When does sodium and potassium become a concern?

[Cressida]

At what levels of sodium and potassium should one become concerned about possible coolant getting in the oil?

As long as these two are under 100ppm is that still OK or should it really be much lower?

My analysis shows "positive antifreeze" but does not give a percentage reading. I have sodium at 270ppm and Potassium at 177ppm. The oil visually looks just fine.

 

[Rand]

should be 0
thats a fairly big leak.

 

[skyship]

Unless this is a rebuilt engine with sealers you have a nasty leak. Some oils have a little Sodium anti foam and 50ppm is an average UOA figure, BUT the Potassium is real bad as the average should be 1!!
Blown head gasket or leaking oil cooler are the two main culprits. If you can't afford the repair keep changing the oil using something cheap and try one can of oil stop leak and another of coolant stop leak (Liqui Moly if available). It might work if you are lucky, although you might also try checking the head bolts.

Originally Posted By: Rand
should be 0
thats a fairly big leak.

 

[JHZR2]

You need to baseline the oil via VOA to say for certain.

 

[fdcg27]

If you're using an oil that contains sodium as part of its add pack, then you'll see plenty of sodium in a UOA.
You should see very little potassium, maybe 1-3 ppm, which is what you'd see in a VOA.
Is this oil from your Ciera V-6?
You likely have leaking LIMs, which is not a horrible thing to fix.

 

[Cressida]

Yes this is a GM 3300 V6 engine in a 1993 Olds Ciera that is otherwise in nice shape.

I have done the LIM gaskets on a Chevy Venture 3.4l but thought the 3300 engine didn't suffer from this problem so I was surprised to get these results.

Just shows again why it is good to do an oil analysis every now and then.

 

[dnewton3]

Two issues to be concerned with.

1) if you have constantly high levels, indicating an existing leak
2) if you have lower levels, but they are escalating, indicating a developing leak


You levels are high enough to warrant concern. As coolant ingree continues, it can cause issues with dilution of the oil, and it can also become emsulified; not good at all.

Deal with it now before it gets out of hand.

 

[skyship]

If it does not freeze where you are, drain the coolant and use distilled water plus a can of stop leak. It's not so much the water that wrecks the oils (unless it's a real bad leak), but the anti freeze that kills the oil additives very quickly.

 

[Cressida]

If I am getting coolant in the oil, which can reduce or destroy the oil additive protection properties, then would one eventually be able to see evidence of this by paying attention to wear metal readings in future oil analysis?

In other words, if enough coolant was causing damage to the oil would one start to see iron, copper, and lead numbers go up ? Or on the contrary as long as these wear numbers are staying reasonable does that mean there is still not enough coolant to be causing internal engine wear or damage?

For now, I'll do a coolant pressure test and see if or how bad it leaks down. My guess is here is another example of GM intake manifolds gasket (IMG) going bad.

I normally would plan to replace the IMG but I am limping around like a one legged pirate trying to recover from foot surgery and may have to wait until after winter.

I have done the IMG on the GM 3.4L and it is a long job. I thought I would be able to avoid all of this with the 3300 engine.