I haven't added any coolant since the intercooler/radiator was changed fall of 2013. I was rear ended and pushed into the car in front of me. USAA had it towed to their contracted repair facility, a BMW dealership. Not happy with eir service at all. The car was apart for weeks in their dusty shop waiting on parts ( I actually tracked down part numbers for them.) Perhaps some of that dust found it way into the intercooler hoses. I doubt the blew out or cleaned anything before reassembly.
Most of the miles on this oil was a cross country trip out to west coast. 6k plus miles there and running up the west coast. The coolant temp did average 215 F on the trip out.
The only other thing that comes to mind is that I am contaminating the sample somehow which I doubt.
Strange, the potassium has to be coming from somewhere. Could they have been aggravated enough with you that someone there dumped some undiluted coolant to the oil?
Originally Posted By: Sunnyinhollister
What year of TD!? Some have the EGR cooler which are known to fail.
2010 Golf TDI
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Strange, the potassium has to be coming from somewhere. Could they have been aggravated enough with you that someone there dumped some undiluted coolant to the oil?
I highly doubt it. The mechanic may have accidentally put some in...but, I don't think they changed the oil after the repair. There was no filter or oil listed on the repair parts invoice. I ran it for 4k miles and did a UOA on 14 Aug 2013. You can see the elevated metals started there. Hindsight, should have changed it after I got it back.
Originally Posted By: Donald
Typically elevated potassium comes from eating too many bananas.
I do eat half a banana every morning, but rarely in the car.
Dust maybe. Try adding a oil magnet and change the oil filter a couple of times during oci to see if that helps. Might be an internal/external seal that has seeped into oil maybe? Check oil often for milky substance in crankcase. If you were hit in a collision it could have flexed some seals and caused cross contamination possibly.