Help! oil chemical check

[carlc1c3c5]

hello . where can I send TRANSMISSION oil. ENGINE oil to be tested for metal , or other junk in there????? :thanks: thanks carlc1c3c5 LIFE IS SHORT ,ENJOY THE RIDE !!!!

 

[dadaroo]

If you had bothered to do an internet search you would have found dozens. Try searching on Lubricant Analysis.

Here is just one:

Same Day Oil Analysis, Oil Testing and Filter Analysis of Debris.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

Save your money. A single analysis will not provide any meaningful results unless the engine is right on death's doorstep and it' already too late.

To be of use, regular samples must be analyzed looking for a trend.

 

[Hib Halverson]

The best oil analysis lab for DIY Corvetters to use is Blackstone Labs. I have used oil analysis for decades. In that period I've tried several different labs. I like Blackstone the best because they offer the best service for DIYs and they have very good tech support for enthusiasts.

Oil analysis, regardless of which lab you choose, does have limitations. For one thing, it won't take into account contaminants in oil which are so large they are visible, so having your trans oil analyzed is pretty much a waste of time. You should change your transmission lube every 3 years or 36,000 miles. When you change it inspect your magnetic drain plug (if so equipped) and look at the drain oil in the pan. If you see chips coming out with the drain oil, if you see a lot of debris on the drain plug or you see an inordinate amount of fine bronze powder in the drain oil, you likely have a problem with the trans.

Engine oil is a little different. An earlier post says that oil analysis on an engine which has not been sampled before is a waste of money. That's not correct. A lab like Blackstone has analyzed hundreds of thousands of oil samples. Even though a given engine may have no previous oil sampling, through its experience analyzing so many samples, Blackstone can establish a "universal" average of wear metals and if the wear metals of a given engine exceed that, Blackstone's data sheet will warn the user of that potential problem.

Obviously regular sampling of drain oil is better, because it allows the lane to establish a track record for a specific engine, but having and engine sampled which has not been done before is not a waste of money.

For more information on oil analysis visit Blackstone Labs' web site. Blackstone offers free test kits.

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

The problem with using universal averages is they are just that. 99.9% of engines fit somewhere into the range of 'acceptable'. Paying money to learn that your engines falls into that range is a waste.

The value of oil analysis is through detecting changes in an individual engine's wear signature. That signature can only be defined through the analysis of multiple samples taken under controlled conditions. Factors like loss of or addition to the oil in the engine, minimum time that the engine was run before the sample was extracted, time between the engine being shut down and sample extraction etc etc will all bias the results

Anything substantially less than that reduces the accuracy of the analysis to nothing more than a 'feel good' exercise.