Originally Posted By: mikeshauling
Ok i just got my first UOA back from Caterpillar. What do these #s mean??? 11,000 on truck 6,000 on the oil. Rotella15-40 ...2009 CTD 6.7 my 2nd oil change on the truck, 1st UOA. They didnt give me a TBN ? I am running an AMSOIL air filter since @ 500 miles too. Good or bad report here ??
The above is the lead-in from mikeshauling's thread ...and I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his Caterpillar UOA format and numbers ...I've got two UOAs from Caterpillar on my C7 to discuss so I just used his format and typed in my numbers to the right of the ones for his 2009 CTD 6.7.
I'm a fulltime RVer and in Dec 2007 I bought a used 2005 Freightliner with a 300 hp Cat C7 that had 10K miles on its odometer ...and it still had the original oil from its April 2004 build date! When I got the truck back to the RV park there was a mobile lube guy there who seemed to know his stuff ...so I immediately had the oil changed using a Cat filter and 7 gals of Rotella 15w-40 from 1 gal jugs.
The lube guy didn't have any sampling kits on hand ...so I drained some of the used oil through a white tee shirt and inspected it with a magnifying glass ...everything seemed ok and the engine ran fine ...then later I learned that my S/N included a batch of heads with potential casting issues involving pin hole leaks of oil-to coolant, fuel-to-coolant, fuel-to-oil, and coolant-to-oil ...so at 2K I went to the Cat shop in Las Vegas and they took an oil sample from the dip stick using a pump ...and a coolant sample from the radiator petcock ...and the Cat lab said both samples were in spec!
After 4K of cross country towing at 33K GCW ...and 1 qt of added oil ...I had the oil changed at 6K by a Cat shop in Springfield, MO and another UOA/coolant sample done ...so except for the added qt both of these UOAs are from the same 7 gals of Rotella 15w-40! Everything checked ok again ...and I've had 2 more oil changes w/o UOAs and I now have 28K on the engine.
After finding this site I want to learn all about UOA and engine wear mechanisms ...because at age 68 this truck will probably be my last so I need it to outlive me! So here's some questions about my UOAs ...why did sodium decrease and the additives molybdenum, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus increase? I suppose the decrease in viscosity is normal for a HEUI engine? The 6K UOA also had a listing for PFC=1.59 ...but there was no explanation as to what that is?
Since I've always got a free plug right next to the truck ...and nothing better to do with my time ...I routinely run the coolant/oil pan heater for 45-90 min before starting up ...is there any down-side to preheating the oil 3 to 4 times a week ...which is about how often I use the truck?
I've been using Rotella 15w-40 ...and changing it about every 6K or 6 months ...I've considered switching to synthetic Rotella 5w-40 ...because I tow in the SW during the summer and supposedly synthetic is better in hotter weather ...but several Cat dealers have advised me against using it and said I'll probably develop oil leaks if I do ...so far I haven't dripped a drop of any type of fluid ...knock on wood! Any comments or advice on how to keep my C7 running for as long as possible will be appreciated!
...............CTD 6.7L.....C7 7.2L
(ppm)..............6K........2K...6K
copper----------12...........7.....9
iron--------------64..........8...11
chromium-------1...........0.....1
aluminum-------5...........1.....1
lead--------------1...........0.....0
tin-----------------0..........0.....0
silicon----------10...........6.....8
sodium----------7..........14....2..?
potassium----16............8....6
molybdenum---5...........3...11..?
nickel------------0.........0.....0
calcium-----2262.....1847..2293..?
magnesium--103........41...60..?
zinc-------------124....1033..1396..?
phosphorus--1042.....899..1258..?
(count/ml)
soot-------------6...........0.......3
oxidation-----20..........16.....17
nitrate-----------7..........6.......7
sulfation------21..........21.....20
water-----------N...........0......N
antifreeze-----N............N......N
fuel--------------N............0......N
viscosity------13..........13.9..12.2
PFC...............?...........?...1.59..?
Ok i just got my first UOA back from Caterpillar. What do these #s mean??? 11,000 on truck 6,000 on the oil. Rotella15-40 ...2009 CTD 6.7 my 2nd oil change on the truck, 1st UOA. They didnt give me a TBN ? I am running an AMSOIL air filter since @ 500 miles too. Good or bad report here ??
The above is the lead-in from mikeshauling's thread ...and I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his Caterpillar UOA format and numbers ...I've got two UOAs from Caterpillar on my C7 to discuss so I just used his format and typed in my numbers to the right of the ones for his 2009 CTD 6.7.
I'm a fulltime RVer and in Dec 2007 I bought a used 2005 Freightliner with a 300 hp Cat C7 that had 10K miles on its odometer ...and it still had the original oil from its April 2004 build date! When I got the truck back to the RV park there was a mobile lube guy there who seemed to know his stuff ...so I immediately had the oil changed using a Cat filter and 7 gals of Rotella 15w-40 from 1 gal jugs.
The lube guy didn't have any sampling kits on hand ...so I drained some of the used oil through a white tee shirt and inspected it with a magnifying glass ...everything seemed ok and the engine ran fine ...then later I learned that my S/N included a batch of heads with potential casting issues involving pin hole leaks of oil-to coolant, fuel-to-coolant, fuel-to-oil, and coolant-to-oil ...so at 2K I went to the Cat shop in Las Vegas and they took an oil sample from the dip stick using a pump ...and a coolant sample from the radiator petcock ...and the Cat lab said both samples were in spec!
After 4K of cross country towing at 33K GCW ...and 1 qt of added oil ...I had the oil changed at 6K by a Cat shop in Springfield, MO and another UOA/coolant sample done ...so except for the added qt both of these UOAs are from the same 7 gals of Rotella 15w-40! Everything checked ok again ...and I've had 2 more oil changes w/o UOAs and I now have 28K on the engine.
After finding this site I want to learn all about UOA and engine wear mechanisms ...because at age 68 this truck will probably be my last so I need it to outlive me! So here's some questions about my UOAs ...why did sodium decrease and the additives molybdenum, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and phosphorus increase? I suppose the decrease in viscosity is normal for a HEUI engine? The 6K UOA also had a listing for PFC=1.59 ...but there was no explanation as to what that is?
Since I've always got a free plug right next to the truck ...and nothing better to do with my time ...I routinely run the coolant/oil pan heater for 45-90 min before starting up ...is there any down-side to preheating the oil 3 to 4 times a week ...which is about how often I use the truck?
I've been using Rotella 15w-40 ...and changing it about every 6K or 6 months ...I've considered switching to synthetic Rotella 5w-40 ...because I tow in the SW during the summer and supposedly synthetic is better in hotter weather ...but several Cat dealers have advised me against using it and said I'll probably develop oil leaks if I do ...so far I haven't dripped a drop of any type of fluid ...knock on wood! Any comments or advice on how to keep my C7 running for as long as possible will be appreciated!
...............CTD 6.7L.....C7 7.2L
(ppm)..............6K........2K...6K
copper----------12...........7.....9
iron--------------64..........8...11
chromium-------1...........0.....1
aluminum-------5...........1.....1
lead--------------1...........0.....0
tin-----------------0..........0.....0
silicon----------10...........6.....8
sodium----------7..........14....2..?
potassium----16............8....6
molybdenum---5...........3...11..?
nickel------------0.........0.....0
calcium-----2262.....1847..2293..?
magnesium--103........41...60..?
zinc-------------124....1033..1396..?
phosphorus--1042.....899..1258..?
(count/ml)
soot-------------6...........0.......3
oxidation-----20..........16.....17
nitrate-----------7..........6.......7
sulfation------21..........21.....20
water-----------N...........0......N
antifreeze-----N............N......N
fuel--------------N............0......N
viscosity------13..........13.9..12.2
PFC...............?...........?...1.59..?