Oil Analysis

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Striple
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Oil Analysis

Post by Striple » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:15 pm

I've recently gotten into the habit of sending of oil samples for analysis every time I do an oil change. Its a really effective way to monitor the condition of the engine on your bike, especially for those of us who prefer to buy preowned bikes. They send you a free kit on request, you collect a few ounces (3.5 ounces, but you can get away with less) while draining the oil, send it off, and a week later you receive the results. The standard analysis contains a spectral exam (detects metals and additives), an insolubles test (measures abrasive solids), a viscosity test (measures grade and thickness), and a flash point test (measures the temperature at which vapors ignite). The results include a breakdown of the various test results, along with comparisons to universal averages to show how strongly your oil values deviate from the expected values. You also receive a few comments by the lab, based on the overall results of your oil analysis. Internal engine problems will usually cause a very notable deviation in some of these values, so this can be used to periodically monitor the health of the engine. The cost of the standard test is $25, and they also offer a separate TBN analysis to determine how much active additive was left in your oil. The TBN analysis can help you figure out at which mileage intervals your engine's oil should be changed.

I've used this particular lab a few times, and have been very pleased with their services.
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/
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Firewa11
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Firewa11 » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:56 am

Interesting. So how often do the results you should change your oil, and what oil do you use?
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Striple » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:53 am

The TBN analysis is a separate test, and I'm getting that done with my next oil analysis. My guess is that it will show that I can actually go much longer mileage intervals than the ones that I normally do (~ every 3k miles).
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Bailout » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:23 pm

I go by what one of the V-Rod Design engineers told me back when I was researching the Harley. He said teh V-Rod will tell you when it is time to change the oil. This may be weird but he said you will start to notice a subtle change in perfomrance and shifting and that is when you need an oil change.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Firewa11 » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:26 pm

Bailout wrote:I go by what one of the V-Rod Design engineers told me back when I was researching the Harley. He said teh V-Rod will tell you when it is time to change the oil. This may be weird but he said you will start to notice a subtle change in perfomrance and shifting and that is when you need an oil change.
And that's why Harleys are known for leaking oil, breaking down, and generally being junk! :SideSplittingLaughter:
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by DarcShadow » Thu Feb 09, 2012 1:36 pm

You don't change the oil in Harleys, you just refill them.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Striple » Thu Mar 15, 2012 12:12 pm

Firewa11 wrote:Interesting. So how often do the results you should change your oil, and what oil do you use?
Just got the results of the TBN analysis back. On the SV, after 3k miles (a substantial portion of which were track miles), the oil (Mobil 1 Synthetic 10W-40) still had tons of active additives left over, enough to probably go another 2-3k miles. However, because the track duty is hard on the engine, metals were also quite high, so the lab suggested I change oils every 1.5k miles instead.

I'm going to start extending oil change intervals on the Connie with regular TBN analyses, in order to see what intervals really make sense.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by milesmiles » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:00 pm

cool, thanks for reporting back. That's pretty interesting stuff. So how many miles does the SV have. I would think that would play a role in some of this
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by fixxervi6 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:38 pm

Striple wrote:
Firewa11 wrote:Interesting. So how often do the results you should change your oil, and what oil do you use?
Just got the results of the TBN analysis back. On the SV, after 3k miles (a substantial portion of which were track miles), the oil (Mobil 1 Synthetic 10W-40) still had tons of active additives left over, enough to probably go another 2-3k miles. However, because the track duty is hard on the engine, metals were also quite high, so the lab suggested I change oils every 1.5k miles instead.

I'm going to start extending oil change intervals on the Connie with regular TBN analyses, in order to see what intervals really make sense.
Thats why I change my oil after a track day regardless of miles.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Striple » Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:46 pm

milesmiles wrote:cool, thanks for reporting back. That's pretty interesting stuff. So how many miles does the SV have. I would think that would play a role in some of this
Overall mileage definitely plays a role, but at ~9.2k miles, residual wear-in shouldn't be an issue. Aluminum, iron, and copper were high, probably due to the heavy engine wear caused by the track duty. Viscosity was slightly low, probably from the oil being sheared by the metals. I'm probably going to start changing the oil every 3-4 track days on the SV, and am going to keep monitoring those values.
fixxervi6 wrote:Thats why I change my oil after a track day regardless of miles.
I have yet to see any evidence that would suggest that I would need to do that, based on how I ride the SV on the track. Racers typically change oil after every race weekend, but their engine wear is in a different league than mine is at this point. I'm going to continue monitoring the oil on all of my bikes in order to come up with oil change intervals that make the most sense for my particular combinations of bike, oil, and riding style.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by fixxervi6 » Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:11 pm

Because I want my motor to run strong for at LEAST 100,000 miles before its first rebuid, maybe changing after every track day is over kill, but I'd rather do overkill than not, I'm racking up miles like a traveling salesman.
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Re: Oil Analysis

Post by Striple » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:20 pm

fixxervi6 wrote:Because I want my motor to run strong for at LEAST 100,000 miles before its first rebuid, maybe changing after every track day is over kill, but I'd rather do overkill than not, I'm racking up miles like a traveling salesman.
Fair enough. In the absence of evidence, I also tend to be more conservative than what I expect to be necessary. That said, the great part about vehicle fluids is that reasonably informative data are pretty easy to get, so there really is no need to play the guessing game.
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