Used Oil Analysis

[AlgUSF]

I'm curious if people still do used oil analysis these days. I've never had one done, and change my own oil typically on my vehicles. I figure that I'll use my Jeep Wave oil changes and just climb under before I take it in and grab enough for an analysis. I may just do it for the first two oil changes to make sure the Jeep is breaking in properly. Any advice?

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[CarbonSteel]

I do and use Polaris labs. I buy my UOA kits from Amsoil.

 

[Caleb75]

I use Blackstone Labs and NAPA pre-paid. I get the NAPA pre-paid off Amazon.

 

[FloridaLarry]

I'm curious what is the value of this oil analysis information. Are you looking for specific things, and are there preventative action you can take after seeing the results? Thanks.

 

[Caleb75]

I'm curious what is the value of this oil analysis information. Are you looking for specific things, and are there preventative action you can take after seeing the results? Thanks.

You are looking for wear trends to see if your engine is wearing better or worse than similar engines. If certain wear metals are higher than normal it could indicate internal issues inside the engine or even give insight into a coolant leak or failing air filter. It is a great tool to see the overall health of your engine and how effective the oil is working to protect your engine. Blackstone labs also gives you a written overview of the results.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Note that UOAs can be used to some degree to look at wear patterns, but there is an upward limit that a UOA will not catch (outside of the test parameters) and there are variables that will cause the wear metals to fluctuate. It takes MANY UOAs using the same "everything" to establish trends (on the order of 50+).

With that said, what a UOA IS very good at is looking at the health of the oil (its true intention). It will allow one to can catch coolant leaks early, see if the oil is remaining within the intended viscosity, look at the Total Base Number (TBN) to see if the oil is still capable of neutralizing acids, if the air filter is bypassing etc.

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