Quote:
Originally Posted by backyard engineer
would you please elaborate on your used oil analysis for those of us that don't know?
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On my last several oil changes, I sent the oil (and a check) to the folks at
Blackstone Labs. The "comments" section came back as follows:
Quote:
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We're not sure how long this oil run was, but the level of wear here is cautionary. Copper and lead are worrisome. Both metals are from the bearings, and typically lead is from the Babbitt coating on the bearings. The fact that you're getting copper may indicate that the Babbitt is worn through. Also note an increased level of upper-end wear (aluminum from pistons and chrome from rings). Iron is from steel parts. This engine may well have a problem. Silicon could be dirt, and that might be causing wear. A trace of fuel is okay. TBN=2.2.
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The "TBN" number is a measurement of how effective or how worn-out the additive package still is.
To give you some idea of how much wear they're showing, the iron levels are 40 times the average for all oil samples. The lead is 12 times the average. The copper is 3 times the average. Chromium is 4 times the average. The levels of all are up quite noticeably from the previous oil changes, as well. (4x as much iron, for example.)
I don't think a diesel swap is in the cards for MB. I'm just not competent to do that much work myself, and I can't think of a shop locally that would try it. Electric swaps are out of the question because I simply do not have a place to plug in! My wife's car gets the garage, and there are no outlets close enough to the street for me to access.
So far, people seem to like the notion of putting a lean-burn engine in and finding a way to make it work. I figured that would be the most popular answer around here.
-soD