Hello,
i just had an oil analysis done at blackstone labs (for $20) and most of what they found was normal, but they did mention higher than average copper and lead contents (both of which were in the 11 ppm range) and that this is caused by bearing wear.
The engine has approx. 50K miles and the oil was changed after 3000 miles as usual.
When i asked what could have caused this, the person i spoke with asked if i drive through a lot of hills or tow heavy loads. I said not in general, but that this engine is in a 5000 lb step van and often has another ton of cargo in the back - then he said that could have an affect on bearing wear.
Does anyone here have oil analysis done? if so i would be interested to hear what kind of results you get. I am also trying to figure out what i could do now to prevent bearing wear to become a major problem that would shorten the life of the engine.
thanks for any input.
-Paul

I've heard good things about Lucas Oil's Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer from a guy that races. Supposedly he fed the engine a steady diet of the stuff and when they tore it down after some time they shop that did the tear-down was really impressed at his lack of wear in the bearings... Its only one opinion though.

I've used it for about 2 months now and haven't had any troubles! ):h

If the bearing wear is caused by high loads, improved film strength will help. The additives are one way to accomplish this. Be careful, some engines with high carbon deposits will "gum up" and cause the rings to "stick" and they will use oil. This occured with the early multi-vis oils like 10-40W. Not seen much with modern oils. Most oils sold today will suffice as they come out of the can.

If the cause is from carbon and normal dirt deposits in the oil, changing the oil more often will help. With a light duty diesel, I change oil every 2000 miles, under heavy use conditions. This seems to help a little.

In all the years of disassembling and inspecting engines, I've not seen bearing wear as a big problem with these engines. I see very few oil-related failures. Most come apart and look normal for the amount of miles they've accumulated. The failures are usually stress/fatigue things. Broken pistons, rods, wrist pins, cranks, cracked blocks, etc. Not an "oiling" problem.