Diesel oil analysis - little help

[spelchek]

HI all,

Looking for recommendations on articles explaining how to interpret an oil analysis.

Also - any recomendations for good volvo penta mechanic I can speak to regarding said oil analysis would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Argle]

Who did the analysis for you? They would be the best one's to ask I would have thought. Most reports will deal in elements in counts of PPM (parts per million) eg how much lead/zinc/copper/tin etc etc etc are floating around in the oil. Most labs should be able to give you an idea of what counts are "elevated" and what is "normal" Most oil samples would require a number of samples over a period of time/use to establish trends in wear metals present. The exception however would be the presence of and extremely elevated count on one or two elements. They are also good at picking up diesel/coolant traces as well.

Cheers

[Greg P]

20 years ago I used to work for Wear Check as an oil sample diagnostician. They did just about all the oil analysis for most earthmoving equipment OEMs except Cat who had their own but only last 12 months as it was as boring as batshit. Unless you are looking for specific issues like oil viscosity, fuel dilution, dirt ingress the oil samples are more for looking at trends but can pin point a failure. The mob you send it too will have specific levels for all metals for compartments (gearboxes, final drives, engines) from the manufacture and if they dont they will have generic levels to measure against. Also need to identify the oil type and estimate how many hrs and how much top up oil is used but they will have the required info on the form you submit with the sample. Oils aint oils as the old ad goes and a lot differ with the additive packages they add to them. These can sometimes result in high copper and other items which may indicate bearing wear or react with oil cooler cores especially in marine application.

Is there something you are looking for specifically with the engine? The link below will give you some info in the technical documents section.
http://www.wearcheck.com/technical-documents/

Ohh I think Seamech at Rivergate would be good to speak with. They are Volvo Penta dealers
http://www.seamech.com.au/

[Giffo65]

Have you found a boat by the sounds of it Brad ?

[spelchek]

Hiya Giffo - yeah we thought we had. Dodgy oil analysis has got me thinking twice though. Trying to get some advice but don;t know who to trust. The mechanic who took the samples for me is -frankly- being a bit of a dick and I'm not sure I trust him at all. Can;t seem to get a strait answere out of him.

[Giffo65]

Brad
I see that Caterpillar have people called Filtergrammer interpreters that analyse oil samples under a microscope,maybe you could call them.