Oil testing for cars (free test offered)

[dkmech]

Hello everyone.

The powers that be here at Hexus have kindly allowed me to do this. You may want to read the boring bits below coz FREE stuff will be involved.

Basically I work in a company that tests used oil for condition monitoring from all sorts of things, from bus gearboxes, to massive bearings from a steel mill, to marine engines and gas turbines from power stations. We do some stuff for several operations involving race cars and bikes too. We test engine oils, gearbox oils, hydraulic oils, coolants, fuels, greases and a few other more specialist things (e.g. failure analysis of broken components), our sister lab does electrical oil testing (transformer oils). I'll get to the point soon, honest

We are planning to offer this service for private cars in the near future (we do to an extent already - and not just on my car ). So to try stir some interest we have put an ad in a program for the Brands Hatch round of the British Superbikes. We wished good luck to the guy we sponsor in the Superstocks race ( if anyone is interested) and offered some free oil analysis to the fans. We didn't have a massive take up (although we gained a business contact) and so I've asked my bosses if I could offer the good people of Hexus some free oil tests. They said yes, as did the big cheeses of Hexus

So I need volunteers for some free oil analysis. Once I know who is interested I will arrange for a sampling kit to be sent to you with instructions on how to take the sample (this may take a little time) and once we have received it and analysed it you will get a report back with the results of the tests and information on the condition of your car or bike. Once you have your report feel free to discuss the results here, but you don't have to

We will be happy to provide some more detailed information about the tests to whoever is interested.

So if you are interested in taking part, post here and write the model of vehicle you want tested. It is obviously more exciting if the vehicle tested is special in some way (hope Zak will do his astra ).

Please remember that this is done by a small company (most of the organization for this will be handled by me) so please bear with us. I will do my best to ensure that you won't be disappointed and at the end of the day it's free (you may need to pay postage for your sample but that won't be much).

I haven't been given a firm limit on a number of tests I can offer, but obviously we won't be able to test every car in Britain.

If you have any questions - post away, I'll do my best to answer.

[Agent]

1) How much oil is needed
2) Are bikes allowed?

[dkmech]

Ideally we'll need about 25 ml of oil. Can do it on a bit less. You may lose another 20-30 ml while taking the sample.

Bikes are welcome.

[dave87]

I'd be up for it - Honda Varadero 125 - 02 Model with 15k on the clock.

[SilentDeath]

me also. the fiesta is a non runner atm but the celica might be interesting, it has 38k on clock vs fiesta has 67k. fiesta has a leaky piston ring and burns quite a lot, but compression rings are good, so might be interesting to see if the oil is still doing its job. When i rebuilt the engine there was very little wear - just some scratches on cyl2. wall which is not one that leaks.

if age of the sample doesnt matter, I have some used fully synth 5/30 in a bottle think a few months since it was in the car, and the mineral 15/40 in the engine. if you can compare the amount of wear from the samples that would be very interesting.

how do you test it, some kind of friction/distilation or count the bits of microscopic worn metal type thing?

[Lowe]

I'd be really interested in this, since my engine's had a really hard life.

Clio 16v with 2.0l engine conversion from a Spider Cup race car

[Shad]

Definitely interested. 2002 Caterham Supersport

[hitman67]

Me too, 1989 Land Rover with almost 140k

[Howard]

I'd be interested but don't know the easiest way of extracting oil

[Betty_Swallocks]

I'm interested too.
I have a 1991 MX5 with 130k on the clock, 27k of which I've put on in the last 12 months so you can see it gets well used.

[Zak33]

Well guys, I'd actualy LIKE some of you to be involved, Lowe, Shad, particularly as the cars work "hard"

DR is quite excited about the prospect of one of our best, long termer members, being able to give something back to HEXUS community, and we're very pleased to be able to help.

As for my Astra, it wont be out for the rest of this year, and is on fresh oil, as ever, but my work car, which has a very hard paper-round might be interesting, so long as the oil comes out via the dip stick or rocker, not via the sump bung.

OK guys.....list your names, this is very exciting

[dkmech]

The easiest way (on some cars) is with a tube through a dip stick. It does however depend on the diameter of the dip-stick pipe.

Old oil isn't a problem as such - however it all depends on the container it is stored in - did it have any contamination to start with (water, dirt, etc). And if it's a big container and you need to decant a sample from it you will need to give it a damn good shake to make sure you get a representative sample. Otherwise you will have a sediment of wear debris and such left in the container with the oil being fairly clean.

I have uploaded a pdf with some further info about the kind of tests we do here. Although this mainly has pictures of bikes all of the stuff is relevant for cars too.

I've also uploaded a brief sampling procedure here.

[fraggie]

id definitely be interested in this.

Vauxhall Calibra 93 C20XE Rebuilt Engine With 7k on it.

[rastamanblues]

Id be interested. 1994 Subaru Impreza 1.8 with 135k

[J4MES]

Please include me if you can ('98 Prodrive Impreza, 67k); we send off oil samples from our 'company cars' but I never see the results... good luck with the project - I reckon you should generate enough interest for it to be worthwhile.

[kalniel]

Are you doing diesels as well?