Ford/ Navistar 7.3L/7,800/71,800/Motorcraft 15W40

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
15
Location
Wa.
BlackStone report.

This is the first OA done on this truck. This is with the Motorcraft oil filter. I changed out the Motorcraft to Shell Rotella 15W40 and amsoil oil filter.
Truck was used for daily driving empty and a few trips towing 11,000lbs. One such trip was 4,200 miles driving 65-80mph.

Aluminum: 4
Chromium: 1
Iron: 13
Copper: 5
Lead: 5
Tin: 0
Molybdenum: 63
Nickel: 1
Manganese: 0
Silver: 1
Titanium: 0
Potassium: 3
Boron: 78
Silicon: 8
Sodium: 4
Calcim: 4939
Magnesium: 10
Phosphorus: 1155
Zinc: 1344
Barium: 15

SUS Viscosity @ 210'F: 62.7
cSt Viscnosity @ 100'C: 10.98
Flashpoint in 'F: 435
Fuel %: Antifreze %: 0.0
Water %: 0.0
Insolubles: 0.2

“The oil's viscosity was a little low for a 15W/40, but that's not hurting anything. These engines can
run just fine on a slightly low viscosity. Universal averages show typical wear metals for an oil from this type
of engine after about 5,200 miles run on the oil. Your oil was in use longer than that, yet we found all wear at
around average levels and in the correct balance to show normal mechanical parts inside. Air and oil
filtration appear normal (see silicon and insolubles). No moisture, fuel, or antifreeze found. Try going 9,000
miles next sample. The engine can take it!”
 
I didn't see a TBN value; was it not tested, or not reported on the post by accident? Just wondered how they recomend going to 9K miles if no TBN tested? Not that it's a bad thing, just would be interested to know how many miles versus percent of remaining TBN.

Overall, a very decent UOA. Gotta love the old 7.3L engine.
 
air filter is working well, especially if over E of the mountains in the lava dust desert country, eats diesels for lunch. look at the CAT air filters out in the wheat fields

with that much calcium, who needs a TBN

no reason to quit a good thing, the Motorcraft.
your 7.3 and MC look like they were made for each other
running 80 with GTW of 18k and large frontal area would have cooked other oils. MC viscosity held up

this oil can take it and more. i'll be surprised if the Rotella even comes close.

never been a MC fan but impressed by your success
hard to find oil at decent price
 
Very nice report, very interesting also. Thanks for posting.

Questions:

- Was the oil CI-4, CI-4 plus, or CJ-4? If you don't know, could you tell us about when you purchased the Motorcraft in this sample, and from where?

- How many months was the oil in the crankcase? I assume the long trip probably decreased the time duration for this many miles.

- What year model is your vehicle? Has to be one of the later model 7.3's given a relatively "lower" mileage like that.

For the rest of the board: What are the reasons why, whether speculative or factual, Rotella CJ-4 wouldn't perform as well in this OCI?
 
Another thing I meant to add...sorry for the extra post my edit function isn't working:

- Wouldn't the ability of this oil at this OCI to properly operate the HEUI injectors be just as important as the wear metals and viscosity? At what point would the anti-foam additives start to deplete....is this additive shown in the analysis in PPM? If not I would think I'd want to know the TBN.

Apologies if this is a dumb question...I've read through many posts on this board in the past five years and I still can't get a firm grasp on foaming in these HEUI engines.
 
I don't think we should ever assume any spec on an oil. A TBN should be used to predict future possible use. The assumption that large amounts of calcium promises a high TBN is only an assumption. That remark shows inexperience in judgeing UOA results in my opinion.
GregH
 
I have found that there are some BITOG people that probably have VOA oil stats memorized for additive packs as well as some guys memorize ball player stats. I, however, can't seem to do that.

With that in mind, that's why I wanted to know the TBN value of the oil sample. It tells you the relative value of % remaining of the anti-corrosion package, without having to know how much calcium, phosphorus, etc ad nauseum.

That's why I wondered how Blackstone suggested to keep running an oil with nearly 8k miles on it. Not that it's a bad suggestion, just one that I would have wanted some additional doccumentation on.
 
Last edited:
cheeks - the anti-foamant used in MC is silicon, at a very few ppm, single digits range. The silicon anti-foamant ussually gets lost in the noise of the ppm from dirt. When new, the amount of silicon shedding from silicon RTV gaskets used in assembly of these engines overshadows the anti-foamant number by many times.
I have seen many posters over on the diesel forums make assumptions that their oil is foaming with no valid evidence.
The same people often claim that they must change out the oil every at ridiculously low miles for the size of the sump due to the supposed 'sensitive' HUEI injectors, again with zero evidence that early change out of the oil has any effect on injector longevity. Anyway, whenever a properly rated oil of CG or higher, foaming is a non-issue unless there is a mechanical problem causing foaming that any amount of anti-foamant would not be able to alleviate.
From experience, these injectors are insensitive to whether a 30 weight or a 40 weight oil is used in them.
One of the upsides of using ULSD fuel is that whenever it is used exclusively, we are finding very little TBN depletion over the lifetime of the the oil. So much so that TBN is becoming an unnecessary expense in the UOA, as other factors will determine the OCI long before the TBN is depleted and problems can be alerted by other indicators in the analysis.
 
Ruby, it probably doesn't matter what HDEO 15W40 you use- Rotella, Delo, Delvac, Valvoline, Motorcraft, they will most likely ALL give you great results. Just change your oil on a regular basis.
 
Thank you for the very informative remarks, jmac.

The first I heard of the positive effect of ULSD on TBN retention was this article which supports your comments http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=55112

However, after reading post after post of people freaking out over the initial TBN levels of CJ-4 I guess some of it wears off on me after awhile. Until I read your calming and well reasoned comments that is.

Also, I've always wondered why people stretching out long OCIs in HEUI engines never seemed to voice really big concerns about anti-foamant depletion. After reading your post it becomes a lot more clear to me why.
 
Originally Posted By: D-Roc
Just change your oil on a regular basis.




9K, no way.

i think you did great at 7K.

i do not agree with blackstone on running cSt@100 under 11 for another 2K. if you do it would get a TBN first.
 
I think I got my posts mixed up that day...meant to post that reply in another thread
 
Originally Posted By: cheeks
Another thing I meant to add...sorry for the extra post my edit function isn't working:

- Wouldn't the ability of this oil at this OCI to properly operate the HEUI injectors be just as important as the wear metals and viscosity? At what point would the anti-foam additives start to deplete....is this additive shown in the analysis in PPM? If not I would think I'd want to know the TBN.

Apologies if this is a dumb question...I've read through many posts on this board in the past five years and I still can't get a firm grasp on foaming in these HEUI engines.

The International with a couple of quarts more oil recommends 10,000 mile OCI. These HDEO oils are very good.
 
Nice oil analysis Seattleswimboy.

Anyhow, any chip or performance mods on this engine? Tend to see the viscosity drop quicker on these models that have a chip & dual HPOP (big oil) systems.
 
Last edited:
Hey guys.

Sorry for not getting back to all your questions soon (I kind of forgot about this thread...Opps)

The Truck is a 99.5, I bought the truck at the end of July and this is the oil that was in it from the dealer. I did not do a TBN as I was changing the oil brand and was not expecting the Motorcraft to do so well.

I don't know when the oil was put in, but I changed it at the end of October. So, 3+ months. The truck was 100% stock at the time.

I would have a new analysis by now, but I took my truck in two months ago for a recall and when I picked it up thy informed me that thy changed the oil for free. DOH
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top