Oil analysis says glycol and fuel in oil. DANG!

Just got the oil analysis back for my son's 95 XJ. I almost wish I hadn't ordered it. At 125K miles, it showed glycol and fuel in the oil. Also lead. (Insert heavy sigh of resignation here.)

So this weekend I will do a compression check, then drop the pan and check the bearings. If the antifreeze hasn't trashed the bearings yet, and if the compression is decent, guess I'll put a new headgasket in and check the head. If the bearings look bad or the rings are cooked, guess it will be time to go to the current thread that talks about rebuilt engines.

And here I was hopin' this would be one of those 250K mile engines!

Fuel, I'd consider fairly normal (blowby from the piston rings.)

Lead? Probably from solder joints somewhere down the line - and "unleaded" simply means "no lead added." Goes back to the days when they added tetraethyl lead as an octane booster and a valve conditioner.

Glycol? Did they specify ethylene glycol or propylene glycol? Those are major compnents of antifreeze - but glycol is a fairly common organic compound - and it would help to know which glycol it was ("glycol" by itself is a misnomer - it's an "add-on group" in O-Chem.)

Gawd - I took O. Chem back in 1987 - you'd think I'd not remember it anymore...

A compression test is probably indicated. If you're getting ethylene/propylene glycol in your oil, I'd think a head gasket weep - those cylinder walls were stupid thick until 1996 or so. If you have access to an air compressor and a leakdown gage, I'd do that on any cylinders that are low (say, less than 90% of the average of the six cylinder readings you get,) to see where the compression leak or seep may be.

More input!

5-90

The narrative said "glycol (antifreeze)", but didn't specify which glycol. The narrative also said "take immediate action." Of course the oil has already been changed (oil change from which the sample was taken on Feb 26).

The lead was off the chart at 181 in the metals column. Iron was at 56, chromium 1, copper 10, tin 4, aluminum 7, nickel 2.