The silicon tells me that you have dirty air leaking past the air filter.
The last time I saw silicon numbers this high was when I installed K&N air
filters in my two Mercedes 300E's. I immediately threw them out, installed
pleated paper air filters and changed the oil. The numbers were back down to
normal in the next analysis & the silicon levels stayed low during
subsequent oil analysis. I will NEVER install a K&N air filter in a car
again because of this.

The high levels of iron & aluminum tells me that the cylinder walls & piston
skirts are wearing fast. Could this be related to the dirty air being drawn
into the engine?

The high boron & sodium are coming from your antifreeze - not a good sign
for your head gaskets.

Thanks, Tom Hargrave
www.kegkits.com
www.stir-plate.com
www.towercooler.com
www.grow-sun.com
www.raspberryproject.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
Stuart MacMillan
Sent: Wednesday, June 5, 2013 4:51 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Oil analysis on worn engine

Just in case anyone is interested in what the oil looks like in a poorly
maintained '85 Westy with 140k miles after 2000 miles:
http://imgur.com/HLX3OUK

Good news is no coolant (probably)!  Bad news-lots of iron, lead and
aluminum.  No surprise with the low compression in two cylinders.  Iron
could be from a worn cam and lifters as well as cylinders and rings.  I'll
install an oil pressure gauge next to see how bad the bearings are.  Still
hope to get 3000 miles out of it this summer.

Stuart