2006 corvette, first oil change, first analysis

[White_Buffalo]

Hi everyone,

This is the results from the first oil analysis done on a 2006 corvette. 6.0 litre, 4,300 miles on the factory oil and engine. The oil cap says Mobile 1 5w30 so I am assuming this is what was in it when it came from the factory/dealership. But I didn't think moble 1 had moly in it and moly was at 111.

I know this is the original oil in the engine and expect some of the wear numbers to be high as the engine wears in but should copper be this high? We went ahead and changed the air filter since silicone was high and were not sure of the source. Changed to Schaeffer's 5w30 series 9000. Waiting to hit 3K for another analysis. Any advice or feedback ids appreciated....


copper 908
iron 139
chrome 3
alum 13
lead 23

moly 111
phos 834
zinc 915
mag 27
calc 2883

anti freeze 0
fuel N
H2O 0
silicone 165

viscosity 9.53
sae 30
sulf 10
oxid 13
nitrat 15


oil almost down to a 20 weight after 4,300 miles
aggressive driving = yes
heavy foot = yet
exceeeding posted speed limits = yes

 

[JAG]

Holy smokes, I've never seen almost 1000 PPM of copper. The iron really high for a gas engine.

Good plan to do another UOA at 3K miles. I think it would be a good idea to find UOAs of other owners of this engine to get an idea of what's normal.

If you can find one for this engine, put in a magnetic drain plug which will show if the engine is "throwing chunks" of steel/iron.

 

[gomes512]

Silicone is most likely do from engine assembly materials like gaskets and such. Should go down at next check. But yeah that copper is nuts!

 

[buster]

You are getting excessive wear and I would resample again in about 1k miles. Something is not right. All wear metals are elevated. I hope you don't have a major problem in the works. This is definitely not normal for this engine/oil.

 

[benjamming]

What is the time interval? What lab? Are you the only driver? Does the oil get warmed up prior to opening it up?

Did you cut the old oil filter open?

I would recommend sending the next sample to Terry Dyson as these numbers are high even for factory fill.

 

[Ryan02SS]

I would not worry as it is the first UOA on a new engine with the factory oil fill. My first LS1 UOA was the same. Not quite as high as this one but iron levels near 100 and high levels of copper. If the 2nd and 3rd UOA's show these high levels then there would be reason to be concerned. Compare to other low mile break in UOA's for this motor to get an idea of normal or not.

I would not lose any sleep and continue to drive it like you stole it. Recheck in a few K miles.

 

[BigBadf350]

i would never drive 4000 miles with break-in oil from the factory. your just asking for wear. not just the metals but the assembly lubes(prolly where the moly came from) break the oil down too. i over kill it in the first 20K on OCI.

JM2C and money too.

 

[02zx9r]

I certainly wouldnt want to run any of this Mobile 1 or Moble one, seems like it is worse than MOBIL 1!

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

After your next oil change, get some cheap oil and put it in. Drive around your neighborhood and then drain it and put in your good oil. That'll help dilute/flush out the wear metals and contaminates that you're getting from break-in. After so long, the wear metals will become more abrasive and cause even higher wear metals.

 

[Eddie]

The moly could be the assembly lub or factory added. I'm curious about the chrome level. I would not get too concerned about this as the first UOA on factory oil can be all over the place. I'd refill with Mobil 1 again and run 5,000 miles before another UOA. I usually don't even do a UOA until 10-12,000 miles (About where wear usually stabilizes). Who did the analysis? JMO Ed

 

[White_Buffalo]

Originally Posted By: benjamming
What is the time interval? What lab? Are you the only driver? Does the oil get warmed up prior to opening it up?

Did you cut the old oil filter open?

I would recommend sending the next sample to Terry Dyson as these numbers are high even for factory fill.


Thank you everyone for such a fast response! This vehicle belongs to a good friend of mine who does take very good care of his vehicles and is a maintenance nut, even though he does drive this one like he stole it. The oil is approx 9 months old. Schaeffer's did the oil analysis (ran the analysis twice after the high wear metals showed on the initail test) and the car does get warmed up before beating on it. Unfortunately he did not keep the old oil filter so we didn't get a chance to cut it open. I'll definitely keep tabs and get an analysis done shortly to keep an eye on things. We need to get her straightened out before the supercharger goes in, that is for sure.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: JAG
Holy smokes, I've never seen almost 1000 PPM of copper.


To the theme of an American Express commercial:

oil almost down to a 20 weight after 4,300 miles
aggressive driving = yes
heavy foot = yet
exceeding posted speed limits = yes

1000 ppm of copper with "Moble 1"? Priceless.

Apparently GM didn't get the memo from Honda. I say do a couple short OCI's. Let's see how oil consumption is.

 

[jsharp]

Much panic over nothing IMO. There's no way to tell how much of this is actual wear and even less information to tell us how the oil performed.

No one knows what the virgin viscosity was so there's no way to tell how much the oil has thinned.

Tons of sealer that will certainly elevate the silicon and may contain copper.

Parts sitting around for who knows how long before assembly that may well have had some internal corrosion or rust.

No reason to start chasing ghosts. Change the oil a few times and let things get stable, then worry about UOA's.

 

[jsharp]

Since the time ran out to edit my post...

And what about any anti-seize compounds that might have been used during assembly? Anyone think there might be some copper in those?

And of course, many of the parts don't really fit until they're run in a while...

 

[Gary Allan]

Hand him to Terry.

 

[Patman]

I wouldn't push the panic button just yet, just take another oil sample after about 3-4k and see how things look then. It should hopefully settle down after a few changes.

 

[buster]

Quote:
And what about any anti-seize compounds that might have been used during assembly? Anyone think there might be some copper in those?

Nothing to fear. Stick with M1, it's a good oil.

 

[PT1]

I have had 3 horrible UOA's with new GM engines to the point where I stopped wasting my money on them (at the advice of the lab). FWIW all 3 engines went past 100k and are still running with one over 200k. No issues. BUT, I dump factory fill at 1000-3000 miles always. Then I rinse with 10w30 cheap dino for 1000 miles the go synthetic. I'll never do a UOA until past 25,000 miles.

 

[dcoyne78]

Just do a couple of 3-4k runs as Patman suggested. Then do a UOA at 10-12k and things will probably be fine. If your friend is concerned do a UOA on your next oci and send it off to Terry Dyson, he is great.

 

[paulsav]

I've always wondered why Auto Makers use Synthetic oil for engine break-in...Iwould think they would run 10w30 for at least 1K,and then recommend a change of oil/filter..Lots of wear happens in that first week or two of driving...Just my opinion.