I recently had a Blackstone Laboratory report done on my engine oil. They said I had excessive bearing wear. They indicated high potassium (322) and sodium (48) which could be caused by coolant in the oil. I have not added any coolant to my system since forever. I checked the PH of the coolant and it was 8. I fear (since I have a 7.3) that the cavitation has caused a small leak of the coolant system into the cylinder. I try to keep the PH neutral with NalKool. They also stated "sometimes biodiesel in older trucks can cause high wear" I doubt that theory but am puzzled by the high content of potassium and sodium. Any one have any thoughts?
Thanks
Tom D

 

Surely someone can hep me with this problem. Don..What do you think?

 

How many miles have you put on it using Biodiesel?

 

Sorry I didn't get to this Tom, been working on the new house and shop, and haven't been online much............

I called my friend at Idaho State and he is stumped also. He doesn't see where the bio could be the problem. He said it's probably cavitation........

Since you don't use Sodium Hydroxide I also don't see where the high sodium content would come from. I'll do some more research and see what I can find.

 

Just an estimate..20K

 

Thanks Don. I have since put more NalKool in my cooling system to bring down the ph. I'm not familiar with chemistry but my only guess is cavitation and if that is so, the NalKool is too late. Maybe it will slow down the damage and I can get more miles before it bites the dust. Anyway, any info you can obtain concerning this would be appreciated. Do you think the residual methanol in my bio would cause any of this? (I'm not recovering it ). Thankfully the engine is still running super.
Take care
Tom

 

Hi Tom: I caught your post about the Blackstone report. I had one done very soon after going to Magnesol. I got he warning about bearing wear, but mine test results were not nearly as high as yours. Here is what the narrative said:

This is your first sample while running biodiesel, and for the most part the engine is doing okay. Lead increased quite a bit, and this is something we'll watch. Lead typically shows bearing wear, and we think that's the source of it here, though it could also be from a particle streak, which is temporary. If lead continues to read high, you'll have to weigh the negative of the increased bearing wear against the positive of the BD. We'd be surprised if the Magnesol is a problem. Potassium is in the BD itself & is not antifreeze.

Note that they said K was not in the coolant. For most of the miles on this report I had been running with instructions from the guy that built my processor and was using media for final washing the fuel. I attributed the oil test to a bearing streak because following the processor guy's sheet was leaving glycerin in the fuel. Glycerin is the worlds greatest carbon creator I EVER saw. So I figured a bearing streak may have been caused by some carbon.

Since I now have 209,000 miles on the truck and it doesn't burn a drop of oil or require water in the radiator, I quit with the oil reports. I am probably close to 50,000 miles on biodiesel now and the engine runs great.

I understand cavitatio could be a problem. But if it were me, I would ask myself is there any way unburned fuel could be getting into the oil. I.e. through injectors that are tired, bad air filter, or worn injector pump. If the fuel is not getting atomized (and the bio doesn't produce tell tale smoke), then fuel could be washing down the cylinder walls into the oil. Those numbers seem VERY high compared to mine. I will try to send you an email with my old report.

 

I think if there was any fuel in the oil, they would have caught it. I suspect cavitation. I have always kept the ph close to neutral. My latest was 8. I have since put some more NalKool in to lower it further. I will continue run it and if or when it blows, I will have to get another block. I don't understand it though. The previous owner was very particular about maintaining proper ph as I have done since I bought it.
Nice hearing from you Jim. Hopefully Don will get to the bottom of it.
Tom