high metals vs oci

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Just curious if there is any real correlation between the two.

My last uoa showed higher metals than I liked, but the oil looked otherwise ok.

So I'm at 7500 miles on my current fill and not sure if I should change or go ahead and push to 10k since the oil itself was fine.

I'm getting the feeling that the metals just are what they are based on the use, and on a per mile basis a shorter run wont really help anything.

Thoughts?

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...0kO#Post4018725



The only thing different between the oua above and the current fill is I'm using a FRAM ultra instead of the Bosch distance plus.
 
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You will get xxx ppm of iron and other metals per 1000 miles. Some engines will have more and some less. Many people use UOAs to develop a baseline. If you UOA show 20 ppm per 7500 OCI consistently then one goes to 50, you know something is wrong, probably air intake.
 
You are in S Dakota so you will either have all season oil, or spring/fall changes. If spring/fall changes are your norm, I'd run one batch of SAE30 HD in the spring to the fall and see what the UOA looks like?

that iron might be cylinder wear on start-up... It might also be a not to great a fit between the air cleaner and the base or top? I'd be looking at all that...

SAE082807.jpg

Note: the lowest wear at all temps is with straight 30 ...
 
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The purpose of a UOA is generally two fold:
1) Determine how dirty the oil is, compare to condemnation limits and determine whether to change or not. Condemnation limits for metals are usually much higher than is ever posted on this site. TBN, viscosity, moisture, oxidation, etc are probably more critical.

2) Catch issues before they become a big problem - coolant, fuel, air filter issue, etc.
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Note: the lowest wear at all temps is with straight 30 ...
Well yeah most people think for some reason a high VI is a good thing . Not on a finished oil,the base oil maybe. A 10w-30 is a thin oil with viscosity improvers that coil up when hot yet they straighten out [sheer] when they are between sliding surfaces so with 10W-30 multi visc oil when between the parts actually is a much thinner oil than with a straight 30.
 
Three different oils it's hard to compare. But - the Castrol is showing a LOT more iron than the other two oils. Agree it could be cold startup wear, but am concerned that the Castrol might not be a good oil for this engine. In your place I'd try another oil next winter to see if the results are the same...your engine might just put out more oil on cold starts, or it might have an issue with the Castrol. (the same as the Jeep 4.0 has an issue with M1).

Basically, stick with the same oil for several OCIs so you're comparing apples to apples.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Note: the lowest wear at all temps is with straight 30 ...
Well yeah most people think for some reason a high VI is a good thing . Not on a finished oil,the base oil maybe. A 10w-30 is a thin oil with viscosity improvers that coil up when hot yet they straighten out [sheer] when they are between sliding surfaces so with 10W-30 multi visc oil when between the parts actually is a much thinner oil than with a straight 30.


+1
During oil selection ,I never look at VI ..........
unless the applications is under 'stress' as in differentials .......in which case, I would select one with a lower VI for shear-stability property ....never mind if it's mineral or otherwise.
blush.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Kuato
Three different oils it's hard to compare. But - the Castrol is showing a LOT more iron than the other two oils. Agree it could be cold startup wear, but am concerned that the Castrol might not be a good oil for this engine. In your place I'd try another oil next winter to see if the results are the same...your engine might just put out more oil on cold starts, or it might have an issue with the Castrol. (the same as the Jeep 4.0 has an issue with M1).

Basically, stick with the same oil for several OCIs so you're comparing apples to apples.


I could sample the current fill, which would be an apples to apples comparison.

But the real question is at what oci? I'm at 7500 (might be 8500) now on the same extended performance castrol. But can I go to 10k+?

The high metals make me nervous, but the oil appeared fine. I'm just not sure if the two are directly related or not. The Ashland oil had high metals as well, so it makes me wonder. The fill with relatively low metals was not representative of this vehicles normal use (was done as a check to see if 5w30 is ok)

The ultimate goal is a 10k oci, because then I'm only under there twice a year.
 
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Originally Posted By: meborder
Originally Posted By: Kuato
Three different oils it's hard to compare. But - the Castrol is showing a LOT more iron than the other two oils. Agree it could be cold startup wear, but am concerned that the Castrol might not be a good oil for this engine. In your place I'd try another oil next winter to see if the results are the same...your engine might just put out more oil on cold starts, or it might have an issue with the Castrol. (the same as the Jeep 4.0 has an issue with M1).

Basically, stick with the same oil for several OCIs so you're comparing apples to apples.


I could sample the current fill, which would be an apples to apples comparison.

But the real question is at what oci? I'm at 7500 (might be 8500) now on the same extended performance castrol. But can I go to 10k+?

The high metals make me nervous, but the oil appeared fine. I'm just not sure if the two are directly related or not. The Ashland oil had high metals as well, so it makes me wonder. The fill with relatively low metals was not representative of this vehicles normal use (was done as a check to see if 5w30 is ok)

The ultimate goal is a 10k oci, because then I'm only under there twice a year.


Be interesting to see the UOA. I'm sure there's a suitable oil for your engine that will go 10k.
 
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