Idling & fuel problem UOA's - Fords with Mobil Drive Clean 5w-30

[medic]

These are being posted at the request of a few users. These are engines that have cold starts & idle for at least an hour in the winter. Some hit the road shortly after & some are shut off until the next day or a few hours later. All of these UOA's are with bulk Mobil Drive Clean 5w-30. Everything with a * was flagged.


This first one doesn't look too bad:

code:

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Ford 4.2



date 2/4/03 Oil 3100 Unit 7216

Iron 7

Aluminum 1

Copper 2

lead 0

silicon 9

sodium 6

moly 1

antimony 1

calcium 1903

phos 776

zinc 915

fuel 0.7

soot
water
vis 9.6

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This is a newer Ford 4.2L V6. Overall, everything looks good for the age of the engine. Note that the fuel is slightly elevated @ 0.7%

This one has high fuel in the a few of the samples. THe interesting part is that the only time when this would've sat and idled first thing in the morning, the fuel is normal, but some other items are high - no pattern at all with this van.

code:

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Ford 5.4L

Miles on Unit 136221 152552 159233 173095 179711

Miles on oil 3000 3200 3300 3000 3000

Date 10/2/01 6/3/02 8/6/02 3/1/03 6/4/03

Iron 7 / 14 / 5 / 17 / 8

Nickle 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0

Aluminum 2 / 2 / 2 / 2 / 2

copper 1 / 2 / 2 / 0 / 0

lead 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0

tin 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

silicon 2 / 5 / 3 / 1 / 4

sodium 6 / 11 / 5 / 2 / 5

potassium 1 / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0

moly 82 / 102 / 66 / 1 / 1

antimony 22 / 3 / 0 / 0 / 2

boron 17 / 0 / 4 / 18 / 0

magnesium 59 / 0 / 46 / 246 / 32

calc 1626 / 2037 / 1616 / 1556 / 2268

phos 852 / 911 / 817 / 947 / 895

zinc 968 / 1108 / 938 / 1008 / 1090

fuel 1.5 / 0.9 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 1.8

soot .1 /
water
vis 9.2* / 9.3 / 10.4 / 12.2 / 9.9

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Now this last one shows no fuel issues at all, but does show the highest wear metals (and silicon) during the winter months - there was also significant thickening in a January sample.

code:

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Ford 4.2L

Miles on unit 148026 158240 173155 180302 192638

miles on oil 2700 3000 3000 3500 3000

date 3/29/02 7/30/02 1/13/03 4/24/03 9/15/03

iron 16 / 10 / 39 / 21 / 14

chrome 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0

aluminum 13* / 6 / 6 / 4 / 4

copper 4 / 2 / 1 / 3 / 1

lead 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

tin 2 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

silicon 24* / 10 / 20* / 10 / 10

sodium 12 / 12 / 3 / 9 / 5

potassium 1 / 1 / 1 / 2 / 0

moly 98 / 64 / 13 / 2 / 1

antimony 0 / 0 / 0 / 1 / 0

boron 3 / 2 / 51* / 0 / 0

magnesium 78 / 78 / 505 / 0 / 0

calc 1995 / 1991 / 1515 / 2148 / 2057

phos 1042 / 877 / 1044 / 900 / 854

zinc 1194 / 1130 / 1234 / 1072 / 1025

fuel 0.5 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 0.5 / 0.5

soot
water
vis 9.4 / 9.9 / 13.0* / 9.7 / 9.5

oxida na / na / na / 14 / 14

nitra na / na / na / 18 / 21*

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[ December 22, 2003, 09:57 PM: Message edited by: medic ]

 

[Al]

Wealth of information here. Needless to say-high silicon-high iron. And the one also had high aluminum. Seems logical to check the air cleaners on those two. Amazing bearing wear on all of these samples. Thanks for posting. The good thing is there are no coolant leaks. BTW 3% fuel is usually the place where action needs to be taken. 2% is used by some.

 

[medic]

I doubt the air cleaner is the issue with any of these vehicles. They all use the same air cleaner and they are changed at 6000 mile intervals. Ford recommends a new air filter every 30,000 miles on these engines.

Good news, this is the same filter my truck uses. I take the old filters, blow them out with the air compressor and run them for another 10,000 miles. I just let the maint. guy know when I'm gonna need one and he sets it aside for me.

 

[Al]

Well it could be that the filter is not seated properly. It could also be that the duct from the filter to the intake manifold leaks. I'd say there is leakage somewhere-especially the one with the high aluminum.

 

[Steve S]

It's not a good idea to blow out air filters as it may open the pores in the element. I used to work on forklifts ,heavy equipment and some big trucks . Lots of things you learn on heavy equipment and big truks because there is a great emphasis on long life .