I know there's members here that can help me sort this out.

A few weeks back I sent in some oil from my last oil change to Blackstone Labs. The idea was to find out if my drain intervals were too long/short, and I just thought it would be interesting to see what they had to say. Blackstone’s been doing a lot of these tests for a lot of years, so I trust they know what they’re doing.

The test came back that my Royal Purple with about 5K miles on it still had some life left to it, but not a lot. So that answered my drain interval question. But the kicker was that they found excessive levels of both lead and copper in the oil. The report said that it could only be for two reasons; certain oil additives, like Restore, or bearing wear.

I never use oil additives, thinking good oil, changed religiously doesn’t need ‘em. The report said they welcome phone calls, so I called to see if there’s any other possible explanation for the lead and copper. They said no, and recommended a retest in a couple thousand miles, which for me is about 4 months. I’m thinking I can do a retest sooner without draining my whole crankcase- just catch the oil in something clean, take out the 4oz. sample, and refill. A very good long-time friend owns a Goodyear station, and knows as much as anyone I know about cars. He confirmed that bearing wear would contribute lead and copper, and doesn’t know where else it could be coming from.

My Goodyear buddy doesn’t think simply replacing the bearings is the answer, without turning the crank too, and replacing the main bearings at the same time. He also thinks it may be the camshaft bearings that are wearing.

So the questions I have are…

Could it be cam bearings? Is there any way to visibly inspect cam or crank bearings for wear? I’ve never dropped an oil pan- is that a pita, and do other parts have to removed to get a good shot at it? I should know, since I’m under the car changing the oil regularly. I’ve owned the car since new, and have always changed oil every 3 months.

Part of me says just live with it, change the oil, and see what happens. And part of me says if I can determine for sure that there’s bearing wear, I should deal with it. But the Goodyear guy says once you start a job like that, you can’t just band-aid it, you have to do it right w/ mains and crank bearings, turning the crank, etc., and it’ll run into some serious money. Plus, he thinks it’ll be hard to really tell if the bearings are wearing. I thought of an engine swap, but don’t want to go that route unless this engine is really on its way out. There are no other symptoms, no noise or vibrations. The car runs great and pulls strong otherwise. There's a retired mechanic at church that I would trust do tear it down. I already had the timing belt/water pump kit that we were planning on doing together. So the labor would be a lot less than a shop.

I’ve been loving the car for 10+ years, and I’m not ready to hang it up. Sorry for the long post, and THANKS for any input.

 

I think the camshaft bearings are bored right in the aluminum head & bearing caps. Only the crankshaft (main & rod) bearings have babbitt linings.

 

When I took apart my B2 head there was no sign of any bearings to support JimBlake's answer, they're are indeed machined in. I don't have much to contribute, but I hope it helps out some.

Off the top of my head from replacing my clutch, you only have to remove the engine stiffener to drop the oil pan on a manual. It's only 4 or 5 bolts, mostly 17mm and one 14mm.

How much did it cost for the oil analysis, if it's not too pricey I'd be interested to see my own results. My car has been running Mobil 1 since it's first oil change.

 

it sounds like you have been taking very good of your car. i think you should not do anything. i bet you have many more miles left in it.

 

if most of us did that test, it would probably come out the same way... if not worse...
I think your car is ok...

 

Depends on how much Pb & Cu they measured... And presumably they know(?) whether Royal Purple has any/much of that stuff already in the oil formulation? Check if bobistheoilguy.com has any virgin oil analyses posted for Royal Purple. Last resort would be tosend some newunused oil for comparison.

A bearing can get torn up momentarily by a chunk of stuff getting into the oil system. It digs a bit of a hole into the bearing & then it's gone into the sump & picked up by the filter. Re-testing is probably a good idea, since NOW it's a new batch of oil in there.

I bet you can get a sample without draining.Unscrew the drain plug but hold it against the opening, letting a bit drain for the sample. Put the plug back in beforemuch of itdrains out.

 

maybe unscrewing the filter is faster and less messy...

 

Blackstone recommends capturing some of the oil part way through the draining - not at the start, not at the end.

The copper and lead levels were 424, and 313 respectively. I don't know if that's ppm, or what. But the universal averages for those two minerals are 4, and 7. So this is way out of whack. They did have me specify which oil I had in it, so I'd think they have a benchmark for Royal Purple, but that would be a good question to ask. I did some googling on Royal Purple, and found nothing that would suggest someone else had experienced this.

I'm going to request another test kit before too long, and re-test. The cost is $22.50, IIRC, so I can live w/ that. If I buy six at a time, the price comes down to $19/test. And they don't care who ends up using the test kit, if it's me or I give/sell some of them.


I appreciate your input thus far. It'll be good to get to the bottom of this, and I'll be sure to update. I just think it's odd. And if the bearings are wearing, I plan on contacting Honda to see what if anything they can contribute.