Regular oil analysis?

[Putneymountain]

At risk of opening a can of worms - does anyone do regular oil analysis on their engine or hydraulic oil?

We have a new M62 and are trying to decide whether to start doing it…

We did regular oil analysis on our old Deere 110TLB, which had a bad engine. The oil analysis always looked okay right up until the engine failed completely…

So were wondering if we want to start doing that again with the new tractor. It was a waste of time and money on the old machine.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[DustyRusty]

I have never done any oil analysis on anything that I owned, and I do oil changes on all the cars and the tractor on a fixed schedule. I also use the best oil that I can find. The only people that I know that do oil analysis on a regular basis are the over-the-road trucks that use a large amount of oil and expensive filters. For them, the savings are important because of the costs of the supplies. As you already learned, oil analyses don't show an impending engine failure.

 

[GeoHorn]

Regular oil analysis on new, under-warranty machines will only cause you to worry unnecessarily.

 

[SDT]

At risk of opening a can of worms - does anyone do regular oil analysis on their engine or hydraulic oil?

We have a new M62 and are trying to decide whether to start doing it…

We did regular oil analysis on our old Deere 110TLB, which had a bad engine. The oil analysis always looked okay right up until the engine failed completely…

So were wondering if we want to start doing that again with the new tractor. It was a waste of time and money on the old machine.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Certainly not necessary but won't hurt anything if it makes you feel better.

SDT

 

[PaulR]

agree with all above.
I did it all the time years ago, now I don't bother.
I may do it again from time to time if I'm curious.
I used Blackstone Labs, they were very good, but I think they try to sell you on getting the next one all the time.

 

[imnukensc]

As you already learned, oil analyses don't show an impending engine failure.

Having worked in a state of the art oil analysis laboratory for 30 years, I will disagree with that statement, but having said that, for the average tractor owner I don't think it's worth the expense to have it done. Regular oil changes with a quality oil are far more important and cost effective.

 

[RalphVa]

Regular oil changes by the hour, not time, would be my preference.

Bet an oil analysis on the hydro oil would show that it could be used for 800 or more hours. Just changed it on the JD using Kubota's 400 hour recommendation instead of JD's 200 (but changed HST filter then), and the oil still looked great. Doubt HST stresses oil near as much as auto transmission on cars/trucks.

 

[foobert]

There's 2 places oil analysis makes a load of sense:
1) airplanes -- the cost of failure endangers lives
2) "continuous" operational usage -- where downtime costs much more than a repair bill and maintenance intervals factor into economic decisions

The rest of the cases are dubious and likely sampled so infrequently that there's never a trend established, nor sufficiently small sample interval to catch a potentially deteriorating problem.

Even if you do happen to catch the proverbial "falling knife" before it hits the ground, are you really going to save any money during the eventual teardown/rebuild because you detected the problem some hours sooner before the spun bearing starts knocking or some other evidence presents itself?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of it (mostly because of case 1 above), but, every other sample I've sent in was $$ spent purely for entertainment purposes.

 

[DustyRusty]

Having worked in a state of the art oil analysis laboratory for 30 years, I will disagree with that statement, but having said that, for the average tractor owner I don't think it's worth the expense to have it done. Regular oil changes with a quality oil are far more important and cost effective.

At risk of opening a can of worms - does anyone do regular oil analysis on their engine or hydraulic oil?

We have a new M62 and are trying to decide whether to start doing it…

We did regular oil analysis on our old Deere 110TLB, which had a bad engine. The oil analysis always looked okay right up until the engine failed completely…

So were wondering if we want to start doing that again with the new tractor. It was a waste of time and money on the old machine.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Having worked in a state of the art oil analysis laboratory for 30 years, I will disagree with that statement, but having said that, for the average tractor owner I don't think it's worth the expense to have it done. Regular oil changes with a quality oil are far more important and cost effective.

My statement was in response to his experience with a JD tractor..

We did regular oil analysis on our old Deere 110TLB, which had a bad engine. The oil analysis always looked okay right up until the engine failed completely…

 

[lmichael]

Have never done it, never will. I understand some applications for doing them, but in the end because of the way I treat my engines (VERY timely oil and filter(s), only the best oils I can find) I have never ever had an engine fail on me. But I don't skimp on oil and filter. Likely changing them FAR before called for. I think where analysis comes into play is if you're trying to stretch oil and filter change intervals to the bitter end of life for each. But, I don't do this. I.E., my cars call for OCI of 10k miles. I don't go over 5k EVER, my tractors over the years have typically called for 50 hr changes (though I don't remember what the "new to me" Kubota G2160) calls for. But in my hands it will get typically about 35 hrs total use for a season. It will get fresh oil every season. Along with filter.

 

[TheOldHokie]

There's 2 places oil analysis makes a load of sense:
1) airplanes -- the cost of failure endangers lives
2) "continuous" operational usage -- where downtime costs much more than a repair bill and maintenance intervals factor into economic decisions

The rest of the cases are dubious and likely sampled so infrequently that there's never a trend established, nor sufficiently small sample interval to catch a potentially deteriorating problem.

Even if you do happen to catch the proverbial "falling knife" before it hits the ground, are you really going to save any money during the eventual teardown/rebuild because you detected the problem some hours sooner before the spun bearing starts knocking or some other evidence presents itself?

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of it (mostly because of case 1 above), but, every other sample I've sent in was $$ spent purely for entertainment purposes.

I think folks have a misunderstanding of the purpose of used oil analysis. UOA is not an equipment failure prediction tool. The purpose of UOA is to establish the individualized performance of a specific formulation in a specific application. That's obviously more reliable and of greater value for a fleet maintenance manager with hundreds of the same machines than it is to an owner/operator of a couple different pieces of lightly used equipment.

Dan

 

[GeoHorn]

I think folks have a misunderstanding of the purpose of used oil analysis. UOA is not an equipment failure prediction tool. The purpose of UOA is to establish the individualized performance of a specific formulation in a specific application. That's obviously more reliable and of greater value for a fleet maintenance manager with hundreds of the same machines than it is to an owner/operator of a couple different pieces of lightly used equipment.

Dan

That is one purpose of oil analysis.…and it is the reason first offered by oil-producers. But it is not the primary purpose according to the labs that perform the service.

Cenex: The real benefit of an oil analysis is that it acts as an early warning system, alerting you to potential problems before they become an equipment failure.

Blackstone: Oil analysis is a quick way to gauge the health of an engine by looking at what's in the oil.

And even oil producers acknowledge the larger benefit of preventive-maintenance of oil analysis:

Amsoil and Chevron both:
Monitoring system cleanliness and filtration efficiency can help you keep your vehicles and equipment longer and significantly reduce replacement costs.
Oil analysis identifies dirt, wear particles, fuel dilution, coolant and other contaminants that can cause catastrophic failure or significantly shorten equipment life.

I’m not a fan of oil analysis for private operator/owners …. but it is a reliable method to identify induction (air filters) and gasketing issue failures.

 

[mikester]

If you have a fleet of tractors and are looking to save money by extending service intervals and creating preventative maintenance regimes then oil analysis may be a good idea.

I change the oils and filters as per the OEM schedule. Oil and filters are cheaper then engines and trannys.