Used Oil Analysis (UOA)

[bluey]

Is anyone into UOA here?

Wanting to know which companies might be best to send oil to.

TDI Club UOA database results are interesting for those thinking about oils...

[Transporter]

Try Castrol. I used them before. They will e-mail you results. You have to purchese oil sampling kit. It will cost you as much as you would change the engine oil. I have results from my T5 somewhere on my computer, can post them here if you're interested.

[bluey]

Is it something you have been doing regularly. Probably more useful to see the results posted to the TDI Club UOA database thread. Yes, interested to see the results.

[Transporter]

T5 Uoa

Sample of oil after 2,600km and at 14,000km.

It is useful if you want to know that engine is run in or not. Also useful for extended oil changes for example if you do many short trips and you want to know that the engine oil is good for these 15,000km oil change interval or even more (2 years or 50,000km).

[brad]

[ATTACH]2919[/ATTACH]

Sample of oil after 2,600km and at 14,000km.

The attachment is unreadable - can you make it bigger for the occularly challenged?

edit: Thanks

[brad]

We use OilSpec at work for our hydraulic systems (70L-140L tanks - about $3000-$6000 to change the oil). It's about $50 plus you need their tool ($100). For our usage, it's reasonably priced & has enough detail. I was going to take a sample of my 1.8T petrol motor in a few weeks, just to see what results I get.

Another interweb mate uses e-monitor which is cheaper & includes a disposable syringe but doesn't test quite as much.

[bluey]

The ones which pop up on Google are:
Oilcheck with pricelist - lowest $36
OilTest

e-Monitor comes up third.

So what sorts of test results do we need that aren't in the cheaper tests???

[Preen59]

At work (Electrolux Refrigeration Plant) we send our hydraulic oil samples away to Fuchs.. If anyone is interested i can get some details.

I'm unsure of the price, knowing what our place is like, we probably pay top dollar because the maintenance planner just pays whatever..

[bluey]

Sample of oil after 2,600km and at 14,000km.[...]

Thanks. The report seemed a bit skeletal - the interpretation GOOD/BAD surely should be taken in the light of the first sample being run-in oil and a more useful commentary might be "high amounts of wear metals typical for a new engine" or whatever, since they have the data to know if the results are typical or not.

Reading around PD engine weakness in camshaft design and stress on injector lobes...
pump nozzle beware
deep grooves in cam lobes

I was thinking perhaps regular UOA could be a good early detection method - just figuring out the cost/benefit. At the very least a couple towards the end of the warranty period (perhaps last 6 months) could be good insurance. Beyond that is probably still worthwhile. If a head rebuild including any cams is required, I presume the cost will be well over $2000.

[Transporter]

Thanks. The report seemed a bit skeletal - the interpretation GOOD/BAD surely should be taken in the light of the first sample being run-in oil and a more useful commentary might be "high amounts of wear metals typical for a new engine" or whatever, since they have the data to know if the results are typical or not.

Reading around PD engine weakness in camshaft design and stress on injector lobes...
pump nozzle beware
deep grooves in cam lobes

I was thinking perhaps regular UOA could be a good early detection method - just figuring out the cost/benefit. At the very least a couple towards the end of the warranty period (perhaps last 6 months) could be good insurance. Beyond that is probably still worthwhile. If a head rebuild including any cams is required, I presume the cost will be well over $2000.

The company who sample/tests your engine oil has no data specific for every engine ever made.

[brad]

The ones which pop up on Google are:
Oilcheck with pricelist - lowest $36
OilTest

e-Monitor comes up third.

So what sorts of test results do we need that aren't in the cheaper tests???

We get the $52 Level 2 check done (but we buy 20 kits at a time = $38 each). The price includes sample bottles, postage & the report. We've only just started doing oil analysis recently so it will be a while before I get enough history to judge the benefit.

Quote from my post at another forum:

Here's a sample engine report from oilcheck - which we don't use. We are more concerned with hydraulic systems & freakin' big water pumps (24 metres high) and get a slightly different report at Level 2 complexity (it doesn't test viscosity index or PQ index).
By the looks of it, the OilCheck test (over & above e-monitor) looks for Nickel as a wear agent; Potassium & Boron (contaminents??); checks the additive pack (Calcium, Zinc, Phosphorous, Molybdenum); checks oil viscosity @100c rather than 40c (more relevant?); gives actual fuel dilution (rather than Pass/fail); plus some other extras. But e-monitor gives a PQ index (metals in suspension?).

I was going to use OilCheck to determine how the oil is holding up to 15,000km service intervals. By the time the car is out of warranty, I might swap over to variable services (up to 30,000km/2 years between oil changes) if the oil appears to be staying in good chemical condition.

[bluey]

The company who sample/tests your engine oil has no data specific for every engine ever made.

But surely most engines would run similar sorts of numbers in different phases of their life...

Secondly, they have the data and should be able to analyse it more sensibly in comparison to all their data on record if they were doing the job properly. The oil analysis companies have way more data than an online community forum could ever collect.

[Transporter]

But surely most engines would run similar sorts of numbers in different phases of their life...

Secondly, they have the data and should be able to analyse it more sensibly in comparison to all their data on record if they were doing the job properly. The oil analysis companies have way more data than an online community forum could ever collect.

If you want to be very accurate in translating results of UOA the engine manufacturer would be the best source for that. Since the materials they use to make the engine from could be changed at any time - like gaskets and adhesives. All aluminum engine like R5 in T5 and Touareg which has even the timing gears made of AL alloys would have resulted in showing to much AL particles which could be wrongly translated by oil company if they don't know what is the engine made of. But you are right the oil company can give you rough idea if the result is good or not.

[brad]

But surely most engines would run similar sorts of numbers in different phases of their life...

Secondly, they have the data and should be able to analyse it more sensibly in comparison to all their data on record if they were doing the job properly. The oil analysis companies have way more data than an online community forum could ever collect.

While the analysis should provide some guidance, I think it's up to the end user to interpret the specific data and decide what action should be taken. There were a couple of "red flags" on our first hydraulic oil tests but when I started making some comparisons & asking a few questions, things weren't as grim as first thought.

Maybe it's a waste of time getting a check done on the first fill of oil.

[Arctra]

I am about to get my first service done on my Tiguan and am considering UOA. My brother is a farmer and gets the UOA done on the tractors regularly and reckons it is amaizing how accurate the reports are.

I have 2 questions:
1) Is it worth getting UOA done at my first service?
2) Do you know if the VW dealers can do it themselves?