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Oil sample said copper, I ignored it for 2 more oil changes
Ran a Cat C15 in my dump truck, 420k miles. The lab report came back with high copper and I figured it was just normal wear. Truck ran fine, no noise, no smoke. Then last month the main bearing went at mile 78 on a loaded run near Fresno. Tore it down and the crank was scored bad. That copper was the bearing material telling me something. Cost me $6,800 for a used crank and bearings plus 3 days of downtime. Has anyone else had a lab result they shrugged off and paid for it later?
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kevinw944d ago
Oil tests are just a guess until the engine blows, right?
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mitchell.thomas4d ago
Catching metal in the filter is a lot more certain than any lab report, @kevinw94. You ever send a sample off and get a reading that says everything's fine, then two weeks later the rod goes through the block anyway? I've seen it happen enough times to trust the oil gauge over the paperwork. What did the last test actually show you, or were you just going off the truck running okay?
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