my oil analysis. opinions wanted...
 

So I sent my oil in for an analysis at 2000 miles on Delo 15-40 for the 300sd. I was little worried about my head gasket and I was curious to see how the engine was doing. They noted moderate bearing wear after only 2k miles and want me to send another sample in in 3k. I am curious as to what would cause this. I have never let my oil get below the minimum line even though it had a pretty good valve cover gasket leak. What can I do to get the bearing wear back into specs?

I attached a copy of my report.

What is the milage on the Engine?

What type of driving do you do?

As an example if the Car makes a lots of starts and stops during the day where the Car sits long enough for the Oil to drain out of the Bearings I would expect more Bearing wear that if someone just drove the Car to work and back most days.

right after a rebuild Engines also kind of wear in.

I don't daily drive it. When I do drive it, its usually to work and back. 17 miles each way all highway. There is some traffic on the way home but not too much. My car has been getting better fuel economy as of late. Almost 24 mpg where as it was getting about 20-21 consistently.

How was this sample taken?
You may have a build up of crud ( metal sludge ) & it contaminated the sample.

I think I found the Milage; 94,756 miles?

I am not saying this is the issue but if the Car is not being driven every day and it is sitting several days the Oil drains out of the parts. This means when you start the Car it is sort of dry as far as lubrication goes.

Once the Engine is going unless you are doing high speed driving I do not see a wear issue there.

Do you warm up your Engine before you Drive?

I uses my mityvac to suck the oil from the dipstick. I didn't want to change the oil yet.

The car says 94k but it has a few more than that. It sits for a few days. I drove it last sunday and then I didn't drive it again until yesterday. As far as warmup I let it sit for maybe a minute before I take off. I am sure to be easy on it until its warm and I don't drive too hard on it. I did do a few italian tune ups last sunday as I went into the hill country and could not resist the open roads combined with the hills. Surprisingly I did not suffer poor fuel mileage even though I was flogging it pretty good.


If you guys don't think its an issue i won't worry about it, but the comment made me nervous.

To be honest I do not know much about the Oil Analysis.
My comments are just sort of general stuff.

When I worked at the Navel Ship Yard they did it to all of the Engines we rebuilt on the Ships (Emergency Generators). But, we never got to see the results.

As for the Oil Sample it is better to draw it through the Dip Stick Tube (not from the bottom of the Pan) than from the Oil Drain Plug.
When we did it at the Ship Yard we set up a Valve on the main Oil Gallery and drew the sample while the Engine was running.

ForcedInduction made comment on another Forum that changing the Oil too soon causes more Engine Wear because when it is new the detergent level is high and causes some wear until it depletes. If the Oil is changed a lot it keeps the detergent level high.
He was commenting on someone that was changing their Oil every 3,000 miles.

Anyway I am just a curious as you are for some comments.

Evidently the Head Gasket is OK.

This is not the forum to be asking about oil analysis.

Go over to www.Bobistheoilguy.com and check out the thousands of used oil anaysis postings that are there.

Also, there is experience there, not speculation like here.

The only thing that is out of whack is the lead. Since that could come from bearing material, I'm sure that is why they want another sample.

The boron looks low. Boron is an oil addative, not a wear material. I have seen it fluctuate up and down for no apparent reason.

No water or anti freeze showing, so no head gasket issue.

Do as they say. Send in another sample in a few thousand miles.

re sample again as suggested but don't put to much worry into it. The numbers are not bad.