Oil Analysis? 1

[ivymike]

Hello

Would anyone be able to point me to a company that performs the sort of "oil analysis" that has been so frequently touted in this forum?

What is the standard procedure for having the analysis performed? Do I need a special container in which to collect a sample? Is there a specific procedure for collecting said sample?

Also, what information will result from the analysis, and how are the various pieces of information generally used?

Thanks in advance
Isaac

 

[ivymike]

Perhaps I should add that part of the reason I'm interested in this is that I'd like to do some comparative evaluations of various filters / oils / change intervals in my daily driver. I know, that wouldn't be a "representative sample" unless the observed differences were HUGE, but I'd like to get a feel for how much better a synth oil might perform in my car, what a good change interval would be, and if there would be any benefit to buying one of these auxilary filtration units. I only paid $125 for the car (and I've been driving it for over 6 months), so if the experimentation results in the eventual failure of the engine, it'll just slightly accelerate my shopping for another vehicle.

My plan (off the top of my head - I haven't really put a great deal of thought into this yet) would be the following:
* get an analysis performed on a sample of fresh oil when I change my oil next
* run the usual oil (non-synth) through 3000 miles of commuting, and take another sample.
* run another 2000 miles and get another test done

if the oil is too degraded at that point, I'd switch over to synthetic, otherwise keep running tests at 2000 miles until the oil is "dead," then change

Change oil + filter, use synthetic this time, repeat procedure above (perhaps extending the 2000 mile increments to something longer)

Change oil + filter, add "bypass" type filter, re-run above cycle w/ synthetic

If anyone has a different plan that he'd like to suggest, go right ahead.

 

[jmw]

http://www.practisingoilanalysis.com

is an excellent web site which may provide you with more than you ever wanted to know about oil analysis.
For on line analysis you could use viscosity measurement. There is only one company i know of that currently does this continuously on line and in real time which is Solartron Mobrey (

http://www.solartron.com).

This gives you the kinematic viscosity at 40degC irrespective of the working temperature. Viscosity is a good alert for contamination with other fluids, break down of the shear resist component and changes in the acid number.
You can also visit

http://www.macomtech.net

who manufacture a range of other on line quality measurements. The big saving with on line measurement is that it is continuous and labour saving.

 

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

This is a popular lab

 

[ivymike]

Wow, thanks for the link... I used to live in Ft Wayne, but I never heard of these guys until just now (not really surprising).