High Iron Level Readings

[Ruby]

I read on a few other web-sites where a Powerstroke owner sent his oil sample in for a reading and the sample came back with a high iron reading of 60. The Powerstroke owner said he used Rotella 15w40. The company who did the reading couldn't offer a clue about the high reading. Someone else on the web-site advised if Delo 15w40 is used the high iron reading should go away. This doesn't make sense to me, any ideas. I'm was thinking about trying the new re-forulated Rotella 15w40, but not sure if I should give the Delo a try. I presently use the MC 15w40.


Thanks

 

[widman]

Delo is good, but the in the US the Shell product should also be good. High iron in one sample does not say a lot without the rest of the numbers, and then even not a lot till the next sample.
Iron can be from wear or from rust. An engine that is idled a lot, or driven short distances without getting hot enough to evaporate the water will have high iron.
Also important is level of sodium or potasium, posible indicating the entrance of water from the cooling system.
So it is important to know all the details of the driving, the oil used previously, the rest of the samples, etc.
I had a sample two weeks ago with 2211 ppm of iron in a 4 cyl suzuki. Of course it also had 3% water, 45 ppm of sodium, and 111 of potasium.
Had another one the same time (Toyota 4 cyl)with 351 ppm of iron, but it also had 92 ppm of silicon and lots of other metal wear.

you need the whole story.

 

[Ruby]

widman,

That is a fair statement, although I'm not an expert in this field. I also agree the Shell Rotella is a high quality oil just as Delo is.