jscott82

As the title says - HELP !!

The motor has 130k on the clock (I don’t know much of its history), I know its due for a rebuild, but putting it off as long as possible. I just got my first oil analysis results and everything looks normal except lead which is sky high. If this were bearing wear I would expect copper to be up there, but if anything copper is low. Motor is strong, dyno results are good, it hard to tell oil usage since all miles are track.

I can’t really afford a proper rebuild (16k) right now, so should I just park it and save my pennies, or safe to run one more season?

Thoughts?

edit: results
Mine Avg
Alum 5 3
Chrom 0 0
Iron 7 9
Copper 6 12
Lead 94 13
tin 3 1
Molybdenum 168 77
Nickle 1 1

flatsics

Have you used any race fuel?

Do you use Chevron gas with Techron or any other fuel additives?

Fuel additives can raise the lead reading.

Here is a FAQ question from Blackstone website:
Lead shot up in my last report. You said I might have a particle streak through the bearings. What is that?
A particle streak occurs when a very small piece of dirt gets lodged in the bearings and spins around, gouging out a streak of lead, before becoming dislodged. A particle streak will cause a temporary increase in lead, and then once the dirt leaves the system, lead drops back down.

jscott82

Unfortunately I haven’t used race fuel in over a year and when I did it was unleaded, and have never used additives in the fuel or oil….

Is it possible this is just normal wear for its use (track/race)?

333pg333

Zinc? What oil and weight?

IcemanG17

can you post the full test.....I also have been tracking my engine and its lead # increased too but not like that......it went from 20 to 27...which really isn't much of an increase.... I read an article that said anything under 40 is good..and over 100 is BAD...I would be very concerned for your engine...

bgiere

There is no way to form an opinion on an engine with just one UOA...You will need to run a few more drain intervals and compare. Don't make a decision om just one UOA.

jscott82

Here ya go...

TR6

Just for comparison, here is my oil analysis from my 964 engine just before it spun a rod bearing (which resulted in a $16.5K rebuild). My lead was higher than average but wasn't as high as yours. But my iron and copper were higher than yours. My engine failed not long after this sample was taken (a couple of months). Ironically, the oil sample was still sitting on a shelf in my garage waiting to be mailed to Blackstone when the bearing failed. I sent it in after the fact just out of curiousity to see what they would find in the oil.

jscott82

Wow... Thanks for that, the comparison is very helpful.... It’s promising that their analysis was so dead on high lead (bearing) iron (crank) and copper (bearing backing)....

In addition to the great advise here, I’ve talked to several very reputable people today. What I take away from all of this is: there is definitely reason for concern, but the fact that the other metals are low, and the motor seems otherwise healthy gives me some hope that maybe the test was fouled or something else is going on . I’m going to take my chances and see how far I can get this season. I’ll be sending a sample in for analysis after every event, if lead goes up (at all) or I start to see copper or iron then game over, the car gets parked until I can get the race coffers built up a little more.

No HTwo O

+1. I agree 100%.