Oil analysis ?

[Ejs4029]

Ok I’m considering doing an oil analysis on my 2015 Ram 2500 with the Cummins I have 32K on the odometer now and it’s had five dealer oil changes that were gratis from RAM my free lunch is official over now.

I really don’t have a specific reason as to why I’m just curious to know what the results are and I am thinking about doing my own oil changes going forward and have a few questions for anyone on the forum that has done it before or can offer some advise.

Blackstone Labs seems to be a fairly popular place to do the analysis are they a reputable place or are there any other places anyone would recommend ? If I go with Blackstone should I just do the standard analysis ? which are Spectral Exam, Viscosity, Insolubles and Flashpoint ?

They do offer a bunch of other tests should I consider any of those or just stick to the standard ? And lastly is this something I should consider doing after each oil change ?

[Bobaloo]

I did the Blackstone one on my truck in my sig. I did it mainly just for peace of mind and it did tell me all of my wear metals were in excellent order. I also did my transmission at around 40k.

[TitanMike]

Some people do oil analysis at regular intervals to see how far apart they can stretch oil changes.

Others just do it as the engine gets more miles on it to see if there is any evidence of internal wear

For oil change intervals I'd just follow the mfr's recommendations. They've already done the analysis on the engines they build and recommend changing long before problems will be caused by oil.

Analysis would be a great idea as the miles stack up. Maybe 50k, 100k, 150k, etc. Because bearings are "layered" the appearance of different metals in the oil will be a good indicator of how much wear has occurred and if overhaul (or trade-in) is imminent.

Lastly, as engines are worked more and more, one failure that can creep up on you is head gasket leakage. Analysis will show contamination by products of combustion as well as coolant. Catching this problem early can save cylinder heads and blocks, making repairs less expensive (or preventing full engine replacement).

[Bama Rambler]

The proper thing to have done is to have had one about 5k miles and then every other change. But since that ship has sailed, having one now will tell you if there's anything out of the ordinary happening. I would just have the standard test ran.

Once you see the report you can decide if further testing is needed.

P.S. That's a lot of oil changes for that engine with that few miles. You should have only had two at those miles.

[TowPro]

If you have a fleet and drive 100's of thousands of miles, my feelings are oil analysis can pay off. Or your trying to push the limit on miles per oil change sure it can tell you when your oil is dirty. But remember your dodge is 15,000 miles or every 6 months recommended by manufacture. At 6 months most are throwing away good oil.

But for the normal driver I don't really see the value. I got caught up in this fever the forums spread when i first got into owning diesel trucks. and did it a couple times, but no useful gain. one time I did do it with a purpose was after I replaced some injectors in an ISB I did an analysis some miles later to make sure there was no fuel leaks into oil.

but its up to you.

[jd4010]

On my tow vehicles I have Blackstone perform a standard oil analysis with TBN every oil change. I believe it is $28 for the standard analysis plus $10 more for TBN. Allows me to track wear and monitor for potential issues.

[Ejs4029]

Originally Posted by Bama Rambler

The proper thing to have done is to have had one about 5k miles and then every other change. But since that ship has sailed, having one now will tell you if there's anything out of the ordinary happening. I would just have the standard test ran.

Once you see the report you can decide if further testing is needed.

P.S. That's a lot of oil changes for that engine with that few miles. You should have only had two at those miles.

The truck hasn't been a daily driver for the past 2.5 years and It's 4 years old and I now average 4K to 5k miles a year now on it and half of those are towing....The oil changes were use them or lose them so yeah I've had some of those oil done only after 2K miles

[007matman]

Blackstone for me. Great to work with.

[str8t six]

i did blackstone on mine aswell.

[babock]

Waste of money. What are you going to do if something looks abnormal...sell your vehicle? The only people I have seen that got any benefit are the people that used K&N filters and realized the filters were dusting their engines.


Change your oil more frequent than what is recommended and you will be fine.


A neighbor of mine does the Blackstone and uses scam$oil. Claims he can go 20k miles on oil changes on his diseasel..LOL. Just use a good oil and change it a little more often and you are money ahead with less hassle!

[latner]

Originally Posted by babock

Waste of money. What are you going to do if something looks abnormal...sell your vehicle? The only people I have seen that got any benefit are the people that used K&N filters and realized the filters were dusting their engines.


Change your oil more frequent than what is recommended and you will be fine.


A neighbor of mine does the Blackstone and uses scam$oil. Claims he can go 20k miles on oil changes on his diseasel..LOL. Just use a good oil and change it a little more often and you are money ahead with less hassle!

X2

[mpouls1]

I use Blackstone to monitor break in of motor and to watch for fuel in the oil. There are reports of fuel in the oil for some Silverado motors. One less thing to worry about and if there's a problem just show it to the stealership. Not the same truck but the principle still applies. Also fairly inexpensive.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by babock

Waste of money. What are you going to do if something looks abnormal...sell your vehicle? The only people I have seen that got any benefit are the people that used K&N filters and realized the filters were dusting their engines.


Change your oil more frequent than what is recommended and you will be fine.


A neighbor of mine does the Blackstone and uses scam$oil. Claims he can go 20k miles on oil changes on his diseasel..LOL. Just use a good oil and change it a little more often and you are money ahead with less hassle!

With the money not wasted on analysis one can buy oil more often.

Oil Changing is the best and least expensive maintenance one can perform on their engine and pays the greatest benefits.


Almost every person who's had an engine last into the high 200k or even 300k plus range usually says the same thing. "I changed oil regularly".

[007matman]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

With the money not wasted on analysis one can buy oil more often.



Oil Changing is the best and least expensive maintenance one can perform on their engine and pays the greatest benefits.





Almost every person who's had an engine last into the high 200k or even 300k plus range usually says the same thing. "I changed oil regularly".

Yeah... But.

A Diesel takes 15+ quarts in most cases. An oil change for me is about $120. So, it makes sense to get as many miles out of it as possible.

They can also help identify fuel in the oil which is a sign of a bad injector or antifreeze which may be a sign of a head gasket issue.

If you have a gasser I can totally see it. It's inexpensive enough that it probably makes a lot of sense to do it often.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Yeah... But.

A Diesel takes 15+ quarts in most cases. An oil change for me is about $120. So, it makes sense to get as many miles out of it as possible.

They can also help identify fuel in the oil which is a sign of a bad injector or antifreeze which may be a sign of a head gasket issue.

If you have a gasser I can totally see it. It's inexpensive enough that it probably makes a lot of sense to do it often.

Everything associated with a diesel is more expensive.

IF I were to ever own one I'd definitely follow mfr's recommendations. They've done the testing. Even if you have twice as much oil in your diesel crankcase as I have in my gasser I'll bet replacing a diesel engine is a lot more than twice as much.

Considering the amount of soot that makes it's way into a diesel's engine oil I certainly wouldnt want to keep the oil any longer than the manufacturer recommends.

[007matman]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Everything associated with a diesel is more expensive.

IF I were to ever own one I'd definitely follow mfr's recommendations. They've done the testing. Even if you have twice as much oil in your diesel crankcase as I have in my gasser I'll bet replacing a diesel engine is a lot more than twice as much.

Considering the amount of soot that makes it's way into a diesel's engine oil I certainly wouldnt want to keep the oil any longer than the manufacturer recommends.

The oil change cycle (with conventional oil) is literally every 5-7500k. I change it every 7 and use full synthetic (Rotella T6). It's helpful to know where exactly you are and how the engine is doing. I don't send it in for analysis every oil change.

Oil analysis says I can go further but I don't.

Oil analysis lets you know exactly where your engine is at.
By the way.. the amount of soot in my oil is extremely low. So is the amount of Diesel (way below comparable 6.0's) and no antifreeze present either..

Knowledge is power.

[The Evil Twin]

On a Diesel I would definitely do it. I do every other OCI for a record of metals and to watch fuel dilution and coolant infiltration.
As long as this truck is under warranty I will stick to changing it when the EVIC tells me to. The last one I ran nearly twice the OCI recommended by the manufacturer. The killer was the EPA neuter devices. Even with the AMSOIL bypass filtration the soot did the oil in early. The wifes car is about 2.5 times the manufacturer reco. Both vehicles speced normal conventional oil. So using better oil and better filtration yielded longer OCI.
Anyway, if I were you I would do it while the engine is young and get a good baseline. Thing to remember is that it only really means anything if you stick to the same oil and filters. Dilution and coolant, sure but everything else can change with a different oil.