oil analysis - traces of silicium and aluminium particles indicating wear

It's an Alfa isn't it? :-)

Would the silica be from the antifreeze additive? Green antifreeze contains silicates, phosphates and / or borates as corrosion inhibitors to keep the solution alkaline.

Maybe the silica came from the Nikasil coating given to plain aluminium bores not fitted with steel liners? I haven't a clue what your engine type is though.

Given your post regarding overheating and antifreeze loss I'm tending towards that being the reason.

Julian.

Good one!!!

Ding.

"Julian" schreef in bericht news:XuZqk.73941$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe18.ams...

I don't know if and when the head gasket could have started to leak. There wasn't any glycol content reported in the oil sample after this garage had ran the engine without coolant liquid, I think. It was worrying with the oil change in september 2005 that silicon (230ppm) and aluminium (80ppm) contents were very high without any water or coolant being present in the oil sample. These numbers have decreased substantially with the latest oil analysis, but there the glycol content was high (400ppm). Maybe I can never again be sure.

Do you mean if I've got an engine with an aluminium engine block ? I thought no engine has an aluminium block/cylinder walls, while the head is made of aluminium. The engine is a Mitsubishi 1300cc 16valve 4G13 type ( apparently identical as the Daihatsu or Hyundai engines ).

What about the aluminium particles coming from ablative AND abrasive wear ? Would they come from the overheating ? Compression measurements show 15 kgs pressure with my hi-gauge, ( even 16,5 kgs when I measure compression turning the engine some 16 revolutions with throttle pushed down completely ). I had no cylinder leak test done, must be an expensive and delicate job.

Many thanks for all your replies - I'm really sorry I have no real knowledge and experience with cars, and that my english is not 100%,

Peter

get rid of the car and buy a new one, change it every time the guarantee runs out.

I've got a link to a site selling Slick 50 - throw some of that in your oil. Next you will be telling us you found traces of water in the exhaust.

I'm pretty much out of touch with modern engine design, but AIUI some engines run their pistons directly in an aluminium block - I guess the Nikasil word implies a bore surface hardening process?

Didn't BMW have a real problem with this a few years ago, having to replace many engines under warranty because they started drinking oil due to premature bore wear?

If your engine is of this design then you surely would be most likely to see a silicone contaminant in the oil if the engine was new and being run in? A perfectly normal situation though - at a slight guess :-)

Julian.

Wouldn't this produce aluminium particles, tho'? Unless the bore hardening involved silicon, of course.

Rob

I was guessing that ''Nikasil'' bore hardening involved silicone - any idea how I came to that (possibly incorrect) conclusion? :-)

Julian.

"peter" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Fuck me, you _really_ need to get a life.

"Julian" schreef in bericht news:yWbrk.63434$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe30.ams...

Hello,

I thought I'd better repeat that in 2005, after 5 kms of driving after an oil change, there were 230 ppm silicon and 80 ppm aluminium in the oil. I drove the car only some 20 kms in 2006, and had it stand outside until 5 august 2008, I had the oil changed again and as I said, right after oil change, 2 kms, and then 200 kms further, two times analysis of the new oil showed 18 ppm and 37 ppm respectively for silicium, and 7 and 22 ppm respectively for aluminium. Even worse, the oil sample after 200 kms showed very high glycol content of over 400 ppm. The latter glycol content was suspected to come from a leaky head gasket.

So the high levels silicon and aluminium from 2005 until the last oil change did not reproduce themselves, so that problem probably does not come from engine wear. Or so I think.

Rgds,

Peter

Mike P

Hello,

I'm sorry to find that my posting of this problem is irritating to some people. I agree that I depend largely on the oil samples, and that I'm no expert at all.

Yet I cannot ignore what I've seen. I spend allready some money on this car, still I hope to find alternatifs to opening the engine while it would not be necessary.

Many thanks to who replied and tried to understand my postings.

Peter

Unless this is some kind of rare car, just drive it. In fact, even if it is rare, just keep driving it. The amounts you're talking about, are neglible at this moment.

The glycol could be somthing like a very small weap at one of numerous joints/gaskets/seals in the engine, and continue to weap for another 100k with neglible effect to engine reliability/performance. Unless you start to visibly lose coolant, then stop worrying about it.

"peter" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Irritating? No. Massively amusing? Absolutely.

Clue: There IS no problem outside of your OCD.

And bully for you for taking all this flack without getting aereated about it.

And if you're interested, additifs and alternatifs are actually additives and alternatives!

Rob

If I was going to put on my pedant's hat, which I now have, I would mention that silicone and silicon are not really the same thing. Silicon is the element, silicone is one of various rubbery polymers that has silicon as one of its constituents.

Rob

In article , Adrian writes

Smells like a troll, or Pinking Pete reincarnated.