I got my 5th oil analysis results back today (circa 200 Hobbs hrs) and they flagged the copper content as potentially an indicator of trouble. 44 ppm on oil that's about 50 hours in the engine, Aeroshell 15W50. They claim 7 ppm is the average.
Its been 44 ppm every 40 hours since day one, no trend up or down, but now they're saying it should have trended downward by now, after wear-in.
Anyone have any numbers to compare ?
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I had a similar situation with my RV4, which has approximately 500 hours.
The last three oil analysis recorded abnormally high copper amounts, and all other particulates were within normal ranges. I use AeroShell 15W-50, and change the oil & filter every 25 hours.
After the third report, I called the company and asked for advice,,,
The technician told me that the high copper amounts could be related to the use of Aeroshell 15w-50, which is the oil I have used since break-in six years ago.
Apparently,,, and I do not know all of the details,,, Shell changed the formulation of the oil sometime last year and the explanation the technician gave me was that the oil may be the cause, and the copper is not due to abnormal wear.
After a few Google searches on the web, I found numerous reports essentially echoing the tech's report.
From what I was told, after the spike in the copper analysis, Shell once re-formulated back to the original but there is still quite a lot of the "second-formulation" oil left in stock.
The tech further advised me that in order to validate the source of the copper, I would have to purchase new oil, from a recent lot number,,, or switch to something like 100w temporarily,,, run the engine for the 25 hours and have the oil analyzed.
I am no chemist, so I cannot explain what is happening on a molecular level, but the existence of so many similar reports from users of AeroShell 15W-50, gives me some degree of comfort. As soon as I run the time on the current oil, I will replace it with a "test batch" of something different, and compare the results.