oil, Zmax

6MT · 04-05-2011, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IDZRVIT

I have never had my oil tested because, imho, it's a waste of money unless you make your living racing cars as a driver or a team owner. Why? Ask yourself this. If the test results come back and one or two elements are higher than normal which would indicate a wearing issue, changing your oil to different brand will not correct the wear - the damage has been done. Doubtful. For the non-believers out there, you can pay the extra money after each oil change for analysis and follow their recommendations. Maybe, just maybe, you might squeeze out a few thousand miles more from your engine. But hey, who cares if you can already get 150,000 miles from your engine without any oil analysis'? I don't.

My advice is to save your money doing oil analysis', use API certified oil, change it in accordance to the type of driving you do and most of all............forget about oil debates and go out and enjoy your damn car!

I really believe you're missing the entire point of having oil tested. Or maybe, you just don't understand what an oil test looks for. You don't just get results for "one or two" elements. And wear, being pretty important, is not the whole issue here.

An oil analysis checks the entire chemical spectrum. Can tell you what's in the oil after specific intervals. Can tell you, by the analysis, what's in the oil AND why. It can pinpoint problems at an early stage. It can show potential problems with the engine or other systems (such as air intake or exhaust systems) early enough to correct BEFORE the issue turns into a major problem.

I'll give you a shining example. I had my oil tested at 9800 kms. My third oil change. The interval was around 4200 kms for the life of the oil that was tested. It showed minute (and I mean very small) amounts of the metals associated with normal break-in on an engine (gas burning engine). Absolutely normal. And I expect that these will probably go even smaller as the engine wears further. (With regular "babying".) What WAS found was high amounts of carbon. IE: DIRT. What this showed was a problem with the filtration on the air intake. Without getting into arguments about K & N filters, let's just say THAT was the problem.

I had no idea that the K & N filters were allowing so much dirt into the engine. I quickly solved the problem (again, no K & N bashing). I had the oil tested again at 12000 kms. Even better results with the metals (smaller amounts). BUT... the carbon was almost gone.

To make a long post about testing end, I'll just say that I was convinced oil analysis caught a potential problem very early. I had no idea that this was happening. The test showed me the issue. I corrected it and now the results are even better.

Say what you want about testing and how you think it's a complete waste of time and money. For me, the example above shows just how important it can be. I know, this debate "can" be as endless as the oil debate itself. But with just my example, it shows what it can discover AND whether it may need attention.

(btw, I replaced the K & N filters with AFE dry filters. Problem solved.)

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