Post rebuild oil consumption and oil analysis

Discussion in 'Heavy Duty Diesel Truck Mechanics Forum' started by Josiah Harder, May 5, 2026.

  1. Josiah Harder

    Josiah Harder Light Load Member

    129
    76
    Sep 23, 2022
    0
    I'm bringing my truck back to the shop that did it's rebuild and would like to know how firm I should be about warranty and where to look first for the issues I'll describe. Rebuild was done 45,000 miles ago and oil consumption seems far too excessive. From the beginning it was greater than normal but I thought maybe it was just breaking in. Now it seems worse, I am down to the "add" point of the hash marks only 6,000 miles after changing my oil. I've put a whole quart in during a week of driving after that. I'm also noticing more frequent regens and 2 oil analysis since have shown warnings for elevated Lead levels. I will include the oil analysis for review. The meter on the oil analysis is done in Kilometers so 10,000 kms was when I first tested fine at 6 ppm then at 16,000 kms I tested again and got 20 ppm.
    I will also include my prior oil analysis results that were done through CAT. The Red is when I rebuilt my engine.
    Screenshot_20260502_184833_Outlook.jpg Screenshot_20260323_114629_Adobe Acrobat.jpg Screenshot_20260324_132617_Outlook.jpg
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. Big Road Skateboard

    Big Road Skateboard Road Train Member

    7,365
    41,962
    May 2, 2021
    0
    Well, "break in" is a thing. Give it some more time.

    How many times have you changed the oil so far?
     
  4. Josiah Harder

    Josiah Harder Light Load Member

    129
    76
    Sep 23, 2022
    0
    Yeah I've been telling myself to let it break in but after no improvement after 75,000 kms and possibly worsening I'm beginning to get worried haha I've changed it 5 times during that period. 1st time at 5000 kms just to clear any possible contaminants and then I had 1 interval make it to 30,000 kms but every one after I start consuming so much oil I've been changing it at 16-18k kms in hopes that it will last longer the next time. Consumption is manageable until 10,000 kms it really begins to accelerate afterwards
     
  5. Oldman83

    Oldman83 Road Train Member

    1,017
    13,216
    Sep 5, 2024
    Marrowbone Ky
    0
    A quart of oil in 6,000 miles is nothing to worry about. Granted, some engines consume less than that, but many consume far more than that for years without worsening.
    That said, I think it is possible that your engine was never properly broken in.
    A fresh rebuild that is babied for too long is a sure recipe for an engine that will burn oil for the rest of its life. By babied I mean kept too cool for too long.
     
    Sons Hero, wore out, Tall Mike and 3 others Thank this.
  6. Josiah Harder

    Josiah Harder Light Load Member

    129
    76
    Sep 23, 2022
    0
    Thanks for the response! What about a quart of oil in 1500 miles? Because that's about what I added last time after 6000 miles it really accelerates it's consumption. I might not care as much if I didn't have this DPF but I think it's plugging it up because I'm getting frequent regens now. I suspect the shop idled it too much after its rebuild because they had it an extra 2 days to resolve a fuel issue they were tinkering with. I found they did a Regen on it during that time too. But as soon as I got the truck I did all I could to properly break it in by varying my rpms, 0 idle time, and pulling 80,000 lbs GVW up and down the hills from New Brunswick Canada down to Pennsylvania and then up again with 60,000 lbs GVW so I thought that would do it haha
     
  7. Oldman83

    Oldman83 Road Train Member

    1,017
    13,216
    Sep 5, 2024
    Marrowbone Ky
    0
    IMO, a gallon of oil in 6,000 miles on an older engine isn’t anything to worry about either. My first truck had an Celect Plus N-14 Cummins, and it would consistently go through a gallon of oil every 4,000-4,500 miles. It did that the entire 265,000 miles that I owned. The fellow I sold it to put another 300,000 on it before it finally laid down just shy of 1,000,000 miles.
    Having said that, a gallon of oil every 6,000 miles on your fresh, emissions equipped engine could certainly factor in to the more frequent regen cycles. Those systems to not do well with “excessive” fuel or oil in the exhaust stream.
    Extended idling on a fresh motor trying to diagnose a fueling issue does NOT sound good…
    Call me crazy, but I always do the first several heat cycles on a fresh motor with no coolant in them. I want that heat to come up quickly.
     
  8. Josiah Harder

    Josiah Harder Light Load Member

    129
    76
    Sep 23, 2022
    0
    Yeah I'm sad I missed the glory days of trucking before all these new standards lol thanks for the insight I'll update what the shop ends up telling me. I want them to borescope for glazing. I went with an aftermarket rebuild kit because Cummins was 25,000 CAD more and I didn't have enough credit to fund that although I might be regretting it now.
     
  9. Oldman83

    Oldman83 Road Train Member

    1,017
    13,216
    Sep 5, 2024
    Marrowbone Ky
    0
    Don’t loose heart.
    I’m running an older truck and motor currently than what I started with in 2008. :D
     
    Josiah Harder and Sons Hero Thank this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.