got my Blackstone Report tonight and was a little disappointed. At 17K miles on my truck I switched from stock air intake to Scotty Air Ram III and have been running it every since. Roughly at the 26000 mile marker, I cleaned the Air Ram III and re-installed. I had 5200 miles on this oil sample, and 28,998K miles on the truck. Here is the report I got back from Blackstone

"Suggest checking air filtration on this engine due to the increase in silicon. We don't worry about this element unless we see a concurrent rise in wear, and we found that in this sampl. The iron wear and slight uptick in chrome and aluminum show its likely the extra wear is from rings, pistons and cylinders. Bearing wear metals still read normally. Your oil use miles were not too many. Our average oil sample from this type engine has 6,545 miles on it. Once you get rid of the silicon and high iron, you may want to consider more oil use miles"

I bought the Scotty's because I was sold on it being the best filtering air intake out there. I'm not raising the red flags yet, as I'm gonna get one or two more samples before I get concerned.

Here are my readings from this last sample. Note, the last reading that was done, was when I had 9200 total miles on truck, and had factory paper air filter.


____________Current Reading Last Sample Universal Average
Silicon_____22_______________8__________8
Iron________85_______________19_________24


During this same period, I have added the Quad chip. Trying to sort it all out. Just thought you might like to know.

 

One thing you might want to do is clean and oil the filter. They come pre-oiled, but I am not certain just how good a job they do at the factory as far as oiling them.

I am sure Scotty will pop in here once he returns from his Strength Competition.

 

I installed the filter without oiling it as it came pretty oily from the factory. I recently cleaned this one a couple thousand miles ago, so it should be good to go. I plan on re-sampling in approx 10K miles (40K on my truck). I'm not going to get concerned until I start seeing a pattern.

dp

 

Maybe some of the K&N bashers will start bashing Scotty!!!!

 

My oil analyses with the RA3 have always come back ~7 ppm on the silicon.

 

I've gone 10 to 15 k between changes most times, and have never seen a silicon over 7 or 8 with my RA3 either. I have the old one with the afe filter though, not the UNI. Even still, I'd question an air leak somewhere, maybe you didn't fully seat the intake or tighten the clamps or somewhere else in the system it's sucking some dirt in...? That iron is definitely high for that mileage. It could be attributed to elevated silicon levels, and some additional wear is expected with a performance box.. I'd sample the oil again in 5k.

 

That reading is high. I suggest that you check the seal around the sensor that goes into the coupler. Make sure its sealing good. I would be the first to report any high silicon readings from anyone. This is the first with the UNI. I would say its a leak somewhere but I will not dismiss the filter. Perhaps its a defective filter? Does it appear to be intact wherever the rubber and the filter element meet?

Just throwing out ideas and suggestions to help resolve it.

Nearly a thousand of these filter have been sold, none defective so far, no high reports other then this one. It does concern me. Keep me posted either on here or via PM.

And for those that want to bash, go ahead. The K&N and AFE gave good results but slightly higher on average with my intakes. I chose the UNI for their overall better quality and efficiency.

Glad you took a sample. 7PPM is the highest I have had as well. Lets get this resolved.

Scotty

 

Doesn't the sound make up for whatever level of silicone is in the engine?
Mike

 

Scotty,

Have a trick that you can use to see if all is sealing correctly, take WD40 or ether and give the suspected areas a squirt, if it's leaking the engine will raise RPM's and you know if you have a problem very easily etc.

Mark @ DPPI

 

For the foam filters they should always be re-oiled before installing regardless of how oily they are. After sitting in the box without being used for long periods of time the oil migrates to one side of the filter leaving the other side dry. If the filter is installed without re-oiling, the oil will also tend to drip out of the filter into the housing. If the filter is installed properly oiled with even oil distribution, it will remain that way after running it and the oil will not drip in the housing.

 

And you could also coat/ruin your mass airflow sensor in the process...

 

I wasn't intending my other post on this thread to be a personal attack Scotty. I said it or meant it in a sarcastic tone. There are some here who bash products for no apparent reason without ever having used them before. I have used K&N air filters on my last two trucks, and have never had 1 problem with them. I'm sure you make a quality product. No offense!!

 

None taken...I knew what you meant. I was expecting Mark to post his filter test report [ ] and to have a few others surface with their Fear speeches.
I too was being sarcastic.

Mark, I would never try ether for the obvious reasons and the starter of this thread should not consider that.
Lightman, good point on the WD-40.

Maybe if I took up smoking I could exhale around an intake and see where the smoke goes...but then again, the tar would clog up the intercooler.


Just kidding.

Scotty

 

Can you use an unlit propane torch to check for leaks?

 

Mass air flow sensors on a diesel??