Hi, awesome gang --

It's been a while since I've had 3 spare seconds to get on here, but I did FINALLY get around to sending a sample from My Precious into Blackstone. I've (hopefully) attached the report. I'm a giant science geek, but new to reading oil reports so would love to have an experienced person's feedback!

Particularly -- where might the coolant be coming from and what should I check?

Thanks!!!!

 

The problem I have with Blackstone's reports is they fail to separate the values into the three basic groups for metals, contaminants and additives so you are left to guess as to what is a good trend or bad trend (unless you already know what category the items belong to).

Additionally, Blackstone doesn't give a PQ index value which can really help at times.

The general benefit with oil analysis comes with repeated samples so you can establish the trends in the various readings. One reading alone will rarely provide any useful info. In your case, you are lucky because your report shows antifreeze in the oil (high Potassium and Sodium counts....which are contaminants). Your report still shows 0% water so you have caught the issue in the very early stages. Most common source of water in the oil is oil cooler o-rings. You can replace them yourself if you are handy around the garage. Here is a link:

Genuine Ford Oil Cooler Repair Kit with 2 Genuine Ford gaskets and 4 o-rings for the Ford 7.3 Diesel


Generally speaking, you want to see low numbers with wear metals and very low numbers with contaminants. Additives aren't really that important, some folks like to see high additive numbers but none of that really matters as long as your metal wear numbers are lower than average. In the end it all comes down to minimizing wear which increases efficiency and extends engine life.

 

Awesome, thank you!!! I knew I didn't want high metal readings (I'd prefer the engine parts stay entirely in the engine, thank you!) & did appreciate their note on the coolant, I thought that might be the salts, thanks for confirming that.

As a person cursed with horrendous, literally life-crushing luck for the past four years, I'm astonished that I actually lucked out on timing of something FOR ONCE, but I'll take it because I LOVE this truck and want it to run forever! I tried doing a forum search before I posted for coolant in the oil, but just got few vague mentions about the o-rings, so thank you for the link. I've been meaning to do the analysis for about 3 years, ROFL, so imagine the odds of my managing to finally succeed right when it called out an unknown issue...

I'm fairly handy (although if it involves taking the valve covers off, time and energy fails, so diesel buddy gets an assignment, heh, but since I just gave him a bunch of money this winter for a new injector, eesh...), I just don't have a concrete slab to work on, so if I have to lay under the truck I take it to the parking lot at the office, ROFL. I'm not worried about additive levels -- I do give it Howe's treat to help boost the cetane and it really seems to help with cold starts and winter running. Haven't dealt with oil cooler before, but hey, a 12-old hilarious redneck kid on YouTube taught me how to rebuilt the carb on my mower, so time to learn a new trick.

Appreciate the feedback & info so I know I'm reading it right. I don't have to nitpick it, just to see if I'm missing things!

 

In addition to the official Ford install pdf on Bob's website above, check out this good thread on oil cooler R&R.

 

Make sure when you change the oil cooler o-rings that you visually inspect the low oil pressure bypass and the filter bypass when it's out.

 

Awww, that looked great -- except all the photos have been deleted. <-- visual learner. But scanning the thread looks like there are lots of great tips and some other photos.

And thanks for the heads-up, bk, will write that down (brain has passed age of information retention)!