First Oil Analysis...should I be worried?

[460Fred]

Power train warranty is 5 yrs/60K miles. Drive the crap out of it - most "bad" motors (excess oil consumption) will be very apparent by 10K miles. Mine was obvious by 7K. If it goes south, get the motor replaced.

Again, so why do an oil analysis during a warrantied car in the first place?
I can see wanting to do it for a car you wanted to by that is out of warranty (good luck getting that done) but fail to understand otherwise.

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[rick81721]

Again, so why do an oil analysis during a warrantied car in the first place?
I can see wanting to do it for a car you wanted to by that is out of warranty (good luck getting that done) but fail to understand otherwise.

Agree. I did a few oil analyses on the first motor, nothing popped out that foreshadowed excess oil consumption. I haven't bothered on the second motor.

 

[460Fred]

Agree. I did a few oil analyses on the first motor, nothing popped out that foreshadowed excess oil consumption. I haven't bothered on the second motor.

Now that’s a response I understand.
THANK YOU!

 

[JAJ]

Oil analysis is often misunderstood. Unless you're using it on a fleet basis across multiple vehicles with the same engine, all it can tell you is the condition of the oil that was analyzed. It gives you nothing regarding the condition of the engine. To get into how a particular engine is doing, you have to have a data on multiple copies of that particular engine and you need a time series on the engine in question. Without that, it's just a snapshot of the oil itself. There are a few exceptions - contamination by coolant or dirt will show up, and it's possible that a failing part will leave a signature, but those situations are rare. Mostly it's telling you that the oil is fine, and it'll keep telling you that everything's fine right up until the engine throws a rod and holes the block.

 

[Spacebird]

To get into how a particular engine is doing, you have to have a data on multiple copies of that particular engine...

That’s precisely what “Universal Avergaes” means. From Blackstone:

[Unit/Location averages] are particular to your own vehicle, so you can compare your own engine’s average wear to national averages, which are what you see in the universal average column.

... you need a time series on the engine in question.

Which is achieved by multiple UOAs.

 

[JAJ]

That’s precisely what “Universal Averages” means. From Blackstone:

[Unit/Location averages] are particular to your own vehicle, so you can compare your own engine’s average wear to national averages, which are what you see in the universal average column.


Which is achieved by multiple UOAs.

Universal averages are interesting, but because the service intervals, filters and duty cycles are uncontrolled, they're not a valid baseline for the specific engine in your vehicle. If the average oil change interval in the "universal average" is 8,000 miles and you're changing at 2,000, the results aren't really comparable.

Where oil analysis works best is when you have a fleet of 20 or more vehicles with the same engine on the same maintenance schedule, where they're all running the same oil and filter and doing the same type of driving. A taxi fleet, city delivery fleet or long-haul trucking are where UOA provides the most value for detecting problems before they become breakdowns. Multiple UOA's over time are helpful, but you still don't have a baseline to compare the trend with, so you're still mostly in the dark.

I did UOA's for a decade on all the vehicles I owned, and I eventually stopped because I wasn't getting any information out of it that I could act on. I'll use them in a more targeted way now. For instance, I did one last year when I ran my OLM down to 5% with a string of track days. The purpose was purely to see how the oil was doing (it was fine). Oh, and I don't use Blackstone. They don't offer nitration and oxidation tests, which are very useful numbers for assessing the condition of gasoline engine oil.

 

[Bishop295]

This thread has been a great learning experience for me. This was my first oil analysis and I did it mostly for shitz n giggles. As a forum, we have a fleet of these vehicles we can compare such things too. Maybe help us learn more about the mysterious Voodoo.

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