GC 0w30 '02Subaru WRX

[harrydog]

I've used Redline in this engine since 3000 miles but decided to give GC a try. Total miles on the engine is 54,985. Miles on this sample is 5,089.
First number is the current sample and the next two are the previous Redline samples.


aluminum 2/2/2
chromium 1/1/1
iron 6/4/5
copper 4/6/4
lead 10/14/6
tin 0/2/1
moly 50/521/428
nickel 0/0/0
manganese 0/0/0
silver 0/0/0
titanium 0/0/0
potassium 0/0/2
boron 0/7/5
silicon 5/8/11
sodium 3/15/26
calcium 3273/3370/3433
magnesium 107/5/5
phosphorus 741/1107/1196
zinc 885/1308/1215
barium 0/1/0

sus viscosity @210F = 64.3
flashpoint = 380
fuel = antifreeze = 0
water = 0
insolubles = 0.3
TBN = 2.8

Blackstone's comments:

Lead, from the bearings, moderated a bit in this third sample, even though the oil was run a little longer, 5089 miles vs 4963 miles for the last sample. Lead really should read about half the iron wear level, making 3 ppm a normal reading in this sample for your Subaru engine. We found traces of gas in your oil and maybe that is making the difference in lower end wear. All the other metals read perfectly, even though your oil use run was about 250 miles longer than average, for this type engine. The TBN was 2.8 so active additive still remains in the oil.

[ February 02, 2005, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: harrydog ]

 

[harrydog]

No comments?
Do I have a bearing problem?
Is What could be the cause of the fuel?
I'd like to keep either this car or my wife's Toyota Sienna for another 5 years, which would mean that this engine needs to go to 150,000 miles. If the lead indicates a bearing problem that will likely cause problems before then, I'd like to know. Or, is 10 ppm not really all that bad?

 

[T-Keith]

Lead can come from bearings, but these Subaru motors don't seem to put out a lot. High lead can also come from fuel additives. Did you use any? Your fuel is lower then mine.

 

[ekpolk]

How vigorously do you drive this car? The WRX, by its nature, seems to invite harder treatment than a lot of others do. I've heard a few stories of these engines dying early deaths (just a couple -- not saying that they're fundamentally flawed), so anything that might be the beginnings of trouble should probably be watched carefully. At this point, I'd just keep an eye on the lead and see what sort of trend develops, if any. This would probably be a good case to refer to Terry to get his insight. I do this with my samples, and it's well worth the few extra dollars.

Thanks for the post; I'm still waiting (and not holding my breath) for someone to post a really bad GC UOA.

 

[harrydog]

I used a bottle of Redline fuel treatment before the previous oil change, and for that sample the lead did spike up from 6 to 14 ppm. It came down to 10 ppm with this sample, so I'll be very interested to see what the next UOA shows.
Yes, I do drive the car fairly hard, but not abusively. I know there are others who drive their WRX's much harder than I do and their lead levels are lower.