Last week I received from Blackstone Labs among the very worst UOA results I have every seen for any car, let alone one of my own cars! I made several important mistakes in allowing things to get this out of hand, and maybe this can serve as a useful warning to others as to what can happen if apparent problems are not addressed quickly.
The story is this: My car started losing coolant partway through this OCI, at ~310k miles. I was concerned at first, but found an apparent seep from the radiator and made the (obviously incorrect) assumption that the seep fully accounted for my coolant loss. Consequently I decided against doing either of the two things I had initially considered: changing the oil preventively at that time, just in case I did turn out to have coolant leaking into the oil, or drawing a sample and sending it off immediately. I should have done both. Next, when it came time to change the oil at my intended 10k interval, I let typical day-to-day events get in the way of actually ordering the replacement oil, and by the time I'd changed it I had ~11,600 on the oil. Normally it might have been interesting to have data from such a long OCI on Redline (don't know of any others), but in this case it was a mistake.
I did add some Stop Leak to the system to slow the "radiator" leak, and that has apparently helped, stopping the loss completely as far as I can tell, but obviously, considerable damage was already done.
Here are the results:
Sample Date..............2/9/08....3/19/08....5/12/08....7/13/08….8/18/08
Miles on oil:..............6,166.......5,781.......6,268......6,634…..…11,593
Oil.........................Delo LE.....Rotella T...Red Line...Red Line…Red Line
Grade.....................15W40.....15W-40.....10W-40....10W-40….10W-40
Miles on Car:.............288,907...294,688....300,956....308,038….312,997
Make up oil:..............0 qt........1.5qt........0 qt.........6 oz…….…18 oz
Aluminum:................5...........5.............0............5.………….14
Chromium:...............1............1.............0...........0….………..1
Iron:......................14...........28...........7............9……..…..209
Copper:...................7...........12............5............7……..…..24
Lead:......................4...........6............10............7………....408
Tin:........................0...........0............1.............0….….…..19
Molybdenum:.............76..........20...........584..........561..……..525
Nickel:.....................0...........1............0.............0…………..2
Manganese:...............0...........1............0.............0……...…..2
Silver:.....................0...........0............0.............0…….…....0
Titanium:.................0...........0............0.............0….……....0
Potassium:................2...........2............3.............4….….…..66
Boron:.....................305........77...........29...........30.………..99
Silicon:....................7...........12...........16...........17.………..59
Sodium:...................6...........25...........17...........21………...1858
Calcium:..................1,589......2167........2476.........2083.…...2511
Magnesium:..............365.........106.........19...........9…….…....57
Phosphorus:..............1013.......1019........1010.........987..…….1139
Zinc:......................1269........1234........1121........1001...…..1474
Barium:...................1............0............0.............0……...…..0
Sus Viscosity at 210F:...72.7........69.9........68.8.........72.3..……..79.1
cSt Viscosity at 100C:...13.65.......12.94......12.64........13.57.…...15.31
Fashpoint in F:...........395.........370.........395..........415…….…..415
Fuel Percentage:......... Antifreeze:................0.0.........?............0.0...........0.0…….…..3.72
Water:.....................0.0.........0.0.........0.0...........0.0…….…..0.0
Insolubles:.................0.5.........0.2.........0.4...........0.4…….…..0.8
TBN:........................2.6.........NA.........3.0...........NA……..…..7.0
Blackstone's comments: Some new developments have surfaced in the latest analysis. From the exponential increases in
sodium (especially), potassium (substantively), and silicon (tangentially), it is evident that coolant has found
its way into the engine en masse, and has wreaked considerable havoc. Bearing wear is cautionary, with
lead, copper, and tin reading very high. Iron at 209 ppm is also cautionary. The TBN was 7.0; additive
remains in quantity. Insolubles were over the acceptable limit at 0.8%. We tried to call you but couldn't get
through. This engine is on the ropes. Caution!
Additional comments:
I immediately changed the oil after getting the news, turning the subsequent Redline run into a very expensive ~500 mile flush. I put in Pennzoil 10W-40 YB. I plan to run the PZ about 2k, unless somebody convinces me that would be a bad idea, and change/sample again to see if the coolant is under control and how the engine is doing.
I have not decided what to do about the engine itself and am open to suggestions. Obviously it is already a high mileage engine, and now has a fairly massive amount of additional damage/wear. Options include everything from doing nothing at all to planning on a brand-new engine at some point in the future.
By the way, nothing about the appearance of the oil or the way the engine runs ever gave any hint of a problem. The oil looked like normal used oil at the end of the OCI, and even the level didn't change enough to notice. The engine still runs great - a little more top-end noise than I would like, but that has always been the case.
I guess that's enough for now. What do you all think?
The story is this: My car started losing coolant partway through this OCI, at ~310k miles. I was concerned at first, but found an apparent seep from the radiator and made the (obviously incorrect) assumption that the seep fully accounted for my coolant loss. Consequently I decided against doing either of the two things I had initially considered: changing the oil preventively at that time, just in case I did turn out to have coolant leaking into the oil, or drawing a sample and sending it off immediately. I should have done both. Next, when it came time to change the oil at my intended 10k interval, I let typical day-to-day events get in the way of actually ordering the replacement oil, and by the time I'd changed it I had ~11,600 on the oil. Normally it might have been interesting to have data from such a long OCI on Redline (don't know of any others), but in this case it was a mistake.
I did add some Stop Leak to the system to slow the "radiator" leak, and that has apparently helped, stopping the loss completely as far as I can tell, but obviously, considerable damage was already done.
Here are the results:
Sample Date..............2/9/08....3/19/08....5/12/08....7/13/08….8/18/08
Miles on oil:..............6,166.......5,781.......6,268......6,634…..…11,593
Oil.........................Delo LE.....Rotella T...Red Line...Red Line…Red Line
Grade.....................15W40.....15W-40.....10W-40....10W-40….10W-40
Miles on Car:.............288,907...294,688....300,956....308,038….312,997
Make up oil:..............0 qt........1.5qt........0 qt.........6 oz…….…18 oz
Aluminum:................5...........5.............0............5.………….14
Chromium:...............1............1.............0...........0….………..1
Iron:......................14...........28...........7............9……..…..209
Copper:...................7...........12............5............7……..…..24
Lead:......................4...........6............10............7………....408
Tin:........................0...........0............1.............0….….…..19
Molybdenum:.............76..........20...........584..........561..……..525
Nickel:.....................0...........1............0.............0…………..2
Manganese:...............0...........1............0.............0……...…..2
Silver:.....................0...........0............0.............0…….…....0
Titanium:.................0...........0............0.............0….……....0
Potassium:................2...........2............3.............4….….…..66
Boron:.....................305........77...........29...........30.………..99
Silicon:....................7...........12...........16...........17.………..59
Sodium:...................6...........25...........17...........21………...1858
Calcium:..................1,589......2167........2476.........2083.…...2511
Magnesium:..............365.........106.........19...........9…….…....57
Phosphorus:..............1013.......1019........1010.........987..…….1139
Zinc:......................1269........1234........1121........1001...…..1474
Barium:...................1............0............0.............0……...…..0
Sus Viscosity at 210F:...72.7........69.9........68.8.........72.3..……..79.1
cSt Viscosity at 100C:...13.65.......12.94......12.64........13.57.…...15.31
Fashpoint in F:...........395.........370.........395..........415…….…..415
Fuel Percentage:......... Antifreeze:................0.0.........?............0.0...........0.0…….…..3.72
Water:.....................0.0.........0.0.........0.0...........0.0…….…..0.0
Insolubles:.................0.5.........0.2.........0.4...........0.4…….…..0.8
TBN:........................2.6.........NA.........3.0...........NA……..…..7.0
Blackstone's comments: Some new developments have surfaced in the latest analysis. From the exponential increases in
sodium (especially), potassium (substantively), and silicon (tangentially), it is evident that coolant has found
its way into the engine en masse, and has wreaked considerable havoc. Bearing wear is cautionary, with
lead, copper, and tin reading very high. Iron at 209 ppm is also cautionary. The TBN was 7.0; additive
remains in quantity. Insolubles were over the acceptable limit at 0.8%. We tried to call you but couldn't get
through. This engine is on the ropes. Caution!
Additional comments:
I immediately changed the oil after getting the news, turning the subsequent Redline run into a very expensive ~500 mile flush. I put in Pennzoil 10W-40 YB. I plan to run the PZ about 2k, unless somebody convinces me that would be a bad idea, and change/sample again to see if the coolant is under control and how the engine is doing.
I have not decided what to do about the engine itself and am open to suggestions. Obviously it is already a high mileage engine, and now has a fairly massive amount of additional damage/wear. Options include everything from doing nothing at all to planning on a brand-new engine at some point in the future.
By the way, nothing about the appearance of the oil or the way the engine runs ever gave any hint of a problem. The oil looked like normal used oil at the end of the OCI, and even the level didn't change enough to notice. The engine still runs great - a little more top-end noise than I would like, but that has always been the case.
I guess that's enough for now. What do you all think?