Engine oil sent to the lab for testing

Post by **rwilsonrs4** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 8:57 pm

Well as its part of the normal routine checks we do on our engines, transmissions,hydraulics etc offshore , i thought i would do it on my RS , as its supercharged and gets used and abused i thought it appropriate to get a test done to see if there were any issues potentially , mainly fuel dilution in the sump was my concern as its under a lot more stress now and the fuel flow is greater and richer mixture on full power, so after about 4800 miles my Castrol Edge FST 5W 30 was drained and replaced... today i got the results back , good news ,all satisfactory , Nil fuel dilution, viscosity was unchanged insoluble matter (soot) was 0.3 % ( 2.5% max) 17 metals were tested for , my main worries were for iron( bore wear ,crank ,cams,valve gear/chains etc) Aluminium (pistons) copper ,lead and tin (bearings ) all were near 0 ppm , highest being iron at 12 ppm, 100ppm would be the min acceptable but 12 ppm was very good.Aluminium was 6 ppm (warnings at 30 ppm)
The only slight issue was the levels of silicon, at 16ppm (20 ppm is the warning point for silicon) which is normally due to sand /dust, which has entered the oil via the inlet tract , so the K&N filter may be letting larger particles through than the paper ones do ,so i might go back to the paper filter and retest the oil after a further 4800 miles to see the trend is the same or better , obviously if the oil has done little miles , contaminants will not build up much , run it 10k or god forbid 20k longlife miles the numbers will be higher , so tests at similar intervals will show any issues , just thought i would share this with you guys , the V8 is tough no matter what you throw at it so long as you use good oil

Post by **CellDamage** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:03 pm

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Post by **neilparf** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:27 pm

Nice post - thanks for sharing

Post by **marc1** » Fri Apr 25, 2014 11:54 pm

Interesting reading, thanks for sharing and promising news for your SC RS4. I sent the oil off from my old B5 RS4 to Millers but sadly never got anything back, despite chasing them several times. They were moving factories though. Pleased you had better feedback, which company did you use if you don't mind me asking or was this through work contacts?

Post by **rwilsonrs4** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:49 am

i didnt use ours as its really a commercial set up and need a work order etc and would have to do it on the sly through the maintenace manager so i went private ,I used the oil lab , there are quite a few out there doing the same thing tho so look around and see which one is closest to you , but they were real quick , i had the package the next day from registering online , which was the kit requiresd to get a sample without draining the sump , it was a long hose to go down the dipstick and a 50 ml syringe , sample bottle and a tube to send it in with the address lable attached. As i was draining the oil anyway i just grabbed some direct , here is a link to their site
http://www.theoillab.co.uk/

Post by **marc1** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:08 am

Excellent, cheers.

Post by **neilparf** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 9:15 am

That's ace - nice, nice post.

Post by **RS04YOB** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:08 pm

How many mile should you do on the oil before you send it off to be tested

Post by **Covkiller** » Sat Apr 26, 2014 5:51 pm

Another great thread.
I like concise interesting technical write ups. Many thanks as I am interested in supercharging my RS4.
Oh and thinking of changing my filter now.

Post by **Robnic** » Sun Apr 27, 2014 10:34 pm

Glad to hear the test came back with a clean bill of health, well worth the cost to do this - peace of mind if ok, heads up if not!

Couldn't agree more about distance between doing the oil especially on a high performance vehicle even more so with bolt on extra horses! People can take some educating (and hopefully converting) that any car even the shopping trolley is better with its oil and filter changed annually / 10k miles whichever comes first.

Rob

Post by **RS04YOB** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 6:25 pm

Been a long waiting game got my results back today

Post by **Audi Pardner** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:27 pm

Thanks for posting. As a matter of interest what's your oil change interval? I change mine every 5k (standard car) and just wondering if it's a bit too often.

Post by **Covkiller** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:35 pm

Holy thread resurrection, I remember this one, too much silycunt in the reading

Post by **RS04YOB** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 8:37 pm

Audi Pardner wrote:Thanks for posting. As a matter of interest what's your oil change interval? I change mine every 5k (standard car) and just wondering if it's a bit too often.

That was at 1500 miles (its yearly service) & MOT

Post by **FaisalJ** » Thu Mar 17, 2016 9:25 am

Also, what oil are you using?

I didn't even know you could easily get your oil tested. I think I'll get this done next oil change!

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