Well I got my first Blackstone report back and I am getting high lead numbers like 144 compared to the average of 7. Also the potassium is 13 and the sodium is 24 which means slight amount of antifreeze. I did change the waterpump so that may be the source of the antifreeze. I have no outward symtoms of cavitation or any other problems. The injectors need replacing but no fuel was found in the oil. The truck has hauled nothing heavy since I have had it. Should I cut my losses and find the nearest lake to dump the thing in? Was planning on putting new injectors and maybe an IP but not sure I want to put anymore money in this truck till I know what is up with the high lead and antifreeze. Here is the link to the report, any comments are welcome. So far I have changed/fixed the antifreeze, water pump, oil, Rear brakes, Adjusted Door, Fixed window motor, New return lines. I paid $6000 for the truck so I don't think it is worth putting a new engine in.
I assume your oil sample was taken during the last oil change. Send in another sample. For the money, it's cheap insurance, and you'll find out real quick if it was the water pump or not.
Well I am going to have to wait for the next oil change to send in another sample. The old oil is gone. No use sending in freshly changed oil cause it will come back good. I am worried about the bearing wear more than anything. The waterpump that was on there was not installed properly and it was leaking at the gasket and not the shaft seal. I pressed the old seal out and it looked new. I did not see sealant on any of the bolts so they may have been leaking for a while. I mean the truck sounds pretty quiet for a diesel. I don't really feel right about selling it.
Perry
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1992 F350 Crew Cab, 7.3l IDI, LWB, 4x4, E40D trans, 170,000 miles so far.
if worse comes to worse all you'll have to do is pull the pan and slip in new bearings. Not as expensive as having to have to rebuild if it decides to throw a rod due to bad bearings. Not very hard. Never done bearings on a V8 diesel only diesel was a I6 Ih diesel and it was easy.
Not sure if you can take the pan off with the engine in the truck like i said never done bearings on one of those trucks. I have on my 85 F150 with an I6 and the pan came out easy.
good luck with your truck.
DT
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Pre-Vet/Agri Major/minor at APSU..ya i'm a freshman, so what!!!!
1982 International 1954 DTA466 240hp work
2002 F350 PSD 6spd supercab xlt
1985 F250 4X4 6.9IDI 4SPD w/ Granny 4.10gears 1ton rear 4" lift 33"MTR's. my first truck bought her when i was 14. restored frame off. originally red now deep wedgewood blue. longbed reg cab.
1993 Craftsman 2.9ltr 5spd in progress
I am worried the bearing problem is a result of something else like antifreeze contamination. If it is cavitation the bearings don't really matter anymore. I put the Rotella T synthetic back in it so that should help with the wear some. I just hope the antifreeze problem goes away.
Perry
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1992 F350 Crew Cab, 7.3l IDI, LWB, 4x4, E40D trans, 170,000 miles so far.
seeing the low amount of aluminum and copper, i doubt it is bearings. as i recall all the 7.3 idi had tri-metal bearings. with the amount of lead, i would expect to see a high amount of aluminum and copper. as well as a loud knock from the motor. i would wait till the next oil change and see what comes up. if it really was bearings like you suspect, you would see a large drop in oil pressure from the wear. also are you sure there wasn't alumi-seal or another metal product in your cooling system? this would cause the numbers you see. i have seen this often with the 855 (n14) cummins when the oil cooler o-rings begin to go bad. they start placing stop leak in the cooling system. next thing you know it is throwing the lead amounts off in the oil inspection. remember alumi-seal is really graphite-lead, not aluminum. it take such a small amount of it to really throw the readings off. if it really bothers you, lift the motor up, pull the pan, and look at the bearings. they really arent that expensive, and it would give you a good piece of mind..
I was also wondering why the other wear metals were normal and the lead was so high. Like you say the high lead should accompany other metals that would also wear rapidly in the presence of antifreeze. The water pump leak occured after changing the coolant to maybe some sort of leak stop was used and changing the coolant got rid of most of it and the leak came back. The coolant probably came in around the unsealed bolts.
Perry
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1992 F350 Crew Cab, 7.3l IDI, LWB, 4x4, E40D trans, 170,000 miles so far.
The biggest worry is the antifreeze. I remember about 18 months ago, Darrin Tosh had a high coolant in the oil sample and he had just changed his water pump, no more problems with coolant after that. As to the lead, it could be that you really are getting significant coolant in your oil and you're eating the bearings but more likely its a particulate strike. I had my lead go up to 103 from 11 in January, and I still have good oil pressure and the engine sounds about teh same as it did when the bearings were reading at 1 ppm. The pan can be dropped with the engine in teh truck, so I am told, but it's not easy, it would be a dirty, nasty job with not a lot of room to work. Too bad they aren't as easy as a DT466 or 360. But then again teh bottom ends are usually solid on these trucks unless coolant gets at them or they are run out of oil....but not always.
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J.D.'s Fords: 1986 F-250 6.9 diesel Solid State Glow Plug System 3.55 gears C-6 2WD 178,960 miles.... it still runs pretty good!
Wishlist H-max turbo, T19 tranny,
1989 Ford Ranger ga$$er, non runner, soon to be donated or scrapped!
i really would not worry about this next oil change on the oil test, but hit the one following it. besure anything in there is cleaned out. i have 2 corporate customers (Nelson trees, and APS) that i service there diesel trucks for(most are 6.9, 7.3, and a few dt360, dt466, as well as the e motors) they were having me test the oil every service. the numbers were freaky! i finally got them to try it every other service, and we finally saw a level board. anytime we seen to service something, may it be an oil cooler or a injector pump (etc....) we would always see a high number. with injector pumps it was aluminum, or fuel, and sometimes silicone. with an oil cooler (or any cooling component) we would find weird reading that were off the board. like high sulfate levels, or silver. this would always seem to go away with the following service. i have tried for years to get them service it after any work, but to no help. if a IP goes bad, i replace the fuel filter. not them, if it isnt do, dont do it..
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