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Oil testing

Crispin

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I've wanted to test my oil for a while now. Mostly out of curiosity but also because of the whole 120 injector thing (I have all the parts, still not able to change :x )

Having a quick look on the 'net for oil testers, top result on google is http://www.oilanalysis.org.uk/

For a complete analysis (has lots of cool looking tests :ugeek: ) it starts at £17 + VAT per sample. Catch is, you must order more than £100 worth of tests. That's 7@£17 or 10@£13 etc.
No of kits ordered Price of kit £+VAT
<7 £17.00
10 £13.00
30 £11.00
40 £9.75
50 £9.00
60+ £8.50

Brochure : http://www.oilanalysis.org.uk/oilbrochure2008.pdf

If there are 7 or more people interested, I'll be happy to get the kits sent to me and I'll send them on. You fill out form, fill sample bottle and post back to them. They'll email you a report.

If there is a simpler way / better company to do this and you know, lets hear it...

So - 7 people?
 
I was on that site earlier today... so err I'm in.
 
That would be fine if I were just curious to see what was in my oil. In my case I need to see what's in the oil and I don't want to get it wrong so I would rather pay someone knowledgeable in the field to do it for me.
 
Crispin including yourself you only need 6 people to have an order over £100 @ £17 each...
 
Chas - I recall those from a while back but like Rob says, I'd be happier to pay someone and know it's done correctly (or at least I am lead to believe). :lol:

Yup, we only need 5 more people. Roll up. Roll up.
 
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The difflock shop used to sell individual oil analysis 'kits', don't know if they still do.
 
Yeah out of curiosity I would be up for this... two kits for me please :roll: (if you can only use one kit per test)
 
Jon Wildsmith said:
The difflock shop used to sell individual oil analysis 'kits', don't know if they still do.


Can't seem to find anything on there.

Looks like a cool shop though (gonna cost me...)
 
Once bought, how long can we keep them before we need to send them back? a year? If so I would like 2 so I can check before and after any repairs.
 
I gave the guy a call this morning. Very helpful chap called Andy, explained what I wanted to do (i.e. buy and distribute them amongst club members) and he said for us, that's fine.

He said the report is both technical but also has traffic lights next to each test. Soot in oil - Green, Amber, Red. Diesel in oil - same etc etc.

As for purchasing them, once you have the bottle, sheet of paper and SAE carton, you pop it back in the post when you want the test done. No time frame.
Best time for a test is just before an oil change but also to sample the oil when it's hot / cooling from hot. They want everything still in suspension when you get a sample. To take a sample in the morning after standing all night is not great.

The kits come packaged so i can get them sent to me and then post it on to you when it arrives.

I had another look at some other companies and they are quite a lot more expensive for a test so I think I'll order from this chap.
I think 6 was a minimum order so that's fine for now. I don't mind holding on to a spare one if there are no takers.


CP
 
What advantage would/could there be to me getting mine tested....?
 
Nice - me selling Ian something ;)

Lorin - perhaps for curiosity, but for me, it's about a dodgy injector seal. They can pick up from the soot in the oil (Mostly curiosity)
For Rob's reason - is there diesel in the oil?
Any metal in the oil? Dodgy bearings or something else

etc etc.

I will only be able to order these on Monday or Tuesday so if anyone wants, there's still time to increase the orders. So far, there have been ten ordered so getting cheaper and cheaper. :dance:
 
I had a sample report on my old 80 a while before doing the BEB's and everything was 'normal' even though when the BEB's were changed some were well shagged :roll: I think it'll show up big problems like high fuel or soot levels but otherwise won't really tell you much.
 
I suppose that on "small" engines like this, the possible metal vs. quantity of oil will hide stuff like that. So might even proof to be a false "sense of security" thing then?
 
There are probably people that swear by them Crispin but yes that analysis I had done made me think the BEB's were ok and it was pure luck that in the end I caught them in time. It might be worth checking your expectations of what it will identify are realistic. The 80 series BEB problem really involves very very small quantities of material over quite a large number of miles so the units used (parts per million IIRC) were too big to pick up on them wearing!
 
Remember the sampling method is critical, if you want to obtain accurate results.
 
It may be worth contacting Oilman (Opie Oils) he may well sell kits, or at least he should be able to give some advice on condition monitoring and the correct sampling procedure.
 
We use them for Jet engines but mainly for a long term life cycle monitoring programs. You can catch impending fails and contamination with spikes in certain materials but you would need a baseline of what was acceptable first.

Sampling method is critical===has to be a clean catch of oil with no dirt or tool scrapes involved etc

As the link points out the most common time for engine failures is during break in and at end of service life
Well, no surprises there.

I think this might be an okay tool for running a fleet but not sure if it would be cost effective for the average vehicle owner

I would love to hear any sucess stories with it though, but I think money wise you are better off with a good maintenance schedule and the advice of an experienced builder & other owners first hand experience on when to teardown

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Rea ... frequncies
 
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