I routinely measure ferrous iron in water systems. It is what I do for a living. I really hate trending ferrous iron in those systems because it really isn't an accurate measurement of corrosion rates. It can trend in that direction but there are too many other variables that can spike an iron reading. We use different chelant packages in different inhibitors and guess what? Some of them will hold more iron in solution than others. Your higher iron reading is often reflective of the product you are using to protect the system from corrosion so you have to know the product. The history of the system is critical because anything with corrosion in the form of iron oxide laying around in the system mixed with a strong chelant package will pick-up ferrous iron. It has nothing to do with current corrosion rates and anyone reading it as such would be mistaken.
So...I'm no expert on iron levels in the internal combustion engine but I am sceptical about trending iron readings and correlating it to engine wear.
So...I'm no expert on iron levels in the internal combustion engine but I am sceptical about trending iron readings and correlating it to engine wear.