Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Oil Analysis

[kennethh]

Where do you find the acceptable ranges for all of the numbers you are given? Here are the numbers off my first analysis. The truck has 70743 miles on the engine and 5241 miles on the oil.



water <0. 05

fuel <1. 0

vis 13. 0

soot <1. 0

oxd 7. 8

nox 8. 6



fe 4

cr 1

pb 1

cu 0

sn 1

al 5

ni 0

ag 0

mn 0

si 0

b 39

na 2

mg 0

ca 4342

ba 0

p 1230

zn 1359

mo 0

ti 0

v 0

cd 0





Results of tests performed indicate: No corrective action required oil is suitable for continued use resample at next regular inteval.





Thanks

Kenneth

 

[monkfarm]

that's a good question, and I'm going to subscribe to this thread to find out an answer. I always just let them tell me if there was a problem.

I did figure out, that I was having problems taking a good sample, tho, and now I know that I'm not wasting my money having one taken.

 

[TomGolden]

I have only ever used Blackstone Labs for my analysis, and they always include a column titled "Universal Averages" which they define as universal average values for other engines the same as yours. So... I always compare my values against the ones in this column, but that really doesn't tell you what the optimal values are I guess.



Hopefully one of the oil experts on the TDR will also reply to this thread.



Tom

 

[RowJ]

Analysis #'s

I use Cleveland Technologies (national company). On the back of their analysis sheet they spell out what each column means and what are acceptable limits. Plus they "flag any problem areas and recommend corrective action (same as others, I assume).

The main purpose of Oil Analysis is to observe long term trends; comparing lattest figures with those of past samples.

Your first 6 items are most important short term. Viscocity of 13 puts you at a very light 40 wt at operating temp. (tested at 100 degrees C. )

I would not get to hung up on the contaminant numbers, just watch to see if they rise rapidly between samples.

The MG through BA are Dispersant/Detergent additives; the P (phosphorus) through Mo are Anti-wear additives. Obviously you want these as high as possible.

Your 1st 10 numbers(iron through Silicon)-after the top set of figures, are excellent! These are wear metals & contaminamts and are very low. Anything under 40-50 would be ok at 70,000 miles on your engine and there is always some parts per million of these present.

I have seen analysis of unused oil that showed 2 or 3 p. p. m. as a result of the manufacturing process.

Also you can test the same sample on two different machines and get +/- 2 or 3 parts per millon.

 

[Mundgyver]

What you want to do is to plug these numbers into a spread sheet. As you continue doing your oil analysis, you will be able to plot any trends up or down of each area. As mentioned before, your looking for anthing that changes suddenly. This type of thing is done in aviation all the time on their engines and gear boxes. If I remember for them it is every so many hours of operations because of being flight critical and such. But after awhile you should have some pretting nice data collected on your engine if you keep up with it.

 

[Jack in Alaska]

Oil Sampling

Blackstone has been sampling my oil(Shell Rot. ) for quite awhile. I always changed the oil/filter(Fleetgard) every 3000 miles. BS told me to go to a longer interval so I went up 1000 miles at a time and even at 8000 they told me my oil was clean and could go farther. That last 8000 miles was mostly heavy towing from 95 F to 5 F. BS said in their last report that at the rate my engine was wearing it would last easily to 400k. , it is at 118k now.

I believe I will change at 7 - 8 k miles... ... ... . just because I can.

The cost of sampling is cheap when you calculate how much you are saving on unneccessary changes.

 

[amsoilman]

kennethh,



Each engine manufacturer has data on the “normal” wear of each of the elements for a given oil drain interval.



Example.

Cummins, Iron (Fe) 50, GMC 6. 2 Iron (Fe) 250, Mack Iron (Fe) 150. Remember in reviewing a report, ask yourself; is the elemental level proportional to the time on the oil? Example: 6,000 miles on oil, Iron at 25 PPM is OK for the above engines. 12,000 miles on the same oil, Iron at 40 PPM is still OK. 3,000 miles on the oil, Iron at 40 PPM would be poor. Still within limits, but poor.



Additive levels may also be measured with spectrographic metals analysis. Normal metals analysis will detect the levels of zinc, phosphorous, calcium and barium, which are common elements in most additive packages. A 50% reduction in parts-per-million of these elements indicates the oil should be changed.



Most labs will compare the wear trends to similar operations using the same type equipment in order to more reliably predict component failure. Because of this, it is important and valuable to work with a lab that has years of experience, as well as hundreds of thousands samples in their files to compare data.



Periodic oil analysis is an important element in extending oil drain intervals and prolonging engine life, however looking at trends is the best solution to achieving this.





Wayne

amsoilman