Elevated Magnesium in Oil

[klaw]

My buddy just got an oil analysis back on his '04 terminator and the magnesium had been steady at 13 for the previous 3 tests but jumped to 539 this time. All other metals look fine (low and consistent). Anybody have any ideas?

 

[weather man]

When you google it says engine cases and it is added to oil. Did he change brands on the last change?

 

[mr. anderson]

it's not bearing material so that's a good thing, not sure if any of the engine make up of a termi had magnesium in it. but generally they are used to lighten up things, ie covers, cases, other parts.

+1 on the oil brand change, some of the oil brands have a high additive package to help with metal wear. would have to find out what oil he is using.

 

[dysan]

I would look inside the front cover....I remember on my last engine it appeared that the crank timing gear was occasionally rubbing on the cover and I saw a smooth wear mark on the inside of the front cover.

 

[GreenTerror]

It could possibly be a laboratory error too, before you do too much work and assuming the oil analysis isn't too expensive I would perform a retest.