I was talking to a guy at work who was telling me about labs that do oil analysis. You send them a container of your used oil and they break it down, do tests, and make recommendations (changing it too early, not often enough, trace metals present) stuff like that. It costs about $20.

Anybody used one of these services? Get anything helpful out of it?

Thanks - John

 

To me, it would only be worth it if you are using synthetic and trying to extend your drain intervals.

 

John
It's a little more expensive than that, but it's very useful if you do it on a schedule. You can see what's going on inside the engine.


http://www.oaitesting.com./
http://www.dysonanalysis.com/premiumkits.html
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/gas_sampling.html

glc
No, they're not really analyzing the OIL itself - they're analyzing what's IN the oil.

 

I get what your saying and I've heard about it, but its not like what you are doing curreewntly is going to mess it up.

 

It's not really worth doing unless you know how to interpret the results and know what your looking at.

 

My buddy changes his Mobil 1 synthetic every 3000k miles in his Mazda Speed 6 and does the tests every time. The results are interesting but probably not worth it unless you push your oil changes. The place he uses actually tells him what looks good and what looks somewhat abnormal considering low miles on the vehicle and changing the oil every 3k. I think he pays about 20 buck as well.

 

I have found Blackstone's reports to be very valuable. They started to pick up increasing wear metals and higher flashpoint in my oil samples indicating fuel dilution of the oil due to worn/leaky fuel injectors. (They provide analysis of the results, both in general terms and a paragraph specific to your sample.)

There was no other indication of this problem: fuel economy did not change noticeably and there was no fuel odor in the oil. Without their analysis, I would never have known that my engine was wearing prematurely. (This was not my F150 btw.)

I have an analysis run on each of our household's vehicles about every other oil change or so. You can see one of my recent reports here:

 

Your link isnt working

 

I do oil samples on my aircraft(jet) and it is great information but the filter are changed every 150 hr and the oilis changed on average every 1000 hr. Thats about 2 to 5 years and makes a useful trend. I can not see a useful trend with an oil change ever 2k to 3k miles. You may find an odd item sometimes. Fuel in the oil is not a big problem unless your engine does not come to tempatur or you are doing short drives. In piston aircraft we add fuel to the oil to thin the oil in the winter time. When the engine warms up the fuel evaporates. In the end it is your money and if yopu feel you are receiving a useful service then wuo is any one to argue.

 

Even the cheap ones include that info with the report.You should NEVER stretch the oil changes, and again: an oil analysis ISN'T about the oil - it's about the engine.

 

If the oil is being changed at the proper intervals, there shouldn't be any damage happening inside the engine that you need to worry about.

 

All Caterpillar dealers have an oil lab at one of their branches so you can get any sample analyzed there. it will cost around $13.

Cat takes samples at 250hr intervals on all the fluids in the equipment. by doing this all the different wear metals can be tracked and a failure can be found before it actually totally fails. fuel dilution, silica, and many other things are checked.
A fluid analysis program that is designed to be an easy way to monitor the impact of maintenance programs, applications, and operational factors on machine health.

 

Riiiiiiiiiight... You keep living in YOUR world - I'll get my oil tested occasionally.

 

You can go right ahead and spend money on something you really don't need. I'll continue to change my oil every 3K and drive worry free. I haven't had a vehicle yet that didn't go 200K+ following this routine.

 

I really don't see the point either I think it is more for work truck or police cars that run all day and dont move. And i dont think they would do it that often maybe once a year per vehicle maybe. I would put that money towords gas. the way the prices are nowadays!