fnsblum

Bought my Vette last June with 9800 on it. I had Blackstone do two oil analysis. One at 15K and at 20K. The cooper and iron were high on both. The cooper came down some on the second sample but the iron jumped way up. Has anyone here had simliar results? Later! Frank

pHEnomIC

iTrader: (14)

Go over to bobistheoilguy forums, they have a huge talk about this kind of stuff there, not so much here.

To be honest though, i think oil analysis are overrated and actually dont tell too much outside of whether theres excessive fuel or something like that in the oil.

Are you having any issues with the car? How does it drive? How is your oil pressure?

I feel like oil pressure and compression tests are a lot more useful.

Oil analysis in an unmodded car are probably a waste of money, because the fixes are expensive.

How hard are you driving the car and also... are you waiting for it to get up to full temp before getting on it?

Also, maybe shorten oil change intervals?

ShoddyHog

iTrader: (1)

Man, you provided a great deal of good information there!

Oil analysis is a tool that I've been using for decades, having been a helicopter mechanic, so I've submitted samples for my GTO and Silverado...with different needs, of course. Truck is a DD...GTO is a toy.

I had a lifter failure in the GTO and Blackstone was cool with just a little high iron.

ducatisl

iTrader: (1)

I did my LS3 recently and posted the UOA at Bobistheoilguy forums. Iron is relatively high in LS motors versus other brands/types, but man, yours does seem high.

fnsblum

Thanks for the reminder about Bob's site. I haven't been there for some time. I only use oil analysis when I buy a new outfit to see what I have. I used it more when I had my 02 Duramax. They had a history of bad injectors. They leaked into the oil pan. Blackstone caught the high diesel % early on and possible saved my engine.

The engine runs very good. No noises on start up. Oil pressure is 42 at 1850 RPM cruising speed. I am an old fart so am not hard on the power. I never get on the power on a cold engine. Short burst only. The engine just purrs after it warms up.

That is a lot of iron considering how quiet the engine runs. I plan to send another sample in 2500 more miles as Blackstone suggested. After that, good or bad, I plan to run it. The engine still has near two years of power train warranty. It will start making noise if it is serious. Thanks for the replies. Later! Frank

DarkblueTA

Oil samples are critical to know what is going on inside your engine. The military does it on all critical components (ie...jet/helo engines). You can determine failure(s) by knowing what metal is floating around inside your engine before the failure will actually happen, saving thousands (if not millions) of dollars.

OP, I don't use an outside company because I have access to a spectrol mn machine which I personally calibrate to mil-spec standards (we have all the fun 12-5, 12-100, 19-0, 12-30 oils (first number is how many elements and second number is ppm).

*NOTE* These are numbers from my Camaro SS when I did the oil change. The previous owner used GOD-only-knows-what oil in the car. Also, I have no honest idea how long the oil has been in the engine. I also do not have a clean sample to know what is really in the oil. I normally burn a clean (unused) sample before and then burn my used sample afterwards. Both samples have 3 burns to get an average of what is in each. All numbers are PPM (parts per million)

Here are my numbers.

Clean sample... N/A

Used sample...

Iron - Fe: 17.8
Silver - Ag: 0.0
Aluminum - Al: 5.1
Chromium - Cr: 0.6
Copper - Cu: 10.5
Magnesium-Mg: 14.6
Sodium - Na: 6.7
Nickle - Ni: 1.0
Lead - Pb: 1.9
Silicon(dirt)- Si: 8.2
Tin - Sn: 0.0
Titanium - Ti: 0.0
Boron - B: 44.9
Moly - Mo: 74.8
Zinc - Zn: 668.7

Jared H

iTrader: (1)

Sending you a PM

Pumba

I have used Blackstone for the past 7 years for my LS6:



My iron and copper levels are much lower than yours. I would agree with those who say you may have a wear problem. Also, the next time you have an analysis done by Blackstone, pay the extra $10 and have them do a TBN analysis.

-

Shockwave179

iTrader: (7)

Wow those metals are high. Do frequently drive really short distances?

chrisfrost

iTrader: (8)

If I remember correctly ,,,,driving many short trips will accumulate moisture in the crankcase because of the lack of sufficient time to warm up the engine thus not being enough time to steam off that moisture ? Is that correct ?

DarkblueTA

That is correct.

NovaKid

How much does an oil analysis cost anyway? Based on what people have said on this thread, is an analysis even worth it for a stock motor with bolt ons or is it only worth it for higher mileage engines?

BTW, I really dig your signature, but being the nerd I am, I ran some numbers and came up with 64.65 mph for max speed of the piston at 6000 rpm...