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[alfa] Oil analysis for the smokemobile



Those of you that have seen my GTV-6 in operation know that it blows an embarrassing amount of smoke. I had a sample of my used oil analyzed by a lab, and I got the results back today. I'm curious what the mechanics and engineers on the digest have to say about the results.

Notably, "Copper and lead both read high in this sample. Both could show a very poor wearing bronze part, though both could also be from an additive." Numbers were 124 and 80ppm for copper and lead, respectively, with 1 and 0ppm being normal. I do poor a lot of additive crap in that poor engine to try and make it stop smoking, it could easily be an additive. My question for the digest is if there are any bronze parts in the Alfa V6 that could wear poor[ly]. Also of not was that the sample was 2.5% fuel, with normal values being <2.0%. This would seem to support my theory that a leaking injector or two has ruined some oil control rings. They said "Fuel was present at a possible problem level, though it's hard to make that call on the first sample."

So what should I do, replace the rings if compression and leak-down turn out to be consistent? Install the spare motor (history unknown)? Keep blowing smoke everywhere I go? I figure I'll have the injectors from the spare engine reconditioned and put them in whichever engine I end up using. Since I'm not sure if I can make my spare starter spin my spare engine, does anyone in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati (or in between) want to lend me a starter for Dec 11 to Jan 10? I'm just afraid that if I pull the heads for a simple ring replacement, I'll find burned valves, etc, etc, etc and it will snowball into a rebuild that I have neither time nor money for.

TIA,
Joe Elliott
'82 GTV-6
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