I have been trying to get to the bottom of why my oil samples keep coming back with high sodium, Just sodium no potassium which i know the combination means coolant. Just having the sodium without the other half(potassium) is what is throwing me for a loop.
Heres a litle history with the truck...
-I bought it at 107k and noticed shortly after that i had a very small external head gasket leak on the passenger side head. The leak was so small that i could never see it actaully wet all i could see was the crusty dried coolant and i knew this was a common problem for these engines from working at the local dealership for a year and a half. Oil analysis at 111k came back with sodium at a 5 and potassium at a 3. I relaced the head gaskets at about 113k if i remember correctly.
-Next oil analysis was at 119k after replacing the head gaskets and running it for 6500miles on the oil. This one came back with a sodium count of 24 potassium 0.
-Next oil analysis was at 129k and it came back with sodium at 31 and potassium at 0 again.
So what i get from these is that my first sample before the head gasket replacement was probably leaking a little antifreeze internally also that i didnt know about. I cant figure out where im continueing to get this sodium from, Only thing i can think of is maybe the bottle or jug that im using to hold the oil in? Im getting the oil from work(valvoline 15w40) out of our bulk tanks but have to put it in smaller jugs to get it home. Even with this though i find it hard to believe that this is continuing to happen over multiple oil changes.
Anyone have any ideas?
I've got another used oil sample to send in right now as with a sample out of the jug of new oil that went into the truck.
Heres a litle history with the truck...
-I bought it at 107k and noticed shortly after that i had a very small external head gasket leak on the passenger side head. The leak was so small that i could never see it actaully wet all i could see was the crusty dried coolant and i knew this was a common problem for these engines from working at the local dealership for a year and a half. Oil analysis at 111k came back with sodium at a 5 and potassium at a 3. I relaced the head gaskets at about 113k if i remember correctly.
-Next oil analysis was at 119k after replacing the head gaskets and running it for 6500miles on the oil. This one came back with a sodium count of 24 potassium 0.
-Next oil analysis was at 129k and it came back with sodium at 31 and potassium at 0 again.
So what i get from these is that my first sample before the head gasket replacement was probably leaking a little antifreeze internally also that i didnt know about. I cant figure out where im continueing to get this sodium from, Only thing i can think of is maybe the bottle or jug that im using to hold the oil in? Im getting the oil from work(valvoline 15w40) out of our bulk tanks but have to put it in smaller jugs to get it home. Even with this though i find it hard to believe that this is continuing to happen over multiple oil changes.
Anyone have any ideas?
I've got another used oil sample to send in right now as with a sample out of the jug of new oil that went into the truck.
