Oil Analysis: Is it Really Worth It?

Oil analysis. Why waste your time? At $12 to $20 a shot, you could just change the oil and be just as well off, right?

Well, not exactly. Even if you were using conventional petroleum oil and could get your oil changed for $12 to $20, you might still want to consider oil analysis. One thing about oil analysis that many seem to forget is that it doesn't just tell you about your oil.

It's true that oil analysis provides a great deal of information about the oil in a vehicle, but it is equally true that oil analysis provides just as much information about the condition of a vehicle's engine and what sort of repairs may be necessary in the near future. It may even provide enough information soon enough to detect a serious impending malfunction. This might help you to avoid having to pay for the repairs altogether (or at least lessen the final cost). Of course, this would depend upon the nature of the impending problem.

This is why so many trucking companies and fleets rely so heavily on oil analysis. It helps them predict necessary repairs and avoid others which might be very costly. And, yes, it also helps them determine if they need to change their oil.

For those running extended drains, there is another reason that oil analysis can be a very beneficial addition to your oil change practices. Oil analysis can help you determine what your regular oil change intervals should be. For instance, for diesel engines AMSOIL does not set an exact change interval for its oils.

Typically, the AMSOIL company recommends two to three times manufacturer recommended oil drain intervals. The reason is two fold:

1) Some diesel engines will burn with at least marginal cleanliness while others may contaminate an oil much more quickly. Although high efficiency filtration can help, it can't perform miracles. Thus, depending upon the engine, oil changes may need to be more or less frequent.

2) There are different grades of diesel oil which will burn with different levels of cleanliness. The cleaner the burn, the longer the oil drain. Since AMSOIL has no way of knowing what grade fuel a customer will use, they cannot give an exact oil drain interval.

However, oil analysis can provide some help in this situation. If you take an oil analysis at twice the recommended drain interval and everything looks fine, you might try leaving the oil until you reach three times the recommended interval and then take another oil analysis. Continue with this program until the oil is shown to require a change.

It's really hard to tell how long you might go with AMSOIL synthetic diesel oils and high efficiency filtration. This first run through could become expensive with all those oil analyses, but from that point forward you will have a better idea of what your oil drains should be.

If you take an oil analysis at twice the recommended interval and it shows that a change is necessary, change the oil and then consider what grade fuel you're using and where you're getting it. You might want to consider a higher grade or different source. Otherwise, you have also determined what you change intervals should be.

One other scenario in which oil analysis may be very beneficial is if you happen to be using an AMSOIL Bypass Oil Filtration System. In this case you should be able to extend your oil drain intervals to 50 or 100 thousand miles or more. However, it would be wise to do an oil at each BYPASS FILTER change (every 25,000 miles or one year) to make certain that everything is running smoothly.

Bypass systems are wonderful and can greatly extend your oil drains and the life of your vehicle. But, that doesn't mean that you can't still be sensible about making sure everything is in working order. Remember, there can be other problems in the engine which you might not notice, but oil analysis might help detect.

For information regarding the oil analysis program offered through AMSOIL and Oil Analyzers drop us an email requesting more informaiton.