Well I just got my report from Blackstone labs and it doesn't look so too good. This LT1 has around 10k miles on it. (I rebuilt it myself other than the machine work) Here is the report, engine oil has high various metals. I would assume the engine is completely broken in and these levels are all from irregular wear. Silicon is high but I'm not sure exactly what causes that, they just mention abrasive dirt. Is this report an indication of a major future engine failure? (main bearings, rod bearings, etc.) I have read others that had 60ppm for iron but not over 100 like me. I drive spirited if it makes any difference and I don't beat on the car but I like to let her loose every once in awhile. I also use a K&N cone filter. (B-body rubber intake elbow, to the MAF then to the filter, very short intake tubing) Looking for opinions on this report.

 

I cannot say I know anything about oil analysis numbers, but do you cut open and inspect your oil filters at each oil change? Also, has the oil pressure, oil usage, or performance changed?

Even if your oil shows higher PPM of metals, what is there to do about it besides rebuild the engine again. If it was my engine, I would at least wait until I saw a definite sign of a problem before doing anything. (Unless you have unlimited time and money.)

I see you are running M1 5W-30. I started running M1 High Mileage 10W-30 over the regular stuff last year. If I remember correctly, it has more zinc in it which is better for longevity. It is also a little thicker too. Just an FYI.

 

Did not know that about the high mileage but I always steered clear of high mileage stuff as it usually contains seal "irritators". Causes the seals to swell to help limit oil leaks and if you stop using the high mileage the seals return to normal size giving you leaks you never had before.

I also bought Royal purple this go round and the oil pressure is a little bit better. My pressure before never got any higher than 40lbs at WOT. (I also have the oil piping "t-eed" off. One pressure sensor goes to gauge, one goes to PCM. I assumed both gauges are lowering the pressure reading of each other seeing as both have something that moves to read the pressure) I guess I could use just 1 sensor and just split the sensor wire to get better readings.(Never thought of that until right now) I have never used a mechanical gauge to test oil pressure. The motor sounds just fine and doesn't show any signs of trouble. I have never cut my oil filters open. Performance seems to have gotten better on the Royal purple I think. Before power was dieing off at 5700-6k, after sitting all winter i changed the oil a few weeks back and the car ran right out to 6500rpms no problem.. It was quite odd. I feel it's more of a temp issue though. I mean changing the oil gets you better performance? I don't think thats true unless you go from maple syrup to thin oil... I don't use any oil, I never have to add any also.

 

Also to check the next oil change against this one do I need to run the same amount of miles on the oil or can they take lower mileage into consideration? I wanted to run 1-2k and send it in. Can I do that instead of the 3,400 miles this time?

 

IDK what those report #'s mean other than some seem higher compared to the "universal averages"

cut open the oil filter. If you see metal flakes...that ain't good and means your bearings are failing from whatever debris is now in the motor. Oil pressure typically drops once bearings get scored

also a magnetic drain plug is a god idea. It may have some minimal "sludge" on oil changes but if it has "shavings" and looks like a small porcupine...you have a engine rebuild in your very near future

 

Silicon normally means dirt, check air dilters and piping to make sure there are no leaks. Might be worth it to clean and re oil the filter

 

As said above, silicon is usually a sign of contaminants entering the air intake. Inspect for any loose fittings. Ditch the oiled K&N and go with a paper or synthetic dry cone filter.

 

The air outside is filthy. Even humans should not breath it.

When you open an engine, one of the risks you take is cleanliness related. I am not saying your engine is dirty; I am only saying that when it goes together (rebuilt) it needs to be doctor clean, like surgery. And once it is running, it needs a high quality dry paper (oem style or similar) air filter to keep it that way, clean inside, and on a performance application you should be pressure testing the air pathway to make sure nothing slips by the filter. Avoid using other external breather filters, like on the valvecover and in the PCV system, any additional points of entry to an engine should be avoided, the system should be sealed up tight from outside air, besides what passes the high quality paper filter.

You can run an engine without a filter, without oil changes, without care when you open it up. Of course it will still run... until it deteriorates in some way that it fails, often a bit of debris clogs an oil passageway and thats that. But if not, everything in the engine gradually becomes coated with trash from the air, it pits and ruins the head/block/plumbing/ and makes the engine unsalvagable, unrebuildable trash. As soon as I see a motor running without a filter I discount it as trash, want nothing to do with it.

As to the possibility of abnormal wear, how was the engine bearing clearance measured? With a dial bore gauge/micrometer, using the studs you intended to run in the final torque? Did you use a deck plate when boring the block with the same hardware on the engine now? Did somebody familiar with V8 engines modify the oil passages/oil pump areas for improved flow? Was there any debris left behind perhaps from machine work that went unnoticed? was the camshaft brand new, and did the engine ever wipe a cam lobe or some other valvetrain related problem? Many engines have tiny oil passages deep inside where even a "deep cleaning" cannot reach, and so this material from previous parts failures stays with the engine for it's life (gradually removed by filtration but with diminishing returns with respect to concentration remaining), in other words when I find out an engine has wiped a cam lobe for example, I look for another engine.

 

I don't remeber the bearing clearance as a machine shop test fit everything and checked it for me. I just did all the final torqueing of the bolts and put it together. Nobody modified the oil passages that I know of, a rocker popped off and got beat up a bit once and the engine was never "cleaned out" when it spun a rod bearing the first go round. Everything was taked out to be rebalanced with the new crank and rods/bearings and recleaned but not all the oil passages. I use a K&N cone style filter, would a paper filter even flow enough air for a Heads/cam LT1? The engine got a "high volume" oil pump, not a high pressure pump also if that matters. Camshaft/crank and rods were new. Pistons are the OEM LT1 pistons with new rings. I had new camshaft bearings put in also at the time. I honed the cylinders myself to seat the new rings.

 

We may never know for sure, but what you may be seeing in the analysis is the material from the previous parts failures. How many oil changes since it spun a bearing? How bad was it spun, was there metal shards cleaving from the sides in an obvious disaster or not too bad? An oil analysis is just another tool, and in this case I think the thing to do is keep driving the car normal(no sense to take apart the engine because of a lab report lol), and do several cheap/fast (frequent) oil changes for a while, then run another analysis on a full 3k sample oil to see if the concentration of those worrysom components is dimishing or increasing. If it is diminishing that may indicate that it was from the previous failures; if it is increasing then perhaps something in the rebuild is falling apart and may need attention soon.

 

Very good idea! There have been maybe, 3-4 oil changes since the failure. The engine only has around 10k on it. The spun bearing (just one) had some bad wear, the others were better but not great. There was no excessive metal in the engine that I could see. The excess metal could very well be from the spun bearing. I'll have to "flush" the engine out a bit with a few quick oil changes then run 3k like you mentioned. Thats a good idea. Thanks for the insight!