Unkown brand, 5W30, 2001 Lincoln LS 3.0 V6, 26,000 Miles

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This is the UOA that I mentioned in a previous thread in "Car and Truck Gas Engine Oil" forum. This is from Blackstone, with TBN.

BTW - This is NOT my car.

The car has 67,000 miles, and the oil has 26,000 miles with no make up oil. The oil barely registered on the dipstick, and I estimate it was at least 2 quarts low, possibly 3 (I don't have much experience with the oil reading less than 1 qt low). The last oil change was a Jiffy Lube, so what ever brands they use is likely the brand, but I would guess that the oil is Dino. Also, please not that this is NOT my car.

Here are the numbers:

ALUMINUM 13
CHROMIUM 3
IRON 345
COPPER 13
LEAD 0
TIN 0
MOLYBDENUM 16
NICKEL 3
MANGANESE 4
SILVER 0
TITANIUM 0
POTASSIUM 2
BORON 5
SILICON 65
SODIUM 5
CALCIUM 2006
MAGNESIUM 21
PHOSPHORUS 684
ZINC 841
BARIUM 13


The comments were as follows:
quote:


Wear in this sample was high, though considering how long the oil was run, we are not ready to call any of these results a problem. Universal averages show typical wear from this type of engine after 5,000-6,000 miles on the oil. Silicon was high and may show dirt getting past he air filter, which would have caused the excess wear. The viscosity was high for a 5W/30, but still in the 30W range.

The TBN read 0.0, showing no active additive left. The long use didn't kill this engine though it did not do it any favors either. Suggest resampling in 5,000 miles to monitor iron.

I must say, this is all much better than I expected. I actually spoke with the tech at Blackstone, and he indicated that once oil reaches a certain point, the wear goes up exponentially, and that this oil was probably just past that point. I guess I caught my neighbor just in time (this is NOT my car).

So, the big question is: To what degree has the life of this engine been shortened?

Your comments on this UOA are appreciated.

P.S. This is NOT my car. I would not do this to a perfectly good automobile.

[ October 24, 2003, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: DockHoliday ]
 
Doc,

What this nicely illustrates is that iron is the wear metal that most closely tracks with the # of miles on the sample. You are seeing a massive amount of valvetrain/cylinder wear in this case. The moly may be a coating on the piston rings, so chrome wear isn't has high as I'd expect.

As for the lead, you have completely dissolved the bearing overlays away. Drop the pan and you'll find the rest of the wear metal - it's incapsulated by that inch of sludge coating the oil pan ...
wink.gif


I'd say you need new cams and lifters for starters and maybe a new oil pump.
 
I would say this lincoln has a great engine to handle this abuse and get these numbers. The iron is probably just from corrosion and suprize, has not affected other ware metals. TBN of 0 says it all. Probably should cut this change interval at least in half.
grin.gif
 
Wear numbers are not as bad as you would expect.

Was this oil changed or just sampled? I think running the oil with a TBN of zero through the winter would have put the final nail in the coffin for this engine.
 
Wait a minute. How can we say anything needs to be replaced. We do not have any pictures or evidence that says something is worn out. Just because the car did not use synthetic does not mean everything is shot.
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I believe the oil was changed just after I took the sample.

As for my comment of "much better than I expected", I was expecting to hear that the oil had turned to tar, and that there was strong evidence of major engine damage. I would also expected to see lots of fuel in the oil from the rings being shot. Or, in other words, I expected to hear from Blackstone comments similar to TooSlick's.
 
Doc,

In this case I think the oil analysis is optimistic, as it only measures the level of dissolved metallic ions and solid particles < 5 microns. Cut open the oil filter from this engine, spread the pleats apart and you'll see visible metal chunks. I'd be willing to bet the bearings are worn down to the brass/bronze shells.

This shows how good a job modern antiwear additives like ZDDP do. You are running this engine with dry film lubrication!
 
How could this oil possibly still be a 30 wt with 26,000 miles on it? It should have thickened up to a 50+ wt with that many miles on it.

There's no doubt this oil was shot and had a lot of miles on it, I just don't think it was THAT many.
 
I really doubt this sample represents 26,000 miles on the oil. This oil would no way still be a 30wt oil. Sludge would have formed by now. Lead of 0? I don't believe it.
smile.gif
 
The oil was 18 months old, so 26K miles in that time frame indicates a lot of highway miles. I don't know how often the car is on the road, but I do know this guy does make some trips to other midwest cities. That could account from how this oil lasted this long before completely vaporizing.

Will a UOA on the next oil, at say 3K miles, tell us anything more?

[ October 24, 2003, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: DockHoliday ]
 
buster - It is not my car, so I can not confirm the mileage, or the lack of make up oil. I can confirm that the dip stick barely registered any oil, and I did take the sample. If you read my other thread, then you know my motiviations for performing this test (plus the fact that I thought it would be fun, which it has been).
 
I would think you could build a small iron 4 banger out of all that iron. As much as I dislike to agree with G-Man, I think he's is right....if this oil was 26k miles old, it would most likely be solid....the lead is weird too. I guess someone like Terry with a true mileage reading on this oil could tell what is going on.
Rick
 
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