1995 F-250, 460 EFI - Mobile 1 10W30, 3,000 miles

[DIYiT]

Edit: This is my first oil analysis and first post to the forum, so I apologize for the long post, but I figured I would get some history behind the truck in as well.

TL/DR: Work truck for most it's life. Oil analysis shows unusually high elements indicating high wear.

As in the title, this is a 1995 F-250 HD, 460 EFI with the E40D automatic transmission, 3.55 gearing. This is the first analysis I've ever had of the oil, and it was also the first run of full synthetic oil in the engine. I switched to Mobile 1 after my dad (farmer) switched his bulk oil delivery to our farm to 5W30 since all of our other vehicle require 5W20 or 5W30. The oil filter used during this interval was a Fram XG8A (I've since switched to Motorcraft, I was just using up what my dad had left on the shelf).

The oil was put in at the end of May and was changed in the beginning of October after 3,000 miles. Around 1,100 miles were put on the truck while pulling a 28' 5th wheel camper. Because of the gearing in the rear end, I pull the camper in 3rd gear around 2,200 to 2,500 RPM. The miles were accumulated during a single day 550 mile trip in June, and a single day 550 mile return trip in October. The remainder of mile were driven on weekday trips of 30 mile round trip to work (rural highway) or 200 mile interstate trips every couple of weekends.

At the oil change, my truck had just over 130,000 miles on the odometer. From 0-118,000 miles (fall of 2008) this truck was my dad's only work truck for our farm. Most of the miles were put on pulling a 20' hog trailer, anhydrous ammonia tanks to and from the field, and the combine bean head. This means that many of the miles were put on at low speed, high load with quite a bit of idling also. My dad always uses Fram oil filters, and he uses bulk oil delivered to our farm from a local co-op so I have no details on the oil. Between the fall of 2008 (118,000 miles) and this past spring (127,000 miles), I drove the truck during college so most of the miles were put on unloaded highway miles.

Now, after that giant block of text, finally, the oil analysis:

Code:


Miles on Oil 3108

Miles on Unit 130,034

Sample Date 10/08/11

Makeup Oil 0 qts



Elements in PPM

Aluminum 6

Chromium 4

Iron 70

Copper 5

Lead 41

Tin 0

Molybdenum 94

Nickel 3

Manganese 1

Silver 0

Titanium 0

Potassium 9

Boron 45

Silicon 14

Sodium 12

Calcium 2338

Magnesium 136

Phosphorus 782

Zinc 826

Barium 1



Properties

SUS Viscocity @ 210°F 60.3

cSt Viscosity @ 100°F 10.3

Flashpoint in °F 405

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0

Water % 0.0

Insolubles % 0.3

TBN 3.7

TAN

ISO Code


This is what Blackstone left for comments for me:

Quote:
Iron and lead both read high in this first sample from your F250. Our universal averages show typical wear for this type of engine after about 3,300 miles on the oil, so your wear should read a lot closer to average. Iron can come from any steel part, but lead is most likely from the bearings, so it looks like a bearing/shaft interface is wearing poorly. This may be related to the towing you noted, but we'll have to monitor trends in the next sample to get a better picture. The TBN was good, at 3.7 (1.0 is low), but for now stay around 3,000 miles and check back.


Since I'm still learning how to interpret these results, I'm just looking for general comments, and also wondering if there's anything I can do to help mitigate wear in the future.

 

[spasm3]

The lead is worrysome unless its a particle streak. A little of each wear metal. If it was mine, i'd be tempted to run a 0w 40 or 5w 40 hdeo in it

 

[buster]

Quote:
This means that many of the miles were put on at low speed, high load with quite a bit of idling also


The oil doesn't appear to be doing it's job under these conditions.

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: spasm3
The lead is worrysome unless its a particle streak. A little of each wear metal. If it was mine, i'd be tempted to run a 0w 40 or 5w 40 hdeo in it


I had to look up what HDEO stood for. Rather than changing out my oil again, is there any oil additive I can mix into this oil for the time being?

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: buster
Quote:
This means that many of the miles were put on at low speed, high load with quite a bit of idling also


The oil doesn't appear to be doing it's job under these conditions.


It's no longer used that way. It's how my dad ran it while it was his truck. Now, I usually drive mostly highway miles with very little idling other than what it takes to defrost my window in the winter.

 

[Knox]

Oil additives are a bad idea, in general, unless there is a specific reason your using it.

Personally i'd dump the oil, having iron particles in your oil can cause even more wear. I'd resample at 5000 miles with new oil. Also, on average Mobil 1 oil tends to lean towards the higher ends on iron readings.

I'm gonna agree with blackstone on this one and say that most likely it was the towing, that's responsible for the wear.

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: Knox
Oil additives are a bad idea, in general, unless there is a specific reason your using it.

Personally i'd dump the oil, having iron particles in your oil can cause even more wear. I'd resample at 5000 miles with new oil. Also, on average Mobil 1 oil tends to lean towards the higher ends on iron readings.

I'm gonna agree with blackstone on this one and say that most likely it was the towing, that's responsible for the wear.


I guess I'm a little confused by your response. I have only about 600 miles on this oil since the sample to Blackstone was taken at the oil change which is why I'd rather not change it again unless I have to. I plan on following Blackstone's recommendation of 3,000 miles for the next oil change so I'm not going to be able to take a sample at 5,000 miles.

The reason I ask about an additive is because of the wear. From what I've read around the site here, it looks like ZDDP helps prevent wear, but that most oils have reduced the ZDDP levels. Are there any additives I can put in and use until the next oil change? From the information I glean from the back of the bottle, most oil additives on the store shelf are for cleaning or for stopping leaks, neither of which I need.

If the towing is causing excessive wear, what I can I do to mitigate the wear while towing? I won't be doing much towing during the winter since it's too cold for the camper; most of the miles driven on my truck will be when the snow's too deep for my car to make the drive. However, I'm on a nation-wide traveling construction crew, so I will be pulling my camper during the summer months between job locations to act as my house or year round if I'm located in the southern half of the US where I don't have to worry about snow.

 

[buster]

If you do buy M1 again, make sure you get the new SN version.

 

[ridgerunner]

I had similar results from my 1990 F150 I6 running M1 10-40 HM oil (lead/copper). This also was my first run with a synthectic oil. I wonder if the synth oil was doing some cleaning in the oil cooler resulting in higher metal readings. Anyone??

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: buster
If you do buy M1 again, make sure you get the new SN version.


Can you explain what the SN means and how I determine if it is SN oil? Normally I pick up my oil at Walmart since they're open late at night and on weekends when I usually remember I need an oil change. If need be, I'll pick up oil elsewhere to get the oil I need though.

Originally Posted By: ridgerunner
I had similar results from my 1990 F150 I6 running M1 10-40 HM oil (lead/copper). This also was my first run with a synthectic oil. I wonder if the synth oil was doing some cleaning in the oil cooler resulting in higher metal readings. Anyone??


I suppose it's possible that it's pulling past contaminants out of nooks and crannies in the motor. The radiator/oil cooler (single unit on these trucks) was replaced around 125,000 miles on the truck (in an accident; lots of bodywork and replacement parts at that point). I'll know better when I do the next oil change. However, I have run SeaFoam in my oil before an oil change periodically since getting the truck from my dad. I didn't do it this last time for fear of contaminating the oil sample results however. I suppose I'll know more when I send in my next sample.

 

[Knox]

I was under the impression that the oil was still in there. Most people running synthetic oil on bitog, tend to run it to atleast 5k miles.

I'm still against adding any additive, it's better to add good oil, rather than additives. Just ride this one change out. Mobil 1 HighMileage has more zddp and phosphorus.

If your doing heavy towing in the summer, running an HDEO, is a good idea. HDEO's tend to have more zddp and the added HT/HS will protect the cam and cylinder walls better. Just about any brand in 5w40 would work.

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: Knox
I was under the impression that the oil was still in there. Most people running synthetic oil on bitog, tend to run it to atleast 5k miles.

I'm still against adding any additive, it's better to add good oil, rather than additives. Just ride this one change out. Mobil 1 HighMileage has more zddp and phosphorus.

If your doing heavy towing in the summer, running an HDEO, is a good idea. HDEO's tend to have more zddp and the added HT/HS will protect the cam and cylinder walls better. Just about any brand in 5w40 would work.


I'll look at running M1 High Mileage next time. How will running different weights of oil affect the engine? I've always run 10W30 per the manual although 5W30 during the winter is also allowed. How will running 5W40 be different from a 5 or 10W30?

 

[OVERKILL]

If the engine had deposits in it, those deposits can contain metals from previous OCI's. You put a high detergent oil in there that starts to dissolve the deposits, you are going to see elevated levels until that stuff clears up. Keep that in mind.

You need to establish a trend. This is simply a single sample and doesn't tell you much. If you put the same brand and type of oil back in, after that OCI is complete, we'll compare it to this one and see if it is trending down. If it is, then you are likely just seeing the results of what I've indicated above.

 

[antonmnster]

I tend to think that some wear metals get locked away in deposits and then get loosened up when a cleaner is added, be that a synth oil or a solvent like SeaFoam. I saw really high metals on a short run (3400 miles) in my BMW when I used seafoam.

 

[DIYiT]

Well, what you guys are saying is starting to make me feel better. The motor has always run well, doesn't show any serious signs of it's age other than fuel delivery related. During the 3,000 miles between oil changes, the oil level will drop from the high side to the mid scale on the hatched area of the dipstick, so it uses a little oil, but not even enough to add a quart before the next oil change. The high numbers on my report were getting me worried, but after checking my records, both oil changes previous to the one tested had a SeaFoam treatment, and this is the second oil change with synthetic oil. I'm guessing there's a lot of sludge and deposits built up based on the history of only conventional oil and Fram filters that my dad used. If it could be that the engine is still being cleaned out, I feel better about the state of the motor.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: DIYiT
Well, what you guys are saying is starting to make me feel better. The motor has always run well, doesn't show any serious signs of it's age other than fuel delivery related. During the 3,000 miles between oil changes, the oil level will drop from the high side to the mid scale on the hatched area of the dipstick, so it uses a little oil, but not even enough to add a quart before the next oil change. The high numbers on my report were getting me worried, but after checking my records, both oil changes previous to the one tested had a SeaFoam treatment, and this is the second oil change with synthetic oil. I'm guessing there's a lot of sludge and deposits built up based on the history of only conventional oil and Fram filters that my dad used. If it could be that the engine is still being cleaned out, I feel better about the state of the motor.


Very true about the slude that may be in your engine. Remember a quality synthetic like M1 will begine to clean up dirty engines, especially one like yours that has been on dino for 16 years. Develope a pattern of using the same quality oil and after some time your engine will begine to clean up.

 

[JAG]

How clean does it look through the oil fill hole?

 

[OVERKILL]

Cut open your filter if you still have it.

 

[DIYiT]

Originally Posted By: JAG
How clean does it look through the oil fill hole?


Never really looked. I'll try to remember to take a look tomorrow.

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Cut open your filter if you still have it.


It's probably gone by now. It's back home at the farm, and it's probably already been burned out by now.

 

[OVERKILL]

Bugger. Because it may have been loaded with crud. The first few I pulled off the Expedition when I started running M1 in it were full of black carbon deposits. That eventually tapered off and stopped.