'78 Ford Granada Castrol HM 10w-40 4,150 miles

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1978 ford granada 250 I6 carb/auto castrol HM 10w-40 +stp

mi on oil- 4,150
mi on car- 43,557
sample date- 10/06/2011
added- 2qts

aluminum- 10
chromium- 3
iron- 64
copper- 5
lead- 618
tin- 4
molybdenum- 29
nickel- 0
manganese- 2
silver- 0
titanium- 0
potassium- 0
boron- 20
silicon- 8
calcium- 2,692
magnesium- 57
phosphorous- 1,145
zinc- 1,366
barium- 1

SUS viscosity @ 210F- 76.0
CST viscosity @ 100C- 14.51
flashpoint in F- 370
fuel- TR
antifreeze- 0.0%
water- 0.0%
insolubles- 0.4

Air filter is a K&N and oil filter was a PZ1
 
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Yowza! That lead reading would scare the hooey outta me. Not good.

With insols. of 0.4 after only 4k miles, I'd say there was/is some residual dirt in the engine that went through the bearings, even though Si is low.

What STP did you use - regular blue-bottle? Some oil treatments (Bardahl) use lead as an additive, but STP isn't one of them, so I'm assuming this is bearing wear. I will say that with the HM oil and STP, you created a really, really stout oil.

You need to 'flush' the engine to get grit, etc...out of the engine - I'd use NO additives, and do a couple of 3k runs to achieve this. I'd love to see a follow-up UOA.
 
That's why I have cheap dollar general 10w-30 in there now with no additives. I'll use it for this and next OCI. Blackstone recommended another 4k. That doesn't take long on this car as I've got nearly 1k since this sample already.

The STP I have is the old formula with the yellow box on front. 3qts of the oil used in this last oci were from my 70 chrysler that had roughly 180 miles on it. 2 used when oil put in and one used as add-oil.

Blackstone seems to think some of the lead could be residual from the days of leaded fuels. My fuel tank does not have the restrictor in the inlet.
 
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The lead number really does stick out badly, and the iron level is not correspondingly high. A few of the really thick oil additives for worn-out engines actually contain lead as a component (not sure what its supposed to do, "soothe" the worn bearings somehow???) Maybe that old STP formula has lead in it.

Leftover from a previous owner running leaded fuel is also a possibility, but its been a pretty long time since leaded fuel was even available.
 
If I remember correctly, on cars from the 1970's and prior, the odometer only went up to 100K. Once it reached 100K, it then started all over again at a 1 mile reading. Back in the day, the American Auto Manufactures were tying to make sure that vehicles would not last too long....while their counterparts and competition in Asia were building vehicles for long lives and endurance. Take a look today at where the American Auto Makers wound up....bankruptcy and failures.

Do you know for sure how many thousands of miles that you have on this Ford Granada?
 
I'd ditch the dollar general oil and get some Dino Diesel to run in this car....

Shell Rotella, Triple Protection, Diesel Dino in 10W-30, or any other comperable oil from WM, Kmart, AZ or AA and MMO after a couple of runs of this strong detergent oil.

Make sure to change the Oil Filter a couple of times during each run with the oil.
 
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Seems to me with lead readings that high that you should cut the oil filter open to look for chunks of what used to be bearings. I think its awesome you are putting real miles on an old school with an inline six. Good luck.
 
I would add-lose the K&N air filter and go with conventional paper-with those lead numbers you don't want to risk getting anything else bad into the motor. The Ford inline 6s I had back in the day were slow anyway, a low restriction air filter wouldn't have made any difference.
 
I agree 100% that the lead reading is from long ago leaded gas.

If it was really bearing wear, you'd have high copper as well, b/c you'd be into the backing plate on the bearings, most likely.

I don't think there is much to worry about, and metals will drop as you put miles on this car, and do more changes. Next UOA's will tell the tale.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
I agree 100% that the lead reading is from long ago leaded gas.

If it was really bearing wear, you'd have high copper as well, b/c you'd be into the backing plate on the bearings, most likely.

I don't think there is much to worry about, and metals will drop as you put miles on this car, and do more changes. Next UOA's will tell the tale.


In agreement...pretty much as usual.
 
Originally Posted By: mongo161
If I remember correctly, on cars from the 1970's and prior, the odometer only went up to 100K. Once it reached 100K, it then started all over again at a 1 mile reading. Back in the day, the American Auto Manufactures were tying to make sure that vehicles would not last too long....while their counterparts and competition in Asia were building vehicles for long lives and endurance. Take a look today at where the American Auto Makers wound up....bankruptcy and failures.
Do you know for sure how many thousands of miles that you have on this Ford Granada?


Only its undertaker will know for sure. The car still had one of it's original equipment tires on it and the original date coded wires and plugs from Ford in 1977. That's usually a good indicator of mileage. Also only one owner before me and car is not rotted out, which these were famous for doing. Apparently, it recieved little to no maintanance during its previous owner's time with it.
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The cheap oil in it now is really Warren Labs 10w-30 sold through Dollar General with no additives by me.
Oil PSI seems to be still good with no obvious knocking or rattling from the engine, even at start-up or under heavy load at speed. Leaded fuel was still sold around here into the 80's so it is a good possibility...
 
Also of note: during this OCI, I replaced the original fuel pump as it was exhibiting the early signs of failure without external leakage from the weep-hole.
I'm not giving up on the old grenade yet. "We" still have work to do.
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Man, I remember my Granada like it was yesterday (it was my first car) and I knocked the [censored] outta that thing. everything from jack rabbit starts, to line locks. The only thing I really hated about that car, was the ride! It had a horrible ride! other than that it was a pretty good car. Took my abuse for two years, I traded it when I ran it out of oil. (it still ran though)
 
yes, the ride quality is terrible. It does quite the beating on my back over those long rides. I don't mind at all for little 12 mile trips though. I should get something else, but I don't want to risk the $ on a job that still might not work out and I really just can't afford another car for awhile yet.
My previous commute was 6.1 miles each way, 4 days a week for the last 17 years. Now it's 46 miles each way, 5 days a week.
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Originally Posted By: SS1970chrysler
yes, the ride quality is terrible. It does quite the beating on my back over those long rides. I don't mind at all for little 12 mile trips though. I should get something else, but I don't want to risk the $ on a job that still might not work out and I really just can't afford another car for awhile yet.
My previous commute was 6.1 miles each way, 4 days a week for the last 17 years. Now it's 46 miles each way, 5 days a week.
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Yeah you`v got a nice commute goin on there.
 
Yup, even with iron levels over 60 and lead levels over 250, engines lasted 150,000 miles with regular maintenance! And people here worry about 10PPM iron and 5-20PPM lead!
 
I'll have you know that I would actually profit from junking this car due to current scrap prices.
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OMG! This vehicle is 33 years old. You are accomplishing the impossible by driving OLD CARS in a state that salts roads in winter. I hope you carry Gortex and Thinsulate overalls and boots in the back seat! And wd-40 for the distributor cap.

46 miles each way - I think you can extend to 2 months oil changes by running fleet type diesel/gasoline engine certified motor oil. Is there any 10w-30 readily available in your area.

[standing ovation]
 
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Leaded gas? I'd guess that this car, like most from 1975 onwards had a cat and ran on unleaded. The leaded nozzle was too big (by design) to fit into unleaded fuel filler holes.
 
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