Oil Analysis??? What does it do for you?

[rsiwicki]

Just curious as to what an oil analysis will do for a car's engine? A friend of mine was thinking about doing one on his Mustang as somebody suggested it to him and he asked me what good this does and I have no idea either. So my/his questions are and any additional feedback is welcome:

What are the benefits of doing such an analysis besides determining the current engine's health?

Do the results of the analysis allow you take preventative or corrective maintenance measures to ensure longer life?

Suggest that you should use a different type of oil?

Also how much does this cost and is one place better than the other to determine the analysis?

Also...would this have helped identify a major problem about to occur such as with Wes's car?

[Q45tech]

Great if you do it from day one or have half a dozen in a row to determine what the proper oil interval is for your engine and your driving conditions and your oil and filter.

[DAEDALUS]

I think it would be a good thing to do periodically, every 10-30k miles or so, so you can see trends. I do think that it could help you spot a problem, though 10-30k may not be frequent enough to fix the problem before it takes out an engine. Improper lubrication would probably show up in an analysis before any other symptoms were detected.

These guys seem like a good outfit:http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

There was a site out there with a bunch of volunteers doing long-term testing with various oils and maintenance intervals on various cars. I'll have to find that site again. It was really cool.

[PalmerWMD]

1)What are the benefits of doing such an analysis besides determining the current engine's health?

2)Do the results of the analysis allow you take preventative or corrective maintenance measures to ensure longer life?

3)Suggest that you should use a different type of oil?

4)Also how much does this cost and is one place better than the other to determine the analysis?

5)Also...would this have helped identify a major problem about to occur such as with Wes's car?

1) You can tell how well the oil and especially its additive package are holding up in your engine and its current driving environment.Can be a great tool to lower or extend, oil change intervals

2)Sometimes depending on the nature of the results, could be a) shorter OCI's, different oil viscosty etc

3)yes sometimes. For example if you extend your OCI and your TBN is low you should probably shorten your OCI, or switch to an oil that is BMW LL rated, or if you see oxidation problems, you may want to consider moving to an ACAE A3 rated oil, or a VW 502 (if memory serves for the #) rated oil.

Or for example if you see excessive lead in your oil for most cars this means you have excessive bearing wear, often this can be addressed simply by going from say a 5w-30, to a 10w-40 . Other wear metals are indicative of other wear areas which can be addressed by different oils.For example if suffering exessive start-up wear but neglibible bearing wear, you can switch to a thinner oil and possibly address it.

4) Depending on what your analysis should include, it costs between $20-50.Different Labs include different stuff, but one that comes to mind is BlackStone, there is another popular one, which however currently escapes me.

5) Absolutly

Fred...

[Falkdesigns]

Oil Annalyzers, INC is the one I used. I think it was around 20. I'll be sending a sample of my Amsoil in when I change it.

[rsiwicki]

okay....thanks for your responses. I am not really convinced that this is a worth while $50 bucks as it seems to be a very "long-term preventative" maintenance tool to get a healthy long life (200,000+ miles) out of the engine and still have all the engine internals running in top condition.

The only other way I can see if this is benefit would be to identify a catastrophic failure before it actually happens such as with Wes and inturn you would want to dump the car as soon as possible before the engine goes

please correct me if I am wrong...but is this oil analysis does? and as long as I regularly change the oil every 3,000 miles the benefits of such testing would be minimal in the short term and only marginally gained over the long run if I was to drive the car till 200K???

[PalmerWMD]

please correct me if I am wrong...but is this oil analysis does? and as long as I regularly change the oil every 3,000 miles the benefits of such testing would be minimal in the short term and only marginally gained over the long run if I was to drive the car till 200K???

if you are using conservative OCIs and get the viscosities right, by a-priori reasoning , then yes.

Fred..

[rsiwicki]

"a-priori"......ahh the hint of statistics into the discussion

[qship96]

I am anxiously waiting on a test kit to arrive from Blackstone labs.This will be my first analysis-Redline 10w-30,90 days and 6,446 miles on oil.Redline states their oil is good for 15-18,000 miles-we shall see soon!

[Dinkydow]

qship96, Just curious, have you gotten your test results back yet. Let us know when you do. I am also using red line so Iam curious if it is worth the extra cost. thanks

[PalmerWMD]

Qship:

Dont be concerned, if your redline analysis comes out high in Iron.

It is common to them due to the addtive package, especially if you're just starting redline.

Fred..

[maxnix]

"a-priori"......ahh the hint of statistics into the discussion

Actually, more from logic and philosophy:

a priori

Function: adjectiveEtymology: Latin, literally, from the former1 a : DEDUCTIVE b : relating to or derived by reasoning from self-evident propositions -- compare A POSTERIORI c : presupposed by experience2 a : being without examination or analysis : PRESUMPTIVE b : formed or conceived beforehand- a priori adverb- apri·or·i·ty noun

[par2za]

ok the oil analysis test is a good test for warranty work because it tell the manufacturer what components have been damaged becuse all components have diffrent metals the test will help determine the amount and what componet is damaged. if the oil has been changed, how much consensation and so forth. now to the avarage consumer i see no use for it because first off they cant read the results and will not understand what to do with it. so to answer your question if your not a racer that understands the real workings of an engine the test is useless. but that is only my opinion . ....lol

[qship96]

test kit arrived today,will mail back the sample this afternoon,and post results when available.

[Jeff Williams]

Oil Annalyzers, INC is the one I used. I think it was around 20. I'll be sending a sample of my Amsoil in when I change it.

The new Q I bought has been on Amsoil, for several years. I am interested in how it performs. How long have you been using it? Will this be your first analysis?

[Jberger]

I haven't had great luck with the Blackstone reporting so far. I bought a bunch of the pre-paid test kits when Kmart was closing stores, for about $0.50 ea. The results are not in the same league as what most trucking and heavy machine shops use.

I think oil testing is a great idea, but Blackstone's implementation leaves a LOT to be desired.