Oil & Fuel Oil analysis

[Cat_Driver]

I just got my my 2nd oil oil analysis back and all the numbers went DOWN by 1/2 or more.

Where the Copper was 1, it went to 0, Iron was 10 went down to 5 etc. etc.

My question is has anyone else experienced all numbers dropping by 1/2 on the second oil analysis ?

I did add a oil additive on the last change and am wondering if the additive had that much of an effect.

Thanks

[banjodunn]

G'day cat driver you do not say if this is a new machine or if it has got a few hours on it, if it was new i would expect this as the engine has run in and bedding of bearings, pistons, rings etc will give elevated counts low counts are good means nothing to worry about


Jon

[foggy1111]

It's been nearly 40 years....but I once was a sales rep for a testing lab that did used oil analysis via a spectrophotometer. As stated...low numbers are good. Allot depends on how long between oil changes and how many contaminants are present, etc. But....one thing for sure.....if you have abnormal wear going on....those ppm elements will SKYROCKET .....oftentimes 30 fold or more. That's when to be concerned....big changes from the normal levels.

We used to see earth moving equipment that would get a bad air filter for example...and the silicon levels would be very high along with wear to all the components (chromium, iron, copper, lead etc). Fix the filter....and end of wear problem.

I wouldn't get too concerned with such low numbers.....and they will bounce around a bit in a low range.....IMHO.

[Cat_Driver]

Sorry for the lack of info, as typical I knew more in my head than I was putting on paper.

I was the 2nd oil change on a Cat 287B, with about 75 hours since the last change.

Yes I agree low numbers are great, but I was wondering mostly if it's normal in an engine with 554 hours to have all its numbers drop so significantly.

I'm trying to pin down if the oil additive was responsible or if the drop was normal.

If it was the additive WOW, then it did more than I expected.

MILITEC-1 - The ONLY all-purpose synthetic metal conditioner and gun oil

This is the stuff I've used and one always think they are buying snake oil until actual numbers come back You know what they say, you can't argue with numbers.

Not that experience with oil analysis so thought I'd see what others are getting, if others from change to change may only be getting a point or two drop and that's typical or is the 50% drop typical or extraordinary.

Like I said I'm happy to see numbers down by 50% that means the engine wear is also down by 50% - which should translate to getting twice the engine life....or something like that?

[two_bit_score]

If you are really concerned ......test it again and see how they compare back to back.

[powergod]

it is normal for numbers to drop off after the intial break in. In the Army we us the Oil analysis, and when a new engine is being broke in the numbers are up a bit after the first oil change they tend to settle out and stay consitant until there is an impending failure then something will spike
PG

[Rob_Roy]

Your wear metals should continue to drop until the engine is completely broken in. I doubt the decrease in wear metals you observed was due to the additive, more than likely the engine is still "getting settled".

If you are interested in evaluating the effect of that additive, you need more data. UOA's tell a much better story if you done at least three in a row with the same lubricant; then you can then look at the trend rather than single data points.

Just curious, do you have the entire UOA report avaiable? What are you running for engine oil?

[Coyote machine]

Its an oil sample compared to the previous one. Oil samples over time will show a pattern. You have two 'snapshots' of your engine's condition; as has been said it will show abnormal range numbers if there is something critically wrong.
Additives may help but there is no magic bullet, or we'd all be using it!

[Cat_Driver]

I contacted the additive people and they say 50% drop is normal using his stuff, and if you read the customer feedback they experience the same thing. Granted I know it's a sales tool.

Here is the copy of the report. The newest test is the "A" test.

http://www.cssevents.com/oil.PDF


The oil is the CAT oil, from their service truck and this time from their shop, supposedly they say "their" oil is the best as they should know they out it in million dollar machines.

OK I will put more stuff in and check out on the next test.

[foggy1111]

Its an oil sample compared to the previous one. Oil samples over time will show a pattern. You have two 'snapshots' of your engine's condition; as has been said it will show abnormal range numbers if there is something critically wrong.
Additives may help but there is no magic bullet, or we'd all be using it!

+1......exactly! Watch the trend....most anything else is speculation on a few analysis.