Questions on C12 Oil Analysis

[JakeGMCHD]

This is a 2000 KW T800 Quad Axle Dump that runs Cat filters and Cat Spinner Bypass filter. The truck has 185K miles on it. Truck has been running Amsoil 15W-40 AME oil. Here's the data from the last two samples first sample has 630 hrs. the second one has 257.5 hrs. I have contacted my dealer about the trace of Glycol in this sample. Cat won't fix it under warranty till the sample reaches 200 ppm of Potassium. My dealer used a FABCO SOS oil analysis kit and it came back with 135ppm Potassium.

Between the two samples and before my dealer had the lower end opened up to replace some seals. This would help to explain the Moly in the samples. The mains were checked between these samples as well.

What do you guys think of this sample? Should I worry about the possibility of Coolant in this sample? Does anyone know if the C12 engine has had head gasket problems?
1st / 2nd
Glycol NEG / POS
Fuel Vis 100c 14.3 / 13.69
Soot 0.1 / 0.1
%OXD 13.3 / 28
%NOX 15.7 / 16
TBN 12.2 / 10.7
Fe 32 / 8
Cr 2 / 0
Pb 5 / 3
Cu 205 / 147
Sn 2 / 0
Al 8 / 1
Ni 2 / 0
Ag 0 / 0
Si 5 / 8
B 34 / 32
Na 21 / 37
Mg 14 / 56
Ca 4388 / 3309
Ba 0 / 0
P 1265 / 1287
Zn 1329 / 1420
Mo 15 / 59
Ti, V, Cd all 0 / 0
Pt 0 / 179

Thanks for your input.

[ June 07, 2003, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: JakeGMCHD ]

 

[TooSlick]

Jake,

You certainly do have a slight coolant leak here ...the increase in oxidation and reduction in TBN in the second sample are clear indicators. The presence of increased sodium also indicates ethlyene glycol in the oil. Coolant leaks result in the formation of a highly acidic sludge, which can quickly deplete the oil additives. I'd keep a close eye on this one and test every 250 hours. At some point it will probably be necessary to take the motor offline and fix this problem.

The wear rates in the 600 hr sample look very good, by the way, so the Amsoil 15w-40 is working very well in this application.

Tooslick

 

[Stinky Peterson]

Jake - which coolant are you using? ELC or conventional. I would guess that you are using ELC and the moly is coming from the coolant since it has 900 ppm moly.

Stinky

 

[JakeGMCHD]

Stinky Peterson
You are right it's the ELC from CAT.

TooSlick
I have ran 900 hours with numbers as good as the 600 hr sample. This was one of the worst 600 hr samples that I've had. Thanks for the Info.

 

[Chris142]

I worked for a company that bought 20 new trucks with c-12 Cats. Every one had headgasket problems within 200k, most around 70k.

We and our competitors had so many problems with these engines ranging from headgaskets to total engine failure and ventalation from thrown rods that the boss traded them in on new trucks with Detroits within 2 years.

These engines were maintained above and beyond the manufactures recomendations.