Silicon and copper in my Penz Platinum at 5000 mi.??

[cdherman]

OK, this a new Toyota Corolla. I ran the original oil 2k miles, then switched to Penz Platinum 5w30 for the next 3k.

UOA Shows the following:
copper 66
Silicon 66
Sodium 38
Magnesium 17
Calcium 1759
Phos 686
Zinc 817
Moly 49
Visc at 100 9.4
other numbers are negligably low. (Iron etc.)

Cenex who did the UOA notes that silicon and copper levels are a little high and should be "monitored".

The copper I can accept as perhaps a little elevated due to the initial wear in process of the engine. The silicon is more worrisome -- the car is never driven in the dirt at all. I worry about an air leak.

Ideas???? Should I worry??

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Yep... too early for a UOA... unless you suspected a visible problem?? Some here generally wait until the half-way point of their basic warranty coverage... ie... 18K or 1.5 years.

 

[MatchboxCar]

The silicon at this young age of the engine is due to the casting and silicon sealers than any wear or dirt injestion. This engine will bcleaning up nicely over the next 5000 miles.

 

[Highroller]

In my opinion, this UOA sample is very early to be sampling. 5000 miles on a new engine is too soon to worry about anything. I'd wait until you hit the 10k mark or later to compare. All wear levels should decrease some by then. Your engine is pretty much still in a wear-in process.

 

[cdherman]

Cool -- I suspected that this was nothing to worry about -- yeh I know, its early to bother with UOA, and I did more to just find out if Cenex would process the sample.

I get the test kits from a Coop that sells Cenex oils. They run about $100 for 10 kits. These are meant for big diesel farm equip, but Cenex doesn't refuse to run the test on other brands of oil apparently.

 

[deven]

Yeah silicon is probably the silicate in seals, i think getting a uoa on a new vehicle is a waste of money because if the numbers are high, we assume its from a new engine breaking in. Get a UOA done after 15k to gauge your engine wear.

 

[Gary Allan]

If this was dirt ingress the other elemental figures would typically be elevated as well. Silicon from sealants ..sodium may be an additive in the oil ..and it appears some engines just like to shed copper when new (above just about any other element

).

Relax and expect these things to calm down as you move forward in mileage.

 

[The Critic]

Sodium is probably residual from the factory fill, which contained a Sodium additive, as with many XOM oils.