I sent a sample on Monday (the 7th) and already have the data today (the 10th) how fast can they be? I did select Email for the reply, not snail mail, perhaps yours is lost in the mail if you chose the "hard copy" delivery.
FWIW, USPS lost a letter with a money order I sent someone - now I have to wait 60 days for the PO to do their PVI thing (cost was $3 grrrr)
Either it was stolen (and I get nothing) or they sent it to Katmandu or someplace in which case hopefully I get a refund
I'll post the Blackstone details in a while after I figure it all oout.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

OK here are the gory details
Oil is Amsoil 15W40 HD diesel rated, Filters Baldwin P.O.S. (never again!)
Vehicle 1987 300D turbo recent head rebuild, new lifters, new everything topside.
Sample Date: 03/05/05
MI ON OIL 5,830
MI ON UNIT 263,000

Value/Universal Avg
ALUMINUM 6/4
CHROMIUM 7/2
IRON 80/33
COPPER 4/5
LEAD 21/4
TIN 0/1
MOLYBDENUM 29/25
NICKEL 3/1
MANGANESE 1/0
SILVER 0/0
TITANIUM 0/0
POTASSIUM 18/6
BORON 17/78
SILICON 11/6
SODIUM 8/4
CALCIUM 3162/2220
MAGNESIUM 23/357
PHOSPHORUS 947/993
ZINC 1021/1152
BARIUM 0/1

TEST Should Be: / Were:
SUS VISCOSITY @210F 68-08/ 76.9
Flashpoint >410 / 460
Fuel% <2.0 / 0.5
Antifreeze% 0 / TR
Water <0.1 / 0
Insolubles <0.8 / 0.6
Narrative report:
We don't have any problem with the miles you ran this oil or the filter change routine. This oil has traces of anti-freeze in it, which could show some sort of problem at the upper end. Sometimes you can suck coolant into the cylinder and most of it goes out the exhaust valve and we see little of it down in the oil. With wear this much above average (see universal averages based on the 3.0 L MB engine at 4170 miles oil use) you can see rings and bearings are doing poorly. Sugest having you cooling system pressure checked. Watch for white smoke. (end)

Clearly no celebrating here
I wonder where all the calcium came from? Iron is too high. Sounds like a doctors report on a sick old man
This could serve as an example of why oil monitoring can be important. I wish I had baseline data, I guess this will have to be it for next time.
Thought occured to me, should I sell her on eBay quick? to which my other self answers "Not unless Hell freezes over!"

Do you think my driving habits are involved? I like to take her on 200 - 300 mile trips and use WOT for as long as I can, and I want to see 105 MPH for a few minutes each trip to get the adrenaline flowing. Actually I've only been able to do that twice in the past 12 months which is the oil change interval.
I think I will not change the way I drive her, but I'll be watching the rear view mirror a little closer.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

OK, time for a deep breath. I recently went through the same situation. See post #7.

Your driving habits have nothing to do with it, IMHO. However, personally, I don't drive this one very hard. It sees WOT once in a 200 mile trip, but, driving it hard is not likely to affect the wear metals in the oil. You "might" consider changing it at 4K for awhile and see if it does any better.

The calcium is an additive that is quite normal. Mine had a calcium level of 3124ppm.

It is time to keep an eye on the oil. I'll be sending in my second sample for anaysis soon. I've got way more sodium and potassium than you have but no glycol for some reason. We'll see if it gets worse.

Brian, I am not really worried yet (but I haven't been to bed yet either in which case tomorrow I might feel differently !)
I wonder why with all the accuracy they have on the elemental analysis but they only state "trace" of antifreeze? I'd rather see 10 PPM or something scientific you know! Do other oil analysis show definitive amounts of antifreeze?

I have been thinking about the fact that I did an oil flush prior to putting this oil in the engine. There is more than a possibility that a little of it remained in the crankcase. I don't know what it might contain but no glycol I am certain.
My head did not show any small cracks whatsoever. It doesn't nail when I start it unless really cold. And the lifters don't make any odd noises at all, this engine has a tight upper end.
I might be looking at rings and bearings someday but at the rate I drive it that will be a few years off, even though I will be putting three times the mileage on it in next few years (15K per yr instead of 5K)

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Reid, most of the tests that I have done will either say "positive" or "negative" for anti-freeze. They usually don't give you ppm.

The numbers to watch are the sodium and potassium levels. Mine are 62 and 96 respectively, and I don't see any sign of white smoke in the exhaust at any time.

If the numbers get worse, I'm going to have to pull the head on this one. But, I am really hoping to wait awhile because the 617 has the exact same problem and it has to be done as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

I am secretly hoping to get better results on the next test, but, I'm certainly not counting on it.

I figured out that sodium is also a component in antifreeze, there is a nice "Understanding the Elements" page at Blackstone's website that covers this.
I only had 8 readout for sodium but have 11 and 18 for silicon and potassium respectively. Less than yours by a lot it seems. I lost some sleep on this but I'm better off knowing than not knowing!
Its the soft metals and iron that bothers me, the bottom end you know, but still the engine hardly uses any oil and has very little blowby. I think I am just a worry-wart when it comes to something that involves my pet car
BTW I learned from Blackstone that an individual (don't know his name) was complaining of not receiving data because his Spam blocker was involved, a good lesson to anyone using Email programs, be aware that Spam filtering seldom differentiates wanted and unwanted messages when things are as complex as spreadsheets, HTML and so on.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

I sent a reminder in from their site, and they replied immediately, and emailed me the report (.pdf format). I can't cut and paste from the report, but here is the summary:

Al 4, av 4
Chr 2, av 2
Iron 55, av 34
Cop 6, av 30
Lead 21, av 5
Tin 0, av 1
Moly 79, av 44
Nick 3, av 0
Pot 18, av 1
Boron 77, av 43
Sili 6, av 7
Sod 7, av 4
Calc 2556, av 3256
Magn 20, av 246
Phos 979, av 1043
Zinc 1097, av 1222

The viscosity was ok (4000 mile change), there was no fuel or coolant in the oil. They do not quantify soot. Note the iron and lead -- they may show bearing wear, but it is probably not a problem because copper and tin were low. It might just be an additive (I haven't used any though).

I'm wondering, since this was my second oil change with this engine since I installed it (and the first was just a flush, less than 100 miles on 10W-30), the iron and lead may be from the camshaft, which had slightly rusty lobes from the scrap yard...

__________________
'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

Reid,

Now that you mention Silicon at 18, you had better take a look at the air filter and intake system and see if there is a leak somewhere.


The Silicon is simply dirt of some sort that is getting into the oil. The most likely culprit is the intake air. Silicon is abrasive and will likely cause higher than desired levels of other metals.

As a reference, my silicon on the last test was at 1 ppm.

OK, thanks Brian. I am using the OE filter and the EGR is disabled (for testing purposes) the intake manifold was clean as a whistle.
I'll check it out!
Reid

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

What, you didn't have the lobes polished? tsk tsk
That just may be one reason iron is present to some degree.

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

I had another test done for the 603 after running it another 5K. Some interesting data:


Here are the Mobil Accutrack results for the 603:

Oil type: Rotella-T synthetic
Sample date: 3/13/05

Miles on oil: 5,000
Miles on engine: 115,000

All spectrochemical quantities below in ppm:

Iron:32
Chromium: 1
Lead: 1
Copper 1
Tin: 0
Aluminum: 3
Nickel: 0
Silver: 0
Silicon: 1
Boron: 3
Sodium: 25
Magnesium: 22
Calcium: 3269
Barium: 0
Phosphorus: 1070
Zinc: 1392
Molybdenum: 1
Titanium: 0
Vanadium: 0
Potassium: 26

The following are physical properties:

Fuel: <1% by volume
Viscosity @ 100°C.: 14.72
Water: 0% by volume
Glycol: Negative
TBN: 9.1
Soot: .7%


Basically, everything is identical with the exception of sodium and potassium. These two have now dropped significantly when compared to the previous test, listed above.

Since a head gasket does not get better with additional mileage, I'm wondering if my sampling method of taking the oil from the drain plug might be the issue. I clean the area thoroughly and wait until several quarts have passed through before I take the sample.

Any other thoughts?