Amsoil AME 15w-40, 7513 miles, 2002 Dodge CTD

[billmac]

This is my third oil analysis on a vehicle that I’ve owned since new; I welcome any comments. The vehicle is a 2002 Dodge Ram 2500HD Quad Cab with a Cummins 5.9 liter, 24 valve, turbo engine and auto tranny. The truck is driven about 50-50 stop & go and freeway. The truck is not used for towing or racing. The air filter used is a Fleetguard , P/N #AH19004. This is a very large cylinder shaped paper filter that is attached to the air induction tube and sits on a metal heat shield. The oil filter used is a Donaldson ELF full flow with no bypass filtration. The lab was Oil Analyzers Inc. and their analysis recommendation was no corrective action required, oil is suitable for continued use. Resample at next regular interval I took this sample at 7,500 miles which coincided with the previous change intervals prior to oil analysis. There are several items that puzzle me and make me wonder how accurate oil analyses really are. First of all, the iron number stayed the same but the lead number dropped; frankly I would have expected the number to stay the same or go up. The copper number went up 56% - I’m really puzzled by that. Aluminum went to zero and silicon went up 150%. I have examined my air filter set-up and everything appears normal so what’s up with this increase. Finally, the viscosity at 100° C went up but the oxidation number decreased 65%. I’m speculating that the analyst at OAI (same person did previous sample) had too many analyses to do or the equipment was malfunctioning. It may be time for another analysis company. SAMPLE MILES 7,513 5,052 VEHICLE MILES 45,997 43,536 OIL USED AMSOIL AMSOIL AME 15W-40 ;AME 15W-40 SAMPLE PERIOD 05/14/06- ;05/14/06- 10/25/06 ; 08/19/06 AMBIENT TEMPS 39° to 106°;69° to 106° MAKE-UP OIL NONE NONE IRON 18 18 CHROMIUM 1 1 LEAD 4 5 COPPER 14 9 TIN 0 0 ALUMINUM 0 2 NICKEL 0 0 SILVER 0 0 SILICON 5 2 BORON 1 1 SODIUM 0 0 MAGNESIUM 22 17 CALCIUM 3805 2888 BARIUM 0 4 PHOSPHORUS 1190 1265 ZINC 1520 1462 MOLYBDENUM 0 0 TITANIUM 0 0 VANADIUM 0 0 POTASSIUM 0 0 FUEL (% VOL) <1 <1 VIS @ 40C , cSt NA NA VIS @ 100 C, cSt 13.34 12.85 WATER 0 0 SOOT/SOLIDS (% WT)0.1 0.1 COOLANT NO NO TBN 9.75 10.27 OXID 15.0 23.0 NITR 4.0 4.0 F-SOOT 0.01 0.01

 

[LargeCarManX2]

Engine is just fine, you are well within normal specifications. Which oil do you like? 5-30 or 15-40? Everything is way...low....wonderful, can't ask for more!

 

[1040 WreckerMan]

Well, copper is typically from upper end parts. If you have done more cold starts this could be a cause for higher copper. Iron numbers are typically just an indication of how long the oil has been in the crank case, the longer the oil is used the higher the iron number. Since you ran about the same mileages iron should read about the same. The silicon is nothing to be concerned about at the numbers you are seeing. If you had an intake leak the silicon would be much higher. All of these elements you were concerned about will vary slightly for a number of reasons. First, the engine will not wear exactly the same for it's engine life, so the "stuff" in the oil will change slightly. Also, oils are blended in large batches which vary from batch to batch some. There isn't a pinpoint figure that needs to be attained, it's an allowable range. The silicon is added to oil as an anti-foam agent primarily, so this batch of oil you used may just have had a bit more to start with. The thing about UOA's is, they should be used as a tool and they need to be interpreted, you can't just read the numbers for what they are. What you want to look for are trends, does the engine wear about the same every OCI? That is most important. All your numbers are just fine. We have trucks that get a million miles on a bottom end that have had double digit, or near double digit, lead readings all their life. You don't have any coolant or fuel dilution, soot was very good and the TBN is just fine. You could run this oil another 3K easy from what I see here.