2004 Land Rover Discovery 3604 miles Chevron Delo 15w-40

[Geoff]

code:

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Miles 3604 3650 3200 3200 3050

Date 6/26/2006 4/30/2006 2/10/2006 8/30/2005 3/27/2005

Total Miles 26054 22450 19700 10906 4388

Oil Chevron Chevron Shell Castrol Shell

Delo Delo RTS Syn Blnd RTS

Delo 15w-40 15w-40 5w-40 20w-50 5w-40

Purolator Plus Purolator Plus LR OEM LR OEM LR OEM

Aluminum 3 6 5 6 8

Chromium 1 1 2 1 3

Iron 6 14 10 8 18

Copper 3 4 2 6 4

Lead 5 9 2 8 4

Tin 4 7 6 9 24

Moly 212 180 11 67 2

Nickel 3 6 6 5 5

Manganese 0 0 0 0 1

Silver 0 0 0 0 0

Titanium 0 0 0 0 0

Potassium 0 1 2 1 1

Boron 73 59 2 13 1

Silicon 8 11 9 22 61

Sodium 2 3 0 3 4

Calcium 3117 3004 2747 1783 2363

Mangnesium 7 10 8 9 51

Phosphorus 1110 1093 1015 869 888

Zinc 1420 1396 1133 1096 1027

Barium 0 0 0 0 0



Viscosity 68.8 75.5 73 81.5

Flash 380 415 405 405

Fuel 0.5

Insoluables 0.3

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Better results this round with Delo. This includes wife idling car for 40 mins and a lot of stop and go traffic. Night time temps about mid-60s.

Also changed the oil with it still warm this time. Last round was after sitting overnight. All previous drains were with oil warm.

Purolator filter was just barely tight which surprised me. Must have sealed OK however. Oil light on a bit longer in mornings may be due to this, or thicker visc.

Shell RTS in there now. Oil light goes out instantly on morning starts.

Also, look at the shearing this round.

 

[Al]

Looks like idling gave you some dilution which may have affected viscosity a bit. Good to see that tin coming down.

 

[TooSlick]

I would think either the Shell RTS or the Delo 400 would easily last for 6000-8000 miles in this application. I'd certainly do a TBN test or two and see how much reserve you actually have here.

These bearings look to have a Pb/Sn/Ni overlay composition. So I think the levels you're seeing are completely normal. Upper engine metals like Cr/Fe/Al will tend to track with silicon levels as much as anything else and those are improving as well.

TS

 

[Geoff]

Al, TooSlick thanks for the comments. TooSlick, I will move out the OCI once I get the oil right. My understanding is that the bearing shells for main/rod/cam are indeed the tri-metal babbit overlay.

Timing chains are known to stretch on these engines. Any recommendations on additives? Moly good?

 

[Bror Jace]

Geoff I'm not sure any additive is gonna help with the cahin stretch. It would have to adhere to the metal in such thickness that it would be able to cushion the shock of the chain and sprockets as they underwent stress. Maybe a lot of moly ... but I wouldn't bet on it.

The Delo looks like it's finding its groove. I hope you stick with it.

Folks, we need to be careful and distinguish between oil shearing and oil dilutuion. It seems just 1.0-2.5% fule dilution will cause the oil to drop a full grade (not to mention what's being done to the TBN!). It's not the oil's fault, but the user (idling, short trips, etc ...) or the fuel system atop the motor (leaky injector, etc ...).

--- Bror Jace