Can Oil Bypass Filtration system Cut my Oil Maintinance Cost?

I send my samples in to Zeigler Caterpiller.

http://www.zieglercat.com/construction/service/sos-fluid-analysis/

It's like $85 for a 6 pack of bottles. Comes with sample hose if you need it or not. Also includes the test in the price and postage to mail it in.

I have mailed on Thursday, gotten results on Saturday before.

 

That's a really good price....I use Blackstone as I'm impressed by the fact that they calibrate the machine twice daily, and verify accuracy by testing a known sample every ninth test...

But, I've sent in samples on Thursday and waited two weeks for results....

 

My last sample had 17k on miles and less than 1% soot using FTIR... pretty good for an egr motor...

 

Check with your local cat shop. It's a cat program world-wide.

 

I've used Blackstone for a few years now and have always received the results (by email) in 2-3 days.

 

i do my own oil changes and grease, about $160/month

i would like to get into the filtration stuff, but not now

 

Detroit does state in it's lubrication manual, that extending drains beyond OEM recommended levels does not, outright, threaten any warranty issues and that the OEM is going to disavow any coverage. They state that oil analysis and oil specs are what is critical.

I have found a good balance in all of this. The pre-egr 12.7 Detroit 60 I have, has an OEM drain interval recommendation of 15,000 miles or 300 hrs. I am doing 25,000 miles or 500 hrs, whichever comes first, and samples back it up. I get a great synthetic blend at lower than shelf pricing (even at wally world) of other brands, shipped free to my front door, and free oil sample kits (including free postage) and free analysis included in the price and results emailed to me. So I am not wasting much of anything on cost of doing the oil changes when I do them. My soot levels are always below 1% and usually below .5%. I do my own greasing (bi-weekly), but I like having a local shop do a quick oil change for me using my filters and oil. Just getting older and don't want to mess with used oil. The oil I have been using for a while now is Schaeffer. They have been making lube oils longer than anyone in N.America (since 1839), and they ship all products to me for free at wholesale pricing. Right now, a 15w40 synthetic blend (25% PAO and 75% Group II+) costs me about $17.60 a gallon (by the drum) delivered free (including free lift gate service at my house when delivered). May move to their 5w40 full synthetic this next winter. That is a little over a dollar a gallon more. I was getting a viscosity loss using the Delo I was before, that we could not seem to account for. Since being on the Schaeffer, viscosity is remaining fine throughout the OCI.

I only tried the Speedco oil sample thing a few times. I did it mostly to see how it compared to the ones I sent in. I got pretty close results from the Speedco at Walcott. I cannot speak to what other Speedco locations results are. I only view using their stuff as a simple, quick snapshot of things as opposed to serious analysis that a lab does.

 

Centrifugal cleaning of lubricating oil is standard on ships and large stationary engines, also of the fuel.

Some of the older Purafiner filters used to have an electrically-heated venting system on top of the filter case that was supposed to vent a lot of the volatiles that would build up in the oil and cause "sludging". Toyota had this problem with their Siennas and it was said to be due to inadequate crankcase ventilation, which they skimped on to try and meet the environmental requirements. I don't know how applicable that is to heavy diesels, but with the environmental pressures these days I wouldn't be surprised if it was an issue.

My experience is with small diesels, so far. I'd be running a centrifugal cleaner if the engine held enough oil to run one and the oil pump was large enough. Toilet paper filters are the next best thing IMO. Some guys run them on their coolant and trans fluid as well as fuel and lubricating oil.

Biodiesel is the best lubricity additive by wide margin according to one study I read. That matches my experience.

My 2¢

 

I know this is an old thread. I'm going to say to JohnP3, that the people doing your oil test readings, didn't know what there were doing. If you watch for lead and copper levels to rise, the bearing wear would be caught. This is why you use a good lab not a TA bench test. I use Polaris labs to do mine, find a good lab. PS I wasn't happy with Cats lab either, it cost extra to find out if there was fuel in the oil.

 

What is critical in oil analysis is trending results over time. Being with a regular lab you send your samples to, they do side by side results from previous reports and you current one and you can see how things are trending. Some labs also include graphs that make all of it more visual to track trends. At least you know it is being done following proper industry lab standards and on the same equipment, so the results having anomalies that can skew the results is limited.