicon and Blackstone and K&N

[E7mack96]

Well, I said i'd post results of my oil analysis before the K&N went in. I ran 8,167 miles on Rotella T 15w40 and silicon was at 5. Blackstone says that I can go even further between changes due to excellent wear charateristics of my Cummins. The previous change was at 7,227 miles and silicon was a 6.



Now, I will pull samples at 5000 miles without changing oil, just to check for higher than normal silicon. If it is fine, i'll run that oil 9,000 miles and the I'll let the analysis tell the tale.

 

[E7mack96]

results are in

Today I got results back from Blackstone Labs. I did not pull a sample at 5,000. I waited until 7,074 miles passed by the K&N filter...



Guess what??



Silicon came back at a paltry 5 ppm. That is actually less than the samples with factory paper (6, 11, 23, and 100 ppm)



This is the actual quote from Blackstone:



"Tony, Essentially no change in the wear from this Cummins ISB engine after 38,770 total miles. Wear levels are very low for this type of engine, and it shows not only a nicely wearing engine, but careful operation. As well as this engine is wearing, we think you could run the oil 8,000 - 9,000 miles without adversely affecting the wear levels. Air and oil filtration both look great. We have no problems to report for this sample. This may be the nicest Cummins 5. 9L we've seen all week!"



K & N is going to stay. Oo.

 

[EMDDIESEL]

I too had very low silicon readings from my oil sample. And i have had the K&N filter in for the last 30k miles. And i drive down a dirt road to get to work.