High lead in last oil analysis?

SFHGolfTDI

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UhOh

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Oil analysis on my car came back excellent. For my wife's car, like yours, it too showed a higher-than-average level of lead. Her car's turbo "might" be starting to die: getting some oil, and if the seals are going then it's likely the bearings might be starting to go as well (my understanding is that's mostly the case), so I'm hoping(?) that this is the source of the elevated lead. I believe that the count was "7" after 7,500 miles (again, this is from memory).
 

SFHGolfTDI

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Subscribed.

Oil analysis on my car came back excellent. For my wife's car, like yours, it too showed a higher-than-average level of lead. Her car's turbo "might" be starting to die: getting some oil, and if the seals are going then it's likely the bearings might be starting to go as well (my understanding is that's mostly the case), so I'm hoping(?) that this is the source of the elevated lead. I believe that the count was "7" after 7,500 miles (again, this is from memory).
Interesting, when you have a chance, can you share that oil analysis? I'd like to see how it compares. I ran a bunch of WOT logs recently that likely worked the turbo pretty hard, so that could be what I have going. I'm *hoping* to see no change in lead if I lay off it and continue to 15k miles and pull another sample then.

How did you check for oil from turbo seals? Pull the intake pipe? EDIT: Pull turbo hose off bottom of intercooler?

I lose/burn very little noticeable oil in my OCI. I've only had to add about 1/2 quart in the 13.5k miles since my last oil change. And that was just to bring it back to the top level from slightly below.
 
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BobnOH

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central Ohio
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New Beetle 2003 manual
The DP might, have to look it up, it does impart flavor to the engine oil, so they say....
10 years ago my car was low oil pressure, trying to diagnose bearings I had this oil analysis done.
Turns out crank and rod bearings were spun, the Pb in the data shows 1.0.
I don't think you have anything to worry about, follow the advice on the report.
 

SFHGolfTDI

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2002 Jolf GLS TDI - Reflex Silver (purchased 2011; sold 2023) | Previously: 2001 Golf GL TDI - Indigo Blue (sold 2005)
The DP might, have to look it up, it does impart flavor to the engine oil, so they say....
10 years ago my car was low oil pressure, trying to diagnose bearings I had this oil analysis done.
Turns out crank and rod bearings were spun, the Pb in the data shows 1.0.
I don't think you have anything to worry about, follow the advice on the report.
Thanks, Bob. Just to be clear, ~100k oil sample was taken THEN DP was done and then oil was changed. Neither of the samples should show the effects of DP I would think given that oil was changed out afterwards, and my first sample was done before DP.

As far as your sample, I don't get it. Both copper and lead look very good, but you are saying your crank and rod bearings had gone bad?
 

BobnOH

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central Ohio
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New Beetle 2003 manual
Thanks, Bob. Just to be clear, ~100k oil sample was taken THEN DP was done and then oil was changed. Neither of the samples should show the effects of DP I would think given that oil was changed out afterwards, and my first sample was done before DP.

As far as your sample, I don't get it. Both copper and lead look very good, but you are saying your crank and rod bearings had gone bad?
Yea, here's a photo
I don't know that these bearings contain lead.
With the number on yours, I'm thinking your fine
 

UhOh

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Interesting, when you have a chance, can you share that oil analysis? I'd like to see how it compares. I ran a bunch of WOT logs recently that likely worked the turbo pretty hard, so that could be what I have going. I'm *hoping* to see no change in lead if I lay off it and continue to 15k miles and pull another sample then.

How did you check for oil from turbo seals? Pull the intake pipe? EDIT: Pull turbo hose off bottom of intercooler?

I lose/burn very little noticeable oil in my OCI. I've only had to add about 1/2 quart in the 13.5k miles since my last oil change. And that was just to bring it back to the top level from slightly below.
I haven't checked the turbo, just noticing oil accumulations in the IC piping. Of course, this is in comparison to my car, which is pretty much dry (even though it was driven WAAY too easy).

Here's the oil analysis from "Tanka:"

 

tjsean0308

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port angeles, wa
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MKIV wagon 5spd graphite blue
I'll be following this one too. I'm showing high lead too, 15 on the last sample. Also had the turbo start rubbing the housing.
 

SFHGolfTDI

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I'll be following this one too. I'm showing high lead too, 15 on the last sample. Also had the turbo start rubbing the housing.
How did you determine that the turbo was rubbing?
 

UhOh

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Folks, please indicate mileage and any other things that would tend to help steer things toward finding the suspect here.
 

tjsean0308

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Folks, please indicate mileage and any other things that would tend to help steer things toward finding the suspect here.

SFHGolf and I both have recent posts in the oil thread, however, I didn't get any suggestions their. 181k mikes new cam about 5k ago and new turbo last week.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=154548
Sorry can't direct link to them on tapatalk.
 

forty20d

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Pennsylvania
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2001 golf
mobil 1 turbo diesel oil

I noticed you are using the mobil 1 turbo diesel oil. When I was researching what oil to use in my golf I noticed that the mobil 1 diesel oil was rate for the API service spec but did not meet the vw 505 spec. Could this be part of the reason for slightly increase crank bearing wear (ie increase copper and lead)? The crank bearing are typical some allow of copper and lead.
 

SFHGolfTDI

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2002 Jolf GLS TDI - Reflex Silver (purchased 2011; sold 2023) | Previously: 2001 Golf GL TDI - Indigo Blue (sold 2005)
I noticed you are using the mobil 1 turbo diesel oil. When I was researching what oil to use in my golf I noticed that the mobil 1 diesel oil was rate for the API service spec but did not meet the vw 505 spec. Could this be part of the reason for slightly increase crank bearing wear (ie increase copper and lead)? The crank bearing are typical some allow of copper and lead.
It meets CG-4 and other specs that are listed in the owners manual. Also, there is over a decade of experience on this forum with M1 TDT and similar oils showing that it is an excellent oil for the ALH engine.
 

UhOh

Top Post Dawg
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I noticed you are using the mobil 1 turbo diesel oil. When I was researching what oil to use in my golf I noticed that the mobil 1 diesel oil was rate for the API service spec but did not meet the vw 505 spec. Could this be part of the reason for slightly increase crank bearing wear (ie increase copper and lead)? The crank bearing are typical some allow of copper and lead.
Keep in mind that there's almost always another "spec" that a manufacturer will list (other than their "in-house" spec), and it's usually an industry one. In the case of the ALH it's CF4 or CG4 (has since been superseded- you won't find the VW number or these on Shell Rotella T6, which is what I run). More info:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=406561

Plenty of great (better than original) oil out in the market for these engines.
 

SFHGolfTDI

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Any updates from others on this thread? I'm going to check my intercooler and intercooler hose for oil on next oil change in a few hundred miles. I'm beginning to suspect turbo issues as I *might* be hearing something slightly different from the turbo lately. Could also be my imagination though.
 

UhOh

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I'm still monitoring. Probably will check for oil in the IC pipes soon: was planning on doing it at the 5k mile mark (I think I'm there now, need to check).
 

UhOh

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OK, update on my wife's car. After 5k miles I drained just under 2 oz from the lower IC pipe (housing on IC). According to my notes I drained about 4.5 oz after about 7k miles previously: this was the first oil change after getting the car- no idea how long the oil had been accumulating. Anyway, if things hold up then I'm at about 4 oz for 10k miles. I think that I failed to properly top off the oil in both my cars, as the oil levels are both down, but there doesn't seem to be any changes in levels over thousands of miles now. Again, this is just for data points, may or may not be of any value in tracking down the source of high lead.
 
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SFHGolfTDI

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Well, I finally got around to changing the oil and pulled the IC. Nothing came out and it was nice and dry in the pipe, and only a little residue in the IC, so that is a relief.

I'm still a little suspicious of my turbo because I swear I hear it making a little chatter just as it spools up around 1800 rpm. Everything seems fine and it builds and holds boost well, but that little sound makes me wonder whether there is a slight play or rubbing going on just as the turbine starts. Could be similar to what tjsean0308 had going on.

I sent in a sample to Blackstone to see if the lead and copper are holding steady, decreasing, etc.
 

SFHGolfTDI

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Your turbocharger is not a source of lead.
Thanks. That's good to hear. So even if there was some particle that made its way through my turbo, it would have to be some other bearing material that caused the lead to spike.

EDIT: Also, I was chatting with a guru yesterday, and found some old threads that talked about the same chirping that I hear around that rpm, and it seems that it is normal. For example: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=78889
 

SFHGolfTDI

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2002 Jolf GLS TDI - Reflex Silver (purchased 2011; sold 2023) | Previously: 2001 Golf GL TDI - Indigo Blue (sold 2005)
New lab result

Well, here is my last analysis from Blackstone, ~2500 miles from the last one on the same oil. Lead only went up 1ppm, so it isn't really very conclusive. I'd prefer if it hadn't gone up at all, but I might have expected worse or higher copper readings if there was serious continued wear going on.

Looks like I'll have to wait until around 10k miles into this OCI to see whether this high number was an anomaly. For this last oil change, I did an LM Engine Flush to clean everything out before changing oil, and added ~1/2 bottle LM Mos2 to the new oil. Still using Mobil 1 TDT.

If my next reading doesn't look great, I'm sticking with 10k OCIs or less and will monitor things closely.

02 GOLF-062815
 

SFHGolfTDI

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2002 Jolf GLS TDI - Reflex Silver (purchased 2011; sold 2023) | Previously: 2001 Golf GL TDI - Indigo Blue (sold 2005)
Last oil analysis looks really good. Don't know whether to chalk it up to the Mos2 or just the fact that I haven't done any or many WOT runs. However, the Mos2 in both the Jeep Liberty CRD and my VW Golf has resulted in noticeable drops in wear metals. Here's the VW:
125k Oil Analysis
 
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