Mobil 1 5w-20, 5451m on oil, 06 ranger 3.0

[JeePing]

Hey gang, been a long time. Recently did UOA and results got me puzzled. Fist UOA I did on this truck when it had 13k on it and numbers looked great. Now 2 years later truck got 54k on it and 2nd oil analysis came back not so good.
Here is what Blackstone had to say:

It's been quite a while since we've seen a sample from your Ranger and, on the whole, wear still
looks pretty good. We found copper, from brass/bronze parts, reading high along with silicon. The silicon
may show airborne dirt getting past your air filter. We suggest taking a look at your air filter, as airborne dirt
is very abrasive and may have caused the high copper. No other harmful contaminants were present in this
sample of used 5W/20. We suggest no more than 5,500 miles on the oil for now. Any recent work done
may also explain the copper and silicon.
I'm running a same Amsoil AA air filter sense about 5000 on this truck. Amsoil recommends cleaning it once a year and that's what I did. I checked all the hoses on the truck and they looked good. Intake tube, all the vac tubes all that. What do you guys think? Where can copper and silicon can be coming from?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks


ALUMINUM 4
CHROMIUM 2
IRON 19
COPPER 28
LEAD 1
TIN 3
MOLYBDENUM 120
NICKEL 1
MANGANESE 1
SILVER 0
TITANIUM 0
POTASSIUM 1
BORON 66
SILICON 33
SODIUM 6
CALCIUM 2491
MAGNESIUM 32
PHOSPHORUS 688
ZINC 862
BARIUM 0



cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 54.2
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 8.54
Flashpoint in °F 400
Fuel % Antifreeze % 0
Water % 0
Insolubles % 0.3

 

[Gary Allan]

While the silicon is high, everything else aside from Cu looks normal. Fe would have been brought up too if airborne abrasives were high, but it looks appropriate for the mileage/time.

 

[JAG]

When I see chromium higher than 1 in normal OCIs, I suspect intake-path dirt ingestion. Since silicon is high, it lends more credence to that belief. Copper is a tricky element to consider because it is so easily chemically leached into the oil so it can be from leaching and rubbing wear, in widely ranging ratios between the two mechanisms.

I do suspect dirt ingestion that's entering the combustion chambers. But I do wonder if the oil you apply to the filter is silicone based, thereby contains silicon. Gary, do you know if Amsoil's filter oil is silicone based?

 

[Pete591]

My Eao used to give high silicon readings..

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: JAG
When I see chromium higher than 1 in normal OCIs, I suspect intake-path dirt ingestion. Since silicon is high, it lends more credence to that belief. Copper is a tricky element to consider because it is so easily chemically leached into the oil so it can be from leaching and rubbing wear, in widely ranging ratios between the two mechanisms.

I do suspect dirt ingestion that's entering the combustion chambers. But I do wonder if the oil you apply to the filter is silicone based, thereby contains silicon. Gary, do you know if Amsoil's filter oil is silicone based?


Yeah, hard on the chromium with a significance of 1+/-. Sorta like insolubles (or .1+/-).

There's no oiling involved with the air filter.

 

[JeePing]

Today i did air leak test using starting fluid. Sprayed all over the engine, didn't get a thing. I sprayed some in the air box just to see what kind of effect it would have on the engine. It startled just a little for a second. It was kind of hard to tell, because the engine is so quite. Does any one have any idea how I can positively test for air leak?
This oil report got me puzzled. What else cant it be besides the dirt in the intake?

Edit: just in case of air filter being worn out, I ordered new one.

 

[JeePing]

Originally Posted By: Pete591
My Eao used to give high silicon readings..


how did you fix it?

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
Does any one have any idea how I can positively test for air leak?


I have an utrasonic leak detector. Great little thing. I got it on ebay for cheap. They have the same thing selling now.

Don't just stick with the plumbing to the air horn. It can be the brake booster hose or the PCV system too. The primary air intake tends to give you higher aluminum since that's what the throttle body is made of. Through the PCV vents you get to bypass all that and grind up Pb and Cu a bit easier.

Put 370394519186 into ebay's search engine. That even has the transmitter (not useful here, but )

 

[Cujet]

There is nothing wrong with that UOA. I can't imagine that engine lasting less than 300,000 miles. I've seen Lead at 250, Iron at 100 and 125,000 mile teardowns that measured within new spec and were re-used. They looked perfect.