Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: ArcticCat
That's still wear, it's just chemical wear, not mechanical wear.
True. However, the implications are quite different.
Chemical wear would be spread out over everything the oil touches, and most of that stuff is stuff you don't care about. For example, I'm sure no one would be bothered by their oil passages losing an atom or two here and there. If the oil is leaching a few ppm of iron from the whole engine over tens of thousands of miles, the effects on any one part are insignificant.
On the other hand, mechanical wear is on one specific piece, and it's the kind of piece you care about the most (moving parts). A few ppm of iron off a single bearing every OCI can definitely make a difference in the long run.
If the wear is mostly chemical it's surely not the same concern.
How many years would it take for the alcohol in wine to leach enough lead, from the crystal decanter, to have it collapse? A few hundred?
Originally Posted By: ArcticCat
That's still wear, it's just chemical wear, not mechanical wear.
True. However, the implications are quite different.
Chemical wear would be spread out over everything the oil touches, and most of that stuff is stuff you don't care about. For example, I'm sure no one would be bothered by their oil passages losing an atom or two here and there. If the oil is leaching a few ppm of iron from the whole engine over tens of thousands of miles, the effects on any one part are insignificant.
On the other hand, mechanical wear is on one specific piece, and it's the kind of piece you care about the most (moving parts). A few ppm of iron off a single bearing every OCI can definitely make a difference in the long run.
If the wear is mostly chemical it's surely not the same concern.
How many years would it take for the alcohol in wine to leach enough lead, from the crystal decanter, to have it collapse? A few hundred?
