Duramax Rotella T6 high copper,iron,sodium

[Ponch]

I am reposting this UOA by typing it out by hand, as yesterday I tried to copy and paste my blackstone UOA report on here with no luck...

Here is the info

Duramax LBZ. 74,000 miles on engine. 12,400 on oil sample. Prior batch of oil was rotella 15w40. Makeup oil was 1.5 quarts. Amsoil EAO oil filter with filter mag installed.

Aluminum 3
Chromium 1
Iron 44
Copper 28
Lead 4
Tin 3
Molybdenum 54
Nickel 0
Manganese 1
SIlver 0
Titanium 0
Potassium 1
Boron 34
Silicon 8
Sodium 16
Calcium 973
Magnesium 1052
Phosphorus 1034
Zinc 1213
Barium 0

SUS Viscosity @ 210 F 75.8
cst viscosity @ 100 C 14.47
Flashpoint 425 F
Fuel % Antifreeze ?
Water % 0.0
Insolubles 0.4
TBN 7.0

Blackstone flagged the iron,copper and sodium as "high" and told me to keep an eye on coolant level, as they mentioned that the sodium could possibly be a coolant leak? I am confused to why they put just a question mark next to the coolant reading? I did change this oil out..and was wondering if there is any other way they could get higher sodium readings without coolant in oil? This may be a dumb question...but I do not have a cover for my fumoto drain valve, and am wondering if road salt could be built up inside of that opening and skewing my results perhaps?? In the mean time I am going to run some short intervals until I figure out what is going on with the sodium.
-Ponch

 

[The motor guy]

it's not that much of one. It could just be an additive in the oil or something. Usually potassium and sodium will be high if it's coolant.

 

[Jim Allen]

Overall a good report, IMO. Nothing out of line considering the long run. Sodium is higher than it should be but not dangerous. You thought on the Fumoto is possible but if you took the sample midway through the drain, most of that should have been washed out by the time you took the sample... but get a cover on that thing ASAP. You might consider sampling about midway through you next run (without a drain) to monitor it and, like Blackstone suggested, closely monitor your coolant levels. I think you are in "watch-and-see" mode right now but I doubt you have a serious problem.

 

[dnewton3]

Hey Ponch!

Interesting UOA.

I'd note that the Fe and Cu are higher than "normal" for a Dmax. The typical UOA from Blackstone/Dmax is based upon 6600 miles, so you're not quite 2x that distance. In fact, your last UOA on CJ-4 dino Rotella was much better; wear rates were at or less than average.
Regarding a Dmax/Blackstone UOA with universal averages:
At 6.6k miles, the Fe avg is 12 and the Cu avg is 10.
At 12.4k miles, your Fe is 44 and the Cu is 28.
You have almost doubled the mileage, but nearly quadrupled the Fe and tripled the Cu. Your rates are higher than average; no doubt about it.

On thing to note is that any change (even within a brand) can bring odd reactions. You went from Rotella dino to T6; some chemistry changes might be occuring. I'd say you're not anywhere near condemnation levels with the Fe and Cu, but you're certinaly above average in the wear rates.

Also, with the Filtermag installed on an EaO, you'd have to wonder how much more Fe might have been going around without the magnets. The Fe count might have been even higher!

As for the Sodium, I suppose the Fumoto could be an issue, but as Jim said, if you took the sample mid-flow, the hot oil should have washed away what little was in the valve port area. I don't have a cover on my Fumoto; I just give it a quick wipe with a rag before the sample, and then a squirt of brake-cleaner to flush it out, and then let it dry before my sample.

It's most certianly not time to panic, but keep a cautious eye on things. I agree with Jim that there's likely nothing wrong with your rig, but there most certainly are wear rates above "average". The good thing is that the lack of Pb, Cr and Al show it's not an overall degredation. This load of oil didn't hurt your engine by any means, but it didn't perform as well as one could have hoped for, either. Kind of disappointing for T6 if you ask me. What did you fill it with; more T6?

 

[Ponch]

Thanks all.... @ dnewton..I filled it back up right away with dino rotella 15w40. I did wonder about the chemistry switch...but I should note that since I have owned this truck, I have ran nothing but rotella brand whether it was the dino, or the T6, so I didnt think that would be that much of a "shock" to the motor from a molecular standpoint. I also wondered about how much higher the ferrous levels might have been had I used a lower quality filter without the filter mag. (im kinda scared to cut open that amsoil filter to investigate!) All and all dave, I personally have no problem just running the dino rotella now since it performed so well in my last UOA,..I just wanted to try something different with this run of T6, and I sure did not get my money's use out of it like "meathead" did with his 25,000 mile run of T6. I am considering getting rid of the fumoto valve, as I like how much quicker the oil flows out just by pulling the drain plug. "OIL TSUNAMI!" Thanks again guys...

 

[KevinsDMAX]

I agree the oil flows faster without, but with the fumoto, I hook up a hose and flip the switch. While waiting, I grease her up and remove and install a new oil filter. By the time I'm done with those tasks the oil is drained, and not one drop is on my skid plate to leak over the next week.

Kevin

 

[dnewton3]

Ponch - you might run the new dino load for 6.6k miles and take a sample. SAMPLE - not an OCI. That's the beauty of the fumoto. You can actually take a sample "live" with the engine running, as the volume loss isn't enough to drain the oil out into a danger zone. That's how I sample my oil before and OCI. That way I get a true idea of what the engine is seeing on every sump cycle. (Start engine and warm up properly; get the bottle, sample via valve, close valve and Viloa! - You're done. It is literally that simple. Caution, the valve handle will be hot; use a pair of pliers to move the lever.)

You could sample at 6.6k miles and have a direct comparison to the "universal average" of Blackstone/Dmax numbers. No need for TBN at that point; you know it will be fine. Then you can see how the wear is doing, and track the Sodium in particular. Then use the info gleaned from the returned UOA to see how many more miles to run on that sump load before an OCI. (The real use of a UOA!).

 

[Ponch]

Sounds like a great plan dave! You are correct also about not getting the TBN test anymore, due to the fact that it was a strong 7 or more for both of my samples. Thanks again.