Sodium question

[roperteacher]

Hey there! I tried a searchand really didn't come up with a whole lot. Although there was some good info on another site that was helpful. My last oil sample I sent in had sodium come back at 21ppm. Its usually less than 10. But way back at 50,XXX miles I had one come back at 15 . It was NOT flagged as abnormal. My POTASSIUM level is 0. I was told that if it was a coolant leak into the oil that BOTH potassium and sodium would increase, not just one. I guess its possible a spec of something could have got in there. I am not real worried just curious as to how Sodium could get into the sample. Now if I had potassium and sodium I would be a little more concerned. I run Valvolene Premium Blue 15w40 CJ. Cummins 2007 5.9 TD. Thanks!

 

[addyguy]

Sodium is a detergent in many, many oils, so it is easy for it to get in. Valvoline uses Sodium in a lot of it's oils, so there could easily be cross-contamination, or there is literally 20-30ppm in the add-pack.

With no Potassium, don't worry about it at all.

 

[ottotheclown]

Valvoline and Castrol use Sodium. It is cheap helps the profit angle.Titanium is a cheaper version of Moly. that is now being used to help make more money too. The draw back or another drawback in using these oils is the antifreeze leak and finding it if you have one. The sodium is your first clue it might be there. No potassium is a good sign. Yes they go together.

 

[roperteacher]

Thanks! Thats what I was thinking. I will just let it be. Thanks! Just for grins I changed over to Mobil Delvac 1300 15w40 for this OCI. Will be interesting to see the differences.

 

[edhackett]

Quote:
With no Potassium, don't worry about it at all.


Quote:
No potassium is a good sign. Yes they go together.


Really? There aren't coolant formulations that don't contain enough potassium to show up in a used oil analysis at low levels of contamination?

Ed