Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Oil Sampling and Testing

Had a truck commit suicide late last year.

Drug it home and parked in the shop while deciding what to do.

I would like to get an oil sample and get it tested to make certain the oil is/was the proper weight because the oil change place had serviced the vehicle just 2 weeks prior.

Anyone have experience with an testing company that would tell me what weight oil is in the truck?

Calling or emailing several with this question might get the best answer.

But I hear you, having a vehicle serviced & it dying 2 weeks after might raise several questions for me too. Guess it depends on the state or condition of the vehicle beforehand though.

Blackstone.

I'm looking to have this done on a 2017 Ram Cummins with 190K miles to see if I have any impending engine issues, before I throw more money into the truck.

What's the best way to do this? I assume you do an oil change and record the Brand/weight/mileage and then drive it to the next oil change interval? At that point pull your sample and send it to the test facility with the oil brand/weight/mileage? Anything else I need to know?

I'd appreciate a follow up when info is leaned & what type of engine failure it was.


Thinking more about this, testing companies generally test the parts per million of metals in the oil, knowing what might be normal wear, or excessive. They also can check for things like anti-freeze or abnormal amounts of water.
But realized they could at least check oil viscosity, or you could do that yourself with a viscosity cup available on line for about 7 bucks along with some youtube instruction.

Otherwise, checking the oil for the correct additives that you engine requires & would certainly be a question for the tester.

Doesn't viscosity change depending on temp and age of the oil? Thicken/thin etc - soon as UOA comes back with results that aren't EXACTLY what's on the bottle - you've kicked off a fire storm with the consumer I'd think. People suing the Jiffy Lube, suing the oil mfg etc.

Pull sample before oil change.

One sample isn't enough tho - I'd want 3-7. What you're looking for is a CHANGE more than just presence of metals. An increase over several oil changes in aluminum might mean bearing issues but you won't know without a baseline. So several samples pulled at the same mileage is helpful.

Drive 5k - pull sample. Drive 5k - pull sample. Drive 5k - pull sample. Now compare contaminant change from 1st to 3rd to see if you're "gaining contaminants" which would indicate increasing wear etc.


I've seen dudes FREAK at a sample showing contaminants but when it shows the same level EVERY time they pull oil - they calm down.

This one would be my first choice for a vehicle.

Their website also answers a lot of the questions asked in this thread............

The only one I've ever had experience with I can't recommend - Cummins.

CAT, Blackstone and Polaris (not the ATV guys) all seemed good.

Yes it does change. That's why oils have specs for different temps. SUS, "saybolt universal seconds", flow rate at various temps. And I've just about reached the limits of my memory. So I'll stop.

But a tester should be able to ball park the oil weight. Diesels seem to like 15-40 Shell Rotella for instance, as opposed to a 0-5 wt. that was meant to go into the Yota hybrid being serviced in the next bay, is my ballpark point.

But all speculation. OP hasn't divulged the stats of the engine before it "done blowed up" A raged out motor that's been abused & has 250K on it, or a late model with 50K & easy livin. To me, the former wouldn't be worth the shipping to send an oil sample. The later? hell yeah, I'd want to know if the mechanic did their job.

Yes, viscosity is a standard measurement in an oil sample.

The lab also wants to know what the oil is, so they can compared the measured values against the “new” values.

Oil analysis is a pretty cost effective way to prevent substantial repair issues due to things like silica (air filter failure), fuel (injector failure), coolant in the oil due head gasket failure, etc.

I use Blackstone when I have an analysis done. I tend to be a real believer on synthetic oil from Mobil, and in particular using high detergent Diesel motor oil in gas engines. I probably run my oil longer than most guys on the campfire, but they get done at still regular intervals. Analysis seems to tell me a lot, and is why I run my oil in my engines for so long.

Not used as much as it use to be most of its life... I have a 4 Runner, with a gnat's hair under 600K on it, with the original engine still under the hood in good running shape. Have run a few vehicles 350 to 425K, and gave them away still in operational shape. I keep on eye on things, anyone remember getting flamed on a thread where I say I change my valve cover gaskets every 50,000 miles? Boy did I get flamed by a bunch of macho idiots over that. One even bragging how he beat the schitt out of his truck, and never changed the valve cover gaskets... guess oil leaks are MANLY.

Vehicles I personally drive myself, and in the drive way;

88 4Runner, 22 RE engine. 593K on it.
06 Honda Pilot, 333K on it ( just rolled over today in fact)
08 Camry 4 cylinder and manual trans 207K
11 Tacoma 4WD pickup, 4.0 V 6.... low mileage on this one... 176K

Put a lot of miles on vehicles each year, for business and then a couple of trips down to Arizona or back to Minnesota, and last couple of years, a long one back to the east coast, to visit family in Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, then up to New England. Last one I took was in November and December, getting back like Jan 4th or so. That one was 250 miles short of 10,000 miles round trip. That was in the Pilot, where I towed a trailer back to the east coast, I had built out here. For family in New England... women, disabled Army Vet.

Oil analysis, keeps me on top of what is going on within the engines....

Change automatic trans tho ( on the other end ) more often than most folks do... every 25K Manual trans, every 50K.
Rear ends and front ends on 4 WD vehicles, every 50K also.

Removing valve cover when replacing gaskets, I don't see any sludge on the heads or rocker arms. Even when I replaced the head on my 4 Runner at 540K, ( only time), there was NO Sludge on the head....always used 5W40 or 15W 40 oil, and changed it every 20K to 25K. synthetic Mobil diesel truck oil. Filter changes every 5 K, until I started running Mobil one filters when they came out... those get changed every 12.5 to 15K most often. Air Filters every 20K.

Most if not all analysis I've gotten back from Blackstone, tell me my engines are in good shape, and the tell me to run the next drain another 2 to 3K miles longer and send that in to see how its doing.

A short year of mileage is about 40K on the road, and a long one is normally 60K. and the "mechanic" doing the most of my work on my vehicles? Myself.. I don't trust many other mechanics....so I only have me to blame when something breaks down, and I usually know how to fix it...even when I am a couple thousand miles from home.

Yup.
Go to their website and they will send you a sampling kit with proper containers for mailing to them.

Caterpillar was an innovator in the oil testing field, we used their service for many years. They may be able to not only tell you the viscosity of your oil but why the engine failed.

The OP has been offered a lot of help but it seems he just left the room, leaving us to discuss this amongst ourselves.

Think he could man up & offer some more info, of at least tell us GFY.

Likely busy and/or traveling.

Every fluid in my trucks has been replaced with Schaeffer oil products, their at the top of all test, Kansas Co.

IIRC the OP's rig is a Ford Super-Duty service or tow truck of some manner w/6.7L PowerStroke and not too much over 100K Mi.

I don't recall if he torched a turbo or if it was a bottom-end problem.

FMR man. I posted a question a week ago.

You posted this response 2 days after I asked. Do you have a life? Anything else going on other that flying a keyboard?

To your request, I got some guidance and am following up looking into a couple different companies. Other than that, I got no updates.

Tarkio, bummer on the engine wiped out after a trip to the mechanic.

I had the same fkn thing happen to me. Had a powersteering pump and gearbox replaced on my dodge. Also had the np-205 rebuilt only because it was leaking oil.

Place was called Fullmoon Auto in Delta Junction, Alaska

EVERY job was fked up:

My steering shaft came undone on at 60 mph on the fking Parks highway!

The transfer case would pop out of 4wd and rattled going down a hill in 2wd(improper gear preload)

One of the 8mm bolts that holds the powersteering pump to the 6bt cummins was found on the oil drain magnet. It was all mashed up n mangled. It made its way around the engine. Wiped out a perfect condition 6bt cummins.

Had to start all over again, because I didn't want to litigate over an old clapped out work truck with a rough body. The shop closed down shortly thereafter.

I read some of the online reviews of the place after this experience:
One customer reported finding a fking meth pipe in his center console!?

I don't think this is related to the oil change/service. But the timing has me thinking it deserves looking into.

So I am doing just that.

Sucks to hear about your experience with you pos shop. These are the kinds of things that have made me do more and more mechanic work on my own.

Well, I guess I got the GFY answer. LOL

Sorry, didn't know you bruised so easily.

Not bruised in the least.

Was just dumbfounded with your lack of patience and feeling that you deserved a response within a day or 2 on something that really is of no import

Oil sampling used to be very common in piston aircraft engines. Until folks started doing some testing. Several have caught two samples, labeled them differently, sent to the same lab, got different results. Tested that with several companies. I dont sample mine any more.
Charlie

I try hard to help folks when I think I can, & with some of my background there's no question that I can at times. That requires some questions. Guess I try too hard at times. Maybe I should refrain. Particularly in some cases.

Not at all. I love all the backgrounds of people here on this forum and I use it extensively. And I appreciate your input. I just found it perplexing that 2 days after a question, you are getting twisted around the axle that I had not been back to completely update everyone. Hell, I didn't see your GFY response for another 3 or 4 days. Not all of us live on here.

Don't stop helping please. But dang, have a little patience.

BTW I have a kit coming from Blackstone.

Oil sampled and shipping off today.

PITA to take a sample without a pump and not drain.

Got the sample results back the other day.

Never had oil sampled before so no experience with this. But I am pretty sure that seeing the levels of metal in this sample does not bode well.