j-mann

I recently received an oil report from Blackstone showing Sodium at 106 ppm. This on Castrol Syntec 5/50 with 1850 miles of use. 55k on the car and all other element numbers seem good.

What do you all think?

Kazual99

What did Blackstone indicate as a cause? My last two reports had sodium at 4.

kromdom

+100. IMHO, you paid them to conduct the analysis, would be nice of them to also provide possible reasons why.

according to BITOG (found via GOOGLE): LINKY>>>> http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/engine-oil-analysis/
Sodium: This is most commonly used as a corrosion inhibiter additive, and occasionally can indicate a coolant leak into the oil. Concentration levels vary greatly depending on oil brand.

j-mann

Blackstone said that the sodium in this sample may show antifreeze, but may also be an additive. Has anyone had sodium near this level in an analysis?

fpb111

Sodium in oil analysis 2003 996
41k mi 143 using mobil 1 0-40 3k on oil. Dealer used ?? on change before this. So something else is mixed with the Mobil 1.
45k mi 45 mobil 1 0-40 4.3k mi oil
50k mi 19 mobil 1 0-40 5k on oil

BMW R1100RT Aircooled Motorcycle
29k mi 423 Brad Penn 20-50


Mercedes ML350
54 k mi 5 mobil 1 10- 40
60k mi 26 mobil 1 10- 40

Looks like Dino oil has more sodium. Any chance that some was added? Are you using full synthetic?

Neb

Check out my post for my blackstone report. I am only at 16 for sodium.
https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...errerid=102203

Byprodriver

Coolant getting into the oil possibly thru a cracked head. Monitor your coolant level closely & don't top off the level, wait for the warning light to come on to better keep track of the total loss. You can also inspect sparkplug coloration for variances.

Flat6 Innovations

Being that the car is an '01 and the inherent issues that we have with 01's being cracked heads I'd say that you might have caught this very, very early. That sodium level is horrendous.

Of course, I have been wrong in the past and so has Blackstone.. I'd take it super seriously and send in another sample for a second opinion from another lab. If you have an issue impending it won't take long to see the elevated levels of sodium in the second sample.

Down South

My '99 was showing 3 on the sample on 4-11 @96000 miles and 5 on the last one on 6-12 @ 99000 miles. I've always used Mobil 1 0-40w.

PJorgen

Could indicate a coolant leak, but you'd need to know if sodium is part of the additive package in your specific oil.

Potassium is also an indicator of a coolant leak and is rarely part of an ad-pak. If your potassium is high as well then you should be worried.

keytohwy

Just as another point of data. My 996 oil report had a sodium level of 3. Mobil1 0W/40, with just over 5500 miles on the oil. 65k on the car.

soverystout

Not that it matters for warranty purposes but, Unlike Mobil 1 5w-50, Castrol Syntec 5w-50 is not a porsche approved oil. All that aside, the 5w-50 syntec was created for older muscle/classic cars and has a higher zinc content. Sounds like you should look into the cracked head senario. Has you coolant level changed recently?

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/gener...tentId=7032644

targa996

I have an '02.. sodium was 25on mobile1 0w40 .. 4700 miles on oil and 54k miles on engine ...

j-mann

Thanks for all the input. My potassium was at 2 and water % was at 0.0. I am going to send samples to Blackstone and also to another lab next week. It obviously be would be nice if my sodium number comes down like yours did fpb111, but we'll see. I have switched oil to Joe Gibbs DT540. I will post the results for the new tests.

J

j-mann

I sent off another oil sample to Blackstone Labs after 510 miles on the new Joe Gibbs DT40 oil. The results came back today showing sodium at only 24. This seems to indicate that the previous sodium reading of 106 ppm was residual additive from the prior oil, which I found out had an original sodium number of 490 ppm. I also spoke to an oil analyst from a different lab that said Potassium would likely be high as well in a coolant leak scenario. The previous potassium showed 2 ppm and this sample showed 0 ppm.

I haven't sent a sample off to another lab yet. I thought I would I put a few more miles on this oil. These details are encouraging.