When I last changed the oil on my dad's 05 CRD, I sent off a sample to Blackstone ... it came back with extremely high wear metals, bad enough that they called me to warn that a serious issue is going on. The iron levels were 10 times what they should be and aluminium, chromium, copper and lead were all very high as well. Of course they can't tell exactly where the metals are from. The thing is the car runs fine ... it starts in sub-freezing weather, idles fine and seems to have normal power. It's a little different feel from mine but I attributed that to mine having a GDE tune and his a stock tune. I don't notice an unusual amount of smoke ... at least not enough to see it in the mirrors while driving and it doesn't smoke at idle other than when first starting. A little history on this car: 20,000 miles ago it had a rocker collapse and the head was rebuilt. I sent out an oil sample on the first oil change after the rebuild and it also showed elevated wear metals, which they thought might be residual from the failure/rebuild. The next sample came back much improved. But this sample has come back looking dire again. It's also showing high viscocity and soot. I've always used Mobil 1 0w40 and the correct Mopar filter. So ... what should I do? My thought was to keep driving and try a shorter oil run (my dad did 7,000, which is much higher than I go, but Blackstone said they didn't consider that unusual or problematic) ... but I don't really want it to fail catestrophically and definitely not with my dad driving it (he's 77). Could some of the wear metals be turbo-related? Or anything else I can check short of tearing down the engine?

I'm thinking I'll try to push my dad to buy another car for himself, which he's been considering for a while, but I still want to hang on to his Jeep and keep it going. So ... what should I do with it?

They told me the exact same thing when I sent mine in around 100k miles. I’ll see if I can find my report.

Here it is:



This is the second report, but you can see the first one is on the right. This was after I did my timing belt, water pump, ARP head studs and new rocker arms. I run Rotella T6 5W-40 or Mobil 1 turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40. I also had been running a Amsoil dual bypass 2 Micron oil filter since 89,500 miles, so at least 1 or 2 changes prior to this. Ignore the 9 qts added, when the guy emailed me asking I thought he meant what was the fill volume, with the Dual filter setup I put in almost 9 qts now.

Hmm, TD rated mobil one right? I know it's a crazy question, but I'm sitting on a lost jeeps members seized engine, so I don't assume anything

I'd consider switching to a 5w-40 oil.

It's this one: https://www.mobil.com/english-au/passen ... bil-1-0w40 ... it is the oil recommended in the owner's manual for the 2.8L CRD. I've always used it in my Jeep as well and (knock on wood) have always had good results.

NOT THE RIGHT OIL.

That is primarily a GAS rated oil, that is the "european car formula" and is only rated CF for diesel which is the absolute minimum rating the CRD should ever have, and certainly not for extended drains. When the CRD was released, the CF standard had already been superseded several times and the current standard at that time was CH. The CF standard dates back to the mid 1990s.
The following are all acceptable options, and can be switched at will based on cost or preference within this list:
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40
Mobil 1 Delvac 1 (Silver bottle) 5W-40
Mobil 1 Delvac ESP (Silver bottle) 5W-40
Mobil 1 Delvac 1300 (black bottle) IS NOT ACCEPTABLE as it is not synthetic.

Shell Rotella T6 (blue bottle) 5W-40
Chevron Delo 400 - IF CH or higher rated and fully synthetic 5W-40 - information on this one is varied.

The oil specified by the manufacturer is not the right oil? I probably shouldn't be surprised given Chrysler's general approach to this car, but I'm not sure why I would assume that. Especially considering I've sent about 20 samples to Blackstone, which is an oil specialist, and never once have they written back that this is not an adequate oil for this usage. I'll switch but it's kind of closing the barn door after the horse is out ... or would a couple of shorter runs with one of the above oils be enough?

I'd consider switching to a 5w-40 oil.

Which brand do you recommend?

Its OK, it is partly on the manufacturers for typing up the owner's manual without bothering to ask the engineers what they would suggest, AND on the oil makers for having so many products that seem similar but actually aren't. Car makers don't want to make the book "too technical" but by only listing the oil weight and an ancient standard... They caused this. But reasonably the problems wouldn't appear inside of the warranty... So they don't care.

On that note, you do know that the timing belt has a 6 year age limit as well as a 100k mile limit, right? That little tidbit wasn't in the owner's manual again because of the warranty - they didn't want the belt to age out before the 7/70 warranty did, so "oops" it just isn't in the book.

The Owner's Manual was "written" ca. 2004/5 and the oil recommendation was "adequate" but dated then. On the other hand why would a reader of the manual assume oil technology has been static for the last 13 years and go looking for the oil that manual recommended. Shoot I did not consult a 1965 Ford Mustang manual for what oil to use in a rebuilt 289 back in 1976; I just used the best oil that was "modern" for the time. Same for the 1956 MGA into which I installed an MGB engine way back when.

The oil specified by the manufacturer is not the right oil? I probably shouldn't be surprised given Chrysler's general approach to this car, but I'm not sure why I would assume that. Especially considering I've sent about 20 samples to Blackstone, which is an oil specialist, and never once have they written back that this is not an adequate oil for this usage. I'll switch but it's kind of closing the barn door after the horse is out ... or would a couple of shorter runs with one of the above oils be enough?