How much oil do you need for an oil analysis. Do you drain the oil from the drain or pull some out of the top of the engine? Does the report explain what is good/bad rating?<br><br>Thanks for the help<br><br>KC

 

Contact a lab that does oil and they will set you up with a kit including container to (usually 4-6 oz). I usually draw mine from the pan as it drains and just wipe off the supplied container. Prefer this as the sample you get is agitated from running the engine not just sediment off the bottom of the pan. The contents of the oil will be broken down into 20-30 different catagories and they will explain what each one means according to standards and the limits to watch for. When an element excedes the standard limit it will be noted on the report supplied to you. PK

 

Check out http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/<br>This site contains alot of technical oil related information, including analysis. There are diesel specific categories on the forums.

 

As a side note, the installation of an EZ-Drain or Fumoto Valve makes drawing a sample very easy. I took a few days ago around the 7000 mile mark and sent it off for analysis and kept driving on it. The process took literally 1 minute to do with the valve.

 

[quote author=Commatoze link=board=7;threadid=11882;start=0#112588 date=1047001448]<br>As a side note, the installation of an EZ-Drain or Fumoto Valve makes drawing a sample very easy. I took a few days ago around the 7000 mile mark and sent it off for analysis and kept driving on it. The process took literally 1 minute to do with the valve.<br>[/quote]<br><br>Where do you get that drain at?

 

My remote adapter has a valve on it that I just open and fill up the sample cantainer.

 

[quote author=ARAcummins link=board=7;threadid=11882;start=0#112630 date=1047005816]

Where do you get that drain at?
[/quote]

www.genosgarage.com

 

[quote author=Commatoze link=board=7;threadid=11882;start=0#112645 date=1047007074]<br>[quote author=ARAcummins link=board=7;threadid=11882;start=0#112630 date=1047005816]<br><br>Where do you get that drain at?<br>[/quote]<br><br>www.genosgarage.com<br>[/quote]<br><br>or at fumotovalve

 

I use a sample pump and tube from Amsoil to draw the oil into a bottle. The tube goes down the dipstick tube. It's very neat and gets a good sample. On the other hand, Oil Analyzers (Amsoil affiliate) just raised their per-sample price several dollars, and I don't know if the company I use next has bottles compatible with the Amsoil pump, so I may be doing it differently next time.<br><br>I'm a big believer in analysis trending for anyone going beyond 7.5k on an oil change, and they're a good idea for anyone once in awhile. But if you're just doing a &quot;one time&quot; check to make sure everything is OK, don't expect too much. You're probably going to get a test with a bunch of numbers, that compares them to a bunch of &quot;averages&quot; that don't mean anything because they are not averages for your truck, and then tells you everything is OK, please sample again. You won't know exactly how much further you could have driven on that oil or that Brand X is better than Brand Y or anything like that. But you will have assurance and peace of mind that there is no antifreeze or fuel in the oil, which would indicate major problems down the road. For &quot;one time&quot; sampling, think of it as a &quot;go, no-go&quot; test and you will not be disappointed.

 

I have a sample result from the lab I use as a record for my 89 I can fax to you if you want to see a sample report. This one is good because it has five different samples which is good for trending stuff.<br><br>PM me with your fax number and I will send you a copy.

 

Thanks for the info! <br><br>KC