2018 Duramax L5P UOA

Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
298
Location
Midland,MI
Posting for a friend...
Mobil delvac 15w40 CK4 since new.
15,625 miles on truck.
4,969 Miles on this sample. 3rd oil change.
No oil added.
Aluminum 7
Chromium 1
Iron 25
Copper 85
Lead 1
Tin 1
Molybedenum 23
NIckel 0
Manganese 1
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Potassium 21
Boron 39
Silicon 17
Sodium 4
Calcium 1350
Magnesium 562
Phosphorus 686
Zinc 787
Barium 0
SUS viscosity @210 f 65.2 (should be 68-82)
cat viscosity @ 100 c 11.67 (should be 12.4-16.3)
Flashpoint F 405 (>410)
Fuel % 0.5 ( Antifreeze % 0.0
Water % 0.0
Insolubules % 0.2 ( TBN not run for this batch.
TAN not tested
Blackstone noted the high copper, as was expected from these engines breaking in. However the low viscosity may be from the quick drive after startup without getting to full highway temps for awhile they seem to think?
Would like your opinions!
Thanks
 
Why wasting money on such short change intervals?? Does this truck idle a lot? Hr meter? Seems like a waste of money to change the oil so often. 15,000 miles should be 1 oil change.
 
I am by no means an UOA expert but Phosphorus and Molly seems low. (Apparently the Powerstrokes like Phosphorus which is the main component in Ford’s F1 spec. I don’t believe Delvac is Powerstroke approved. I’m not a Duramax guy so is this oil GM approved???) Based on reports from my fleet of Powerstrokes this UOA doesn’t look good at all. I look forward to others with more experience with UOAs. Personally I’d choose a different oil moving forward. For only 4,9XX miles this oil looks like crap tbh.
 
Just was trying to establish a baseline.. already knew the wear metals would be elevated due to break in. Trying to figure out the viscosity drop?
 
Cooper is from the oil cooler on an L5P. Iron is a tad high at 5ppm/1000 4900 miles. Engine is still young. Do you have a trend of UOA yet? Aluminum is likely stil from break in. You need to set a trend to see that they trend downward. Your low viscosity is likely from fuel that Blackstone is not picking up in their test method.
 
Cooper is from the oil cooler on an L5P. Iron is a tad high at 5ppm/1000 4900 miles. Engine is still young. Do you have a trend of UOA yet? Aluminum is likely stil from break in. You need to set a trend to see that they trend downward. Your low viscosity is likely from fuel that Blackstone is not picking up in their test method.
I agree with this. Metals are high because the engine is young. Consider changing the UOA test lab. Fuel dilution may be higher, but 0.5% fuel dilution is significant, and could be the reason the viscosity has dropped out of grade.
 
Do these year of duramax engines during regen have a tendency to dilute the oil with fuel like the older versions? Also with this motor still breaking in, I wonder if the fuel dilution is partly due to the rings not being sealed up completely? I hear different opinions from folks on how long it takes on Diesel engines. Thanks
 
Do these year of duramax engines during regen have a tendency to dilute the oil with fuel like the older versions? Also with this motor still breaking in, I wonder if the fuel dilution is partly due to the rings not being sealed up completely? I hear different opinions from folks on how long it takes on Diesel engines. Thanks

Ponch, not sure about your D-Max but my Cummins took a good 30K to settle in with a new short block before wear metals started to taper off. I use my 2012 Ram 2500 as a DD and to pull our 11K TT.

If your truck is an iT4 (no DEF) then they do use more diesel fuel during the regen. My truck usually has higher fuel dilution than I'd like to see but not much you can do about it.

Just my $0.02
 
I greatly understand the higher particle count for wear metals was to be expected in a young engine.. but the viscosity loss was more of a concern. I have seen many times of Xw40 oils shearing to a 30 at range but not usually a Xw30 going backwards at all on these engines.
 
I greatly understand the higher particle count for wear metals was to be expected in a young engine.. but the viscosity loss was more of a concern. I have seen many times of Xw40 oils shearing to a 30 at range but not usually a Xw30 going backwards at all on these engines.

I switched from Mobil Delvac ESP 5W40 to Mobil Delvac 1300 15W40 a couple years back. I switched because of multiple reasons, 1 being shearing. I have not seen as much shearing since going to the 15W40. I am waiting for my latest sample to come back from Blackstone. It has 7,600 miles on it and ~4K of that was towing. I'll post it on the site when it comes back.

Just my $0.02
 
I switched from Mobil Delvac ESP 5W40 to Mobil Delvac 1300 15W40 a couple years back. I switched because of multiple reasons, 1 being shearing. I have not seen as much shearing since going to the 15W40. I am waiting for my latest sample to come back from Blackstone. It has 7,600 miles on it and ~4K of that was towing. I'll post it on the site when it comes back.

Just my $0.02
Excellent
 
Back
Top