dkz

Bought the car with 42k-ish miles, it's a 09. Oil window sticker said to change at 44k, i changed at 45k because the oil life was at 15%. I'm not sure when the last oil was changed but i remember seeing another maintenance sticker on the door. I'll check it out later when i'm home.

Blackstone comments " Iron tracks with
miles so that metal could show this fill was run 6K-7K miles, or iron can imply exhaust valve problems ".

2k Cobra

I think the guide wears more than the valve. It too is powdered iron.

I would give it another test before doing anything.

I can highly recommend Abel Chevrolet in Rio Vista to check your LS7 out.

They did mine and a friends heads on 07 Zs and did perfect work. They are forum sponsors (Abel and RichieRichZ06) Rich Wilhoff. I would give them a call and see what they say...

http://www.abelgm.com/

dkz

Any idea what metal the lifters and cam are made of? and yes i've had my car serviced there once already, they are good people.

blkbrd69

Iron is affected by sitting quite a bit having the liners flash off a bit of oxide. Corvettes tend to sit a lot.

Hearing the alcohol in gas is causing higher iron readings due to moisture.

Do another analysis after a few K and see where you are.

Nickel and Chromium will spike if you have a cam going as well as iron through the roof not just slightly elevated like yours.

C6z06man

They are probably right with the mileage on the oil. I changed mine a few weeks ago at about 4000 miles and my oil life said over 50%. Drive 3000 and do another check.

dkz

it gets driven about once a week.. Maybe I should drive it to work every other day and do another analysis.

dkz

update: This sample was taken from oil that was put in the car when the heads were replaced under warranty.

Dan_the_C5_Man

Install magnetic drain plugs in your oil pan, if you dare.

It will keep you up at night.

AzDave47

The specs on the oil look like it is Mobil 1 5W-30. The highest iron reading I've gotten on my 09Z with 47K miles on it and a half dozen oil tests is 31, so your number is high by comparison. The other metals numbers are in the same ballpark for M1 5W-30. I have been running magnetic drain plugs that I got at NAPA for most of the time and they just pick up a small amount of magnetic fuzz between oil changes at 5-7K miles. I do 2-3 HPDEs and a couple other performance events on each oil fill.

dkz

I'm still under warranty so i'm not that worried yet.

Yes I use M1 5w-30. I installed an EE catch can after my heads were replaced and see tiny flakes of metal at the bottom. I don't know if it's coming from the metal filter mesh or the motor.

SonnyAK

That's beautiful Desoto you have there!! Keep driving both of them as much as possible and enjoy what you have!!

That said, I have 3 cars and 2 motorcycles in Kentucky and currently live in Alaska...My numbers are very similar to yours right now on those vehicles too due to my current work situation! I can see the lack of use really affecting a couple of my older vehicles. I also don't change the oil frequently enough since I want to drive them as much as possible when down there!! I suggest you change the oil every 2 years (at a minimum) and try to drive them more too. Hopefully I'll be living in the lower 48 again soon and can get mine in the same location again - then I'll start treating them much better!!

AzDave47

I've gotten no metal flakes in my EE catch can so I doubt it is the catch can mesh material. A while ago one of the forum members posted about the "star dust" in his EE catch can, but I don't know if the source was ever tracked down. I do check for it every time I dump the catch can oil.

dkz

I don't know what happened but i'm ok with this. Only thing i did differently this time was take a sample from one drain plug. I usually sample mid drain from both but i spilled some before i could do the other one. Does it even matter? Also drove the car more often than just weekends like once or twice during the weekday.

C5 Hardtop

I had head work done to an unrelated car, took it to get it emission tested and it failed. Called the ref and he said change the oil and retry. Did that and passed. Point being the oil test after the head work may have some lingering stuff in there. So if I'm reading these posts correctly, you found an issue, addressed it and verified the problem is resolved all through oil analysis.

AzDave47

Your iron is still higher than mine 13-17 for the last 15K miles, but trending down into a good region. All the other numbers look very good.