Ok, this is not mine but a fellow member of the same car forum as mine. He's having a fuel dilution problem and is also worried about the high sodium, since blackstone comments on it possibly being coolant (though his potassium is not high, so I'm not sure why they says that??). This has been the same oil since 27k miles. Amsoil 5w40. Not sure what happened at the 37mile marked uoa (lab error on the low add pack?). Total miles on car is 52,147 and miles on oil is 4,856. The car is a 2008 Mazdaspeed 3 with a Direct Injected 2.3l Turbo and a manual 6 speed transmission. Input from the experts is VERY greatly appreciate! Anyhow...
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/at...-oil-e41290.pdf
He knows I'm positing it over here as he's needing some advice from more expert hands than mine. Also, I've already asked him all the standard questions and pulled as much info about driving habits etc and so I'm going to cut and paste all of his relevant replies to those for you to read below...
Quote:
the last three UOA's from blackstone have registered a higher amount of sodium. 22ppm @ 42k miles, 30ppm @ 47k miles, and 28ppm @ 52k miles. before that it was less than 10.
blackstone's comment is that sodium can indicate presence of antifreeze since my oil does not contain any sodium that they are aware of.
i've kept an eye on my coolant and it's still clear/clean. my last oil changes haven't seemed funky, the oil is just dirty as always. i tested my compression within the last few months and it was around 180 across all cylinders.
any thoughts? i'm not sure where i could be getting coolant into my oil. i had a thought that maybe a blown turbo could mix oil and coolant, but i honestly don't know. the fact that my coolant is still clear doesn't help, unless it's possible for coolant to get into oil and not the other way around.
Quote:
i've been running Amsoil 5W-40 since 27k miles, and i ran Seafoam thru the vac system right before the most recent oil change and the oil change at 42k miles. blackstone believes that neither amsoil nor seafoam have any sodium.
they said that wear metals have increased a little, and the fuel level was higher. i'm not sure why the fuel suddenly increased, unless the cold winter temperatures (it's been 0-20* lately) make it harder to burn the stuff off after it washes down the cylinders.
i've been watching my coolant for months now, and it was unchanged at the Full level for quite awhile. it did just drop recently, maybe 1/2" in the reservoir, but such a sudden drop seemed strange to me, so i am wondering if the dealer messed with it when i took it in recently to have my serp belt tensioner adjusted. i was going to continue keeping an eye on it to see if it drops again.
Quote:
i have been doing a lot more idling to warm up the motor, and trips have typically been shorter. highway time and longer drives have tapered off, and i've been doing a lot of quick trips here and there. the fuel increase does not come as a surprise, but i agree that 4% is more than i'd like. fuel dilution has come across on every analysis done on this car, but the analyses have seemed OK and engine health seems OK too, so i was thinking i was OK. blackstone's comment was that the viscosity and fuel do not seem to be affecting my motor.
i did NOT do a solid highway burn before this last oil change. i picked up some seafoam, ran it thru the vac system, and did a solid 15-20min drive at varied speed to burn it off. then i promptly changed the oil while it was still warm and sampled mid-stream, as instructed. since it has gotten cold i've spent a lot more time idling, and i have been doing shorter trips as opposed to longer ones since moving to my current location, which was in July 2010.
the service @ the dealer was adjusting my serp belt tensioner and evaluating my rear struts. obviously not related to the cooling system, but my coolant level had been holding steady at Full for months and suddenly dropped right around the time the Mazda monkeys were [censored] around with it.
i do not yet have an account with Bitog, but i'm clearly not as on top of this as i thought. i didn't notice the missing additives at the 37k run! i rely mostly upon their commentary, which might not be the best approach.
i'll have to see what i can do in terms of getting a cheaper synthetic and using that instead, at 3k intervals.
question - would more frequent highway runs burn off more fuel and therefore reduce the viscosity damage, or is the presence of fuel at all enough to prevent me from running 5k miles between changes?
also, i've been running an upgraded HPFP since april or so of 2010, and i just put in a new one in december that cranks out even more pressure - 1800+psi at WOT. i would imagine that higher fuel pressure could affect washdown on the cylinders.
Quote:
Update on the coolant - it was "low" by maybe 1/2" a week ago, then i topped it off, now it's "high" by 1/2". [censored]. idk the dynamics of coolant, but it was about the same temp. outside both times and the engine was fully warmed up both times. so i guess i wasn't losing coolant, more like some coolant was hiding.
So it seems unlikely that i'm losing coolant, unless it's a tiny tiny bit. I will have to see what the next UOA comes back as, perhaps it is the oil. I have been running Amsoil 5W-40 for 25k miles now, but perhaps the last few lots have had trace sodium in them.
The ambient temp during the last change was less than 5*, which mightve made the fuel even worse than normal. I have yet to do a change when it's that cold, and this winter is prolly 15* colder than past places I've been in with the car.
http://www.mazdaspeedforums.org/forum/at...-oil-e41290.pdf
He knows I'm positing it over here as he's needing some advice from more expert hands than mine. Also, I've already asked him all the standard questions and pulled as much info about driving habits etc and so I'm going to cut and paste all of his relevant replies to those for you to read below...
Quote:
the last three UOA's from blackstone have registered a higher amount of sodium. 22ppm @ 42k miles, 30ppm @ 47k miles, and 28ppm @ 52k miles. before that it was less than 10.
blackstone's comment is that sodium can indicate presence of antifreeze since my oil does not contain any sodium that they are aware of.
i've kept an eye on my coolant and it's still clear/clean. my last oil changes haven't seemed funky, the oil is just dirty as always. i tested my compression within the last few months and it was around 180 across all cylinders.
any thoughts? i'm not sure where i could be getting coolant into my oil. i had a thought that maybe a blown turbo could mix oil and coolant, but i honestly don't know. the fact that my coolant is still clear doesn't help, unless it's possible for coolant to get into oil and not the other way around.
Quote:
i've been running Amsoil 5W-40 since 27k miles, and i ran Seafoam thru the vac system right before the most recent oil change and the oil change at 42k miles. blackstone believes that neither amsoil nor seafoam have any sodium.
they said that wear metals have increased a little, and the fuel level was higher. i'm not sure why the fuel suddenly increased, unless the cold winter temperatures (it's been 0-20* lately) make it harder to burn the stuff off after it washes down the cylinders.
i've been watching my coolant for months now, and it was unchanged at the Full level for quite awhile. it did just drop recently, maybe 1/2" in the reservoir, but such a sudden drop seemed strange to me, so i am wondering if the dealer messed with it when i took it in recently to have my serp belt tensioner adjusted. i was going to continue keeping an eye on it to see if it drops again.
Quote:
i have been doing a lot more idling to warm up the motor, and trips have typically been shorter. highway time and longer drives have tapered off, and i've been doing a lot of quick trips here and there. the fuel increase does not come as a surprise, but i agree that 4% is more than i'd like. fuel dilution has come across on every analysis done on this car, but the analyses have seemed OK and engine health seems OK too, so i was thinking i was OK. blackstone's comment was that the viscosity and fuel do not seem to be affecting my motor.
i did NOT do a solid highway burn before this last oil change. i picked up some seafoam, ran it thru the vac system, and did a solid 15-20min drive at varied speed to burn it off. then i promptly changed the oil while it was still warm and sampled mid-stream, as instructed. since it has gotten cold i've spent a lot more time idling, and i have been doing shorter trips as opposed to longer ones since moving to my current location, which was in July 2010.
the service @ the dealer was adjusting my serp belt tensioner and evaluating my rear struts. obviously not related to the cooling system, but my coolant level had been holding steady at Full for months and suddenly dropped right around the time the Mazda monkeys were [censored] around with it.
i do not yet have an account with Bitog, but i'm clearly not as on top of this as i thought. i didn't notice the missing additives at the 37k run! i rely mostly upon their commentary, which might not be the best approach.
i'll have to see what i can do in terms of getting a cheaper synthetic and using that instead, at 3k intervals.
question - would more frequent highway runs burn off more fuel and therefore reduce the viscosity damage, or is the presence of fuel at all enough to prevent me from running 5k miles between changes?
also, i've been running an upgraded HPFP since april or so of 2010, and i just put in a new one in december that cranks out even more pressure - 1800+psi at WOT. i would imagine that higher fuel pressure could affect washdown on the cylinders.
Quote:
Update on the coolant - it was "low" by maybe 1/2" a week ago, then i topped it off, now it's "high" by 1/2". [censored]. idk the dynamics of coolant, but it was about the same temp. outside both times and the engine was fully warmed up both times. so i guess i wasn't losing coolant, more like some coolant was hiding.
So it seems unlikely that i'm losing coolant, unless it's a tiny tiny bit. I will have to see what the next UOA comes back as, perhaps it is the oil. I have been running Amsoil 5W-40 for 25k miles now, but perhaps the last few lots have had trace sodium in them.
The ambient temp during the last change was less than 5*, which mightve made the fuel even worse than normal. I have yet to do a change when it's that cold, and this winter is prolly 15* colder than past places I've been in with the car.
