Oil sample came back with copper dust, that changed my whole rebuild plan

Tbh I sent an oil sample to Blackstone last month on my 6.0 Powerstroke just out of curiosity, not because I had a noise or anything. The report came back with copper and tin in high range, which I thought meant bearings, but their notes said the oil cooler was breaking down internally. Never would've guessed that, I was ready to tear the whole bottom end apart. Their tech said copper from a cooler is finer, almost like powder, while bearing wear comes in flakes. I pulled the cooler off a week later and sure enough, the fins were loose and shedding. That test cost me 35 bucks and saved me maybe 1500 in parts and a weekend of pulling the pan. Has anyone else had an oil analysis flag something weird that wasn't the obvious fix?

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fiona_west2122d ago

Did the report give you a wear particle size breakdown or just the ppm numbers? I had a similar thing on an old Cummins where sodium spiked and I chased a coolant leak for weeks, turns out it was just a dirty air filter letting sand in. That fine powder vs flake thing is key, once you know that you can spot it pretty quick.