Below is the analysis i received earlier today on my 52k mile wrx. Most driving of the car is either short trips, or tuning. Has anyone else seen a report with iron and copper this high? I have heard that people have seen high silicon using a K&N air filter, which I currently use.

Any thoughts on possible causes for the high levels of iron and copper besides the turbo? I've been running a vf39 @~20psi for the last few months, and wouldn't be too surprised if it were the culprit.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v421/Strng1dah/wrx_oil_feb_2007.jpg

The high copper and iron could be from the short trips, although that's a pretty short interval for it to be that high. It's probably from the turbo and tuning.
From Blackstone-labs.com:
Iron: Cylinders, rotating shafts, the valve train, and any steel part sharing the oil.
Copper : Brass or bronze parts, copper bushings, bearings, oil coolers, also an additive in some gasoline engine oils.

The Si on my wife's Outback is always in the single digits running a K&N panel filter, but most of the time an OEM filter will filter dirt better. I think that M1 has also been showing some high wear numbers in general. You should also post this on bitog and maybe consider a Dyson Analysis (if the numbers don't come down).

You might want to switch to a thicker oil especially since you have a vf39 (among other mods? :) ).

-Dennis

Here's an M1 UOA that was recently posted. (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1186324&referrerid=767)
He added 15W50 to 10W30 and had very good results.

-Dennis

If that silicon is silicon dioxide it is pretty hard. I got rid of my KandN about 100,000 miles ago. You might want to do some research on filters. I like the stock filter and/or the STI off-road filter. Most of the dust off-road here is soft CaCO3, but the mountains are hard quartz in quartzite.