High Copper on Schaffers UOA

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This truck is used as a plow truck and had a high number of idle hours during this OCI. It also had 3 injectors replaced and they didn't change the oil after they did the work. This batch of oil contained 4 qts. Schaffers 9000 5w-40, 5 qts Schaffers 7000 15w-40, 1 qt Schaffers #132 EP Moly Additive, M1-303 oil filter. Blackstone Labs seem to think that the injector work may have caused the high levels of copper. Is there anything else that could possibly lead to the level of copper as shown in the report? BTW, the truck had 56,206 miles on it and the OCI was 6,507 miles. The total hours on this sample was approx. 275 hours. The lab report is listed below:

Al 2
Cr 1
FE 23
Cu 173
Pb 4
TIN 0
Moly 276
Nickel 1
Manganese 0
Silver 1
Titanium 0
Potassium 3
Boron 7
Silicon 7
Sodium 7
Calcium 2094
Magnesium 386
Phosphorus 1000
Zinc 1197
Barium 0
SUS Viscosity 79.3
cSt Viscosity @ 100C 15.36
Flashpoint 430
Fuel % Antifreeze % 0.0
Water % 0.0
Insolubles % 0.3
TBN 6.4
 
I'm wondering why the UOA didn't pick up on the Antimony in the #132? Those hours represent more than dobule the miles driven. Other than that I'll let a UOA expert weigh in.
 
I'm sure that the high level of coppper isn't from the oil. I am looking for a possible engine problem before it turns into a large problem. Is there any copper in the turbo bearings? Would the increased viscosity have any negative effect?
 
I forgot to add that the truck is a 2007 2500HD w/ the 6.6 Duramax LBZ and 6 speed Allison transmission if that helps any.
 
I find the readings somewhat worthy of ponderance.

You claim a lot of idle time, but the fuel dilution is low. That's obviously a good thing. But it belies the high idle time. Not saying your wrong, just find that interesting.

The insolubles are nice and low for oil with such age on it. If the oil is truly miles + hours idling, it's got some age.

The TBN is impressive, given the other topics I just ran through.

Why were the injectors replaced? I have to presume there was some type of fueling issues (typically overfueling?). But the fuel dilution and vis retention don't show any ovefueling problems. It's common to see the LB7's have injectors replaced, but not LBZ's. Why the replacements? At what point was the injector work done in relation to the last known OCI?

You silicon didn't spike either, and that's atypical of when work is done. Especially if the oil wasn't changed.

The sample was right at the universal average exposure for Dmax engines, and the Al and Pb were really nice, but the Fe and Cu were way high. Some of the Fe is likely from pushing snow; higher loads.

I hereby admit I'm not up on the Schaeffers #132. Is there anything in the additive #132 that would react with the oil cooler? Typically the cooler is associated with Cu in new trucks as they shed off the excess, but this truck is way past "new" and likely had enough OCIs to flush out what used to be "new".

The whole thing is just a contradiction of itself. Really high Cu from a well-broke-in LBZ, that had injector work which is not typical of that engine, and the oil wasn't changed but had high Cu and Fe, with all else being really well in control.

Something is amiss ...
 
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Copper aside, it is a nice looking report. I have seen Cu in the 200 PPM range with the first use Schaeffer's 5w40 in JD diesels, since none of the other wear metals were scarey, I just kept trending it.

What did you refill the sump with?
 
dnewton,

The injectors had to be replaced because of faulty wiring harness's on all 3 injectors. They were stuck in the closed position though. The injectors failed when the batch of oil had approx. 4,300 miles on it. However, the truck was ran for about 4 hours with the injectors malfunctioning. As far as the idle time is concerned, the time on the oil is correct as indicated by the engine hour indicator on the DIC.
Just for the life history of the truck. Currently it has 57,061 miles and 2386.6 hours on it sitting in my garage right now. I agree that the slightly elevated level of Fe could be the result of the snow plow. That really wasn't that alarmed Blackstone though. Could the bearings in the turbo consist of copper????
Rob Roy,
This was about the 4th batch of Schaffers this truck has seen in its life. Sooooo, I am stumped here. I didn't know if the oil guru's here could possibly shed some light on what might be possibly going on here.
 
You could always swap the truck over to a conventional 15w40 to see if the Cu goes down. In the meantime, contact "Salesrep" on this board. He is our Schaeffer's sponsor, and can share his knowledge on the subject.
 
Might the installers of the injectors have used a copper-based product, such as a lubricant, anti-sieze or a sealant? That could account for the high copper.
 
What did you refill with?

I would say run another UOA on this fill, maybe the injector thing did cause this? Another UOA might help to find out.
 
There is nothing really alarming about this report.

I would be inclined to OCI and see if the Cu comes down. The Fe is likely just from some heavy loading in plowing; nothing to get uptight over. It's the Cu that is just way out of whack. So much so that I suspect that it's either an errant reading, or some outside contributor such as Jim suggested. I doubt your engine is shedding Cu that much after several years of use.

Keep us informed please. You have my personal Dmax curiosity piqued.
 
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Thanks for the information. I will call the dealership that did the work and see if the copper based lubricant might be the case. Also, I refilled using 9 qts Schaffers 7000 15w-40 with 1 qt Schaffers #132 EP Moly Additive. I did this to keep the the OCI as close to apples to apples as I can. I agree, everything else looked really good. I normally run this set-up out to 10K miles without much thought. I just thought that I'd run an analysis on this batch of oil because of the injector failures looking primarily for excessive fuel. On a side note, I do use the Schaffers Diesel treat 2000 mixing 3 oz. with 26 gallons of fuel.
 
Turbo bearings is a possibility or injector installer stuff. The title is a bit misleading as I don't think the Schaeffers 9000 or 700 has anything to do with the high reading. High copper readings tend to be "flukey" as well. See what the next one says.
 
Salesrep,

I agree that the oil most likely isn't the cause for the copper reading. I am going to take another sample around 4K miles to see if the copper is a fluke as you suggested. There are numerous variables that "could" explain the copper with the faulty injectors being replaced.
As dnewton has previously said, the Iron is most likely due to the heavy loads placed by the snow removal. Otherwise, the UOA looked pretty good. I have been happy so far with the Schaeffers products that I've used.
The next UOA will be a lot of highway miles with a little towing mixed in. Hopefully everything will balance out and the engine will return a good UOA so I can get back out to the 10K+ drain intervals again.
 
Originally Posted By: 07GreyLBZ
Thanks for the information. I will call the dealership that did the work and see if the copper based lubricant might be the case. Also, I refilled using 9 qts Schaffers 7000 15w-40 with 1 qt Schaffers #132 EP Moly Additive. I did this to keep the the OCI as close to apples to apples as I can. I agree, everything else looked really good. I normally run this set-up out to 10K miles without much thought. I just thought that I'd run an analysis on this batch of oil because of the injector failures looking primarily for excessive fuel. On a side note, I do use the Schaffers Diesel treat 2000 mixing 3 oz. with 26 gallons of fuel.

Just wondering why the combination of oil? 7k and 9k. Is the moly lube widely used ?
 
Well I got my latest report from Blackstone today. It read as follows:

Sample was run for 10,326 miles on Schaeffers 15W-40 w/ Mobil 1 303 filter.

AL 3
CR 1
FE 29
PB 7
CU 305!!!!!!
Moly 305
Tin 0
Nickel 0
Manganese 0
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Potassium 3
Boron 7
Silicon 8
Sodium 11
CA 1528
MG 860
Phosphorus 1137
Zinc 1554
Barium 0
SUS Viscosity @ 210F 84.3
cSt Viscosity @100C 16.59
Flashpoint 435F
Fuel Antifreeze % 0.0
Water % 0.0
Insoluble % 0.3
TBN 4.8

This was a lot of highway miles with light towing daily. What can possibly be causing this much copper consistantly in the 2 UOA's. I am about to go to Wal-Mart tomorrow and buy the Delo 400 for $8.50 p/gallon and call it a day. Anyone have any ideas on this. Possible impending premature turbo failure????
 
Also, note the viscosity climbed out of the 40W range. Could theoil be too thick for the turbo bearings possibly??? Just trying to get a handle on what could be happening here. Thanks.
 
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