A reason to oil sample

[JohnB]

Sampled at first oil change, 1600 miles, had 68 ppm dirt. I assumed this was assembly dirt. Sampled 80 miles after oil change and dirt was at 15ppm, not great, but ok. Sampled again 1000 miles later and had 18ppm dirt. Changed oil at 4600 miles and dirt had jumped to 44ppm and iron to 77ppm, (not good).

Bagged intake (plugged snorkel) and sprayed ether around all intake connections. Found a leak on the cover of stock air box on the right side of the top clip. I could actually hear the suction through the edge of the cover. I have applied grease to the seal area to see if that will be enough to stop the slight dirt leak. I could never see any signs of dust in the intake tube or anywhere else. I think this is a good lesson of why oil sampling is benefical. I would never have known any other way.

 

[Texas Diesel]

Thanks for the heads up. I never would have considered this as a reason to have an analysis. Sure will now...

 

[HC]

Good tip! Oil analysis was part of the reason I decided to add the foam pre-cleaner to my RE-880. Seems to be helping.

 

[Lhotka]

Check your air box cover for cracks. Mine developed a series of cracks just above the line of rectangular notches that hook onto the air box tabs. I don't know if the filtration was compromised, but having a 1/16 inch opening in the box made me feel a bit uneasy.

 

[EMDDIESEL]

For those of you running stock airboxes and are having sealing problems,instead of grease, i have used foam tape. It is available in all sorts of thicknesses and is self adhesive, just stick it around the edges. Home Depot had a huge variety. Just an idea, and alot less messy then grease.

 

[TXRam]

I noticed the same thing on another member's truck when letting him try out my EZ. Lid was properly installed, but it was like the holes in the top half that the tabs on the bottom half fit into were cut to much, and the lid didn't fit tight.

 

[Vaman]

What the best place to have an oil analysis done? I've been putting this off for forever...

 

[JR2]

Vaman-

I have used Blackstone Labs once and have no complaints. The test was about $17 bucks and took a couple of weeks to get the results. If you request a sample bottle by email you will have it in a week. Be sure to mention that you are a TDR member as I think they give a discount.

 

[DEZLPWR]

What's up with the stock airboxes? My airbox is cracked near one of the latches as well. It seems like a lot of people are having similar problems!