Oil Analysis

[BigBadDodge]

Hey all,



Just recieved my very first oil analysis report after installing the synthetic. I installed the oil about 10,000 miles ago and like a dumb a$$ I never changed the filter either. so I sent a sample in here is what I recieved back. thought I would ask here if there is something of great concern that you may notice. I have 75,000 on the rig currently.





spectrographic analysis:



aluminum 13

chromium 4

iron 80

copper 3

lead 5

tin 1

molybdemum 0

nickel 0

manganese 1

silver 0

titanium 0

vanadium 0

boron 26

silicon 8

sodium 2

calcium 4340

magnesium 26

phosphorus 1219

zinc 1314

barium 0



oil degradation:



soot = <1. 0

%oxd = 8. 9

%nox = 11. 4

TBN = 12. 9

TAN = NA



physical properties:



glycol = NEG

% water = <0. 05

% fuel = <1. 0

viscosity = 12. 8 @100 deg C

% solids = Neg



Most of the above is pretty foriegn to me accept the part that read, no corrective action required, oil is sutiable for continued use, resample at next regular interval.



I supose that's the important part



Thanks in advance for any feedback or sugestions.



I know, change the damn oil filter more.

 

[WyoJim]

Don't look that bad for 10000 miles without a filter change. TBN is good. It looks like you might have took your sample from the drain plug where the magnet gathers all the metal.



Ifflem posted a slick way to sample. Replace the plug in the top of the filter housing with a petcock and length of plastic tubing. Pump some oil back into the add oil opening on the valve cover then take you sample from the plastic tubing.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

YEAH, I know I'll get slapped around for this, but *I* feel your primary wear numbers are pretty poor!



The Iron content is especially bad, and the aluminum, chromium and copper aren't much better... When *I* post my numbers, I get comments as to how the TBN numbers are so crucial to an accurate test, yet YOUR TBN number is excellent - and wear is STILL high - sorta makes ya wonder!



I also get knocked because I use a bypass filter - which I am told "slews" my numbers artificially, since the larger contaminent particles are removed from the oil - so which is BETTER, to remove them with bypass filtering - or leave them IN the oil to do their ongoing wear damage - but obtain a more "honest" oil analysis...



I can dern sure tell ya what *I* intend to do!

 

[SlyBones]

In the recent oil threads I think it was felt that TBN was good for determining how much life is left in your oil, assuming there are no "problems". An original comment was change oil when TBN get so 7. Then the oil expert guy said to go to 4-5 range or 1/2 the oils new TBN value. In that thread Delo 400 15w-40 was new at 11. 3, so you should be able to run it to 5. 6 for example. Your individual oil will vary.



I kinda have to agree with Gary that some wear metals are little high. Iron looks high at 80 from what I remember. Dont have the book in front of me.



And of course I would like to know if by-pass filters really do skew the results. Or are wear metals too small for even bypass filters and the results are same ??

 

[FD5]

Numbers on my 95 with 254K,

12,000 miles on oil



Iron-10

Chromium-1

Lead-2

Copper-1

Tin-2

Aluminum-7

Nickel-0

Silver-0

Manganese-0

Silicon-4

Boron-32

Sodium-1

Magnesium-57

Calcium-4319

Barium-0

Phosphorus-1253

Zinc-1326

Molybdenum-0

Titanium-0

Vanadium-0

Cadmium-0

Glycol-neg

% WATER-<0. 05

% FUEL-<1. 0

VISCOSITY @ 100C-13. 4

% SOLIDS-NA

SOOT-<1. 0

% OXD-8. 9

% NOX-10. 0

TBN-12. 1

TAN-NA

 

[illflem]

Your numbers don't look bad for a first time synthetic test. When you first use syn it will have a tendency to clean off the petro oil sludge in the engine which can skew the results. Just change your filter more often and see what the next test looks like. I don't know how you drew your sample but you need to be very careful about contamination since the sample is so small, just a little dust in the collection bottle can throw everything way off. If you drew just a little oil from the drain plug it is also likely to be contaminated.

 

[Cooker]

Gary,

I hope there is no hard feelings from the other thread. Like I said, I do agree with you that sh... or stuff is better off removed.



-Ryan

 

[BigBadDodge]

OOPS

Well, I did take the sample from the drain plug, and in fact now that I think about It I just cracked it enough to get a sample. and yes I have a heavy duty plug that comes with this huge magnet so I guess I will be changing the way I draw samples. I can just see that oil riding over the plug wich has all this crap stuck to it because of the magnet.



illflem, I wasn't thinking about the petro oil slude maybe still hanging around, makes sense though. I did use a flush but it can't posibly get every thing.



I went ahead and changed the oil anyway, I will see what happens next time.



Thanks for the replies.



Scott

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

COOKER - no problems bud - all this stuff going on in these threads is in the spirit of friendly discussion and relative minor differences of opinion - no big deal - ya pays yer money and takes yer choice!