2012 Thor Challenger V-10, 4500 miles to date, will continue to travel 8 mo. out of 12 until we sell the house. The ? is: Is it worth the time to test the oil for particles and oxyidation on initial oil change, I have always checked oil since my first car at first oil change. It seems small cost. Also I am thinking of going to full synthetic. Your thoughts, please.
Always nice to get the samples done.I use blackstone labs for all my tests.You never know when they might find something with a problem starting.The first sample might be high due to breakin.
"If momma not happy ....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys .
i WENT FULL synthetic and had the oil analysed went 25000 miles and only changed the filter at 5000 intervals The oil looked dirty to me
I went back to regular oil
2008 keystone Everest 345s re
2002 F350 4x4 7.3 diesel crew cab dually. 135,000 miles extra leafs.
Banks stinger/ with an edge attitude set at tow
prodigy 3p curt 20k hitch
trail air suspension trail air pinbox
2 e2000 honda w parralel kit
560 watts solar
i pull an oil sample at every oil change with the kit i get from my local CAT dealer. been doing it since it was brand new with 4000 miles on it. It gives a lot of info for a very minimal cost. maybe its not really needed when new, but i want to know about break-in and also to have a baseline for when it does get some miles on it. how do you know where it is supposed to be if you wait till it has 50, 80, or a hundred thousand on it. just way too cheap to do it and know for sure.... but thats just me.
40' pusher,350 turbo cat, pullin a 37' trailer haulin a drag car. oh yea baby
I'm gonna agree with Badboy....it is good to have a baseline, and if you want, you can extend the oil change frequency based on the oil analysis, though you may have to wait until the engine warranty is over.
We run samples on all the engines and transmission (gear box) on our tugboats, and will often detect a problem well before it becomes apparent to your other sensors/senses.
Worth the money.
As to Rmcgarth53's comment about using synthetic oil for 25K miles, and only changing the oil filter.....and feeling that that wasn't good enough, so switched back to Dino Oil.?? What were you expecting?? Putting that kind of miles on an oil is outstanding.....and I would expect it to become dirty looking, especially in a diesel (they seem to darken the oil in a few days).
An oil change every 25K would certainly be cost effective, even if paying the extra price for the synthetic.....though I would still start doing sample analysis after the oil has reached it's intended change date/hours.
JMHO.
Bill & Claudia / DD Jenn / DS Chris / GS MJ Dogs: Sophie, Abby, Brandy, Kahlie, Annie, Maggie, Tugger & Beau RIP: Cookie, Foxy & Gidget @ Rainbow Bridge.
2000 Winnebago "Minnie" 31C, Ford V-10
Purchased April 2008 FMCA# F407293 The Pets
If I was to do it again I would not haVe it tested at eVery time
I changed the filter It tested fine from 0 to 25000 miles at every 5000 miles
I used the amsoil filter and changed it eVry 5000 miles So I would save that money of the test What conserned me was the dirty oil holding dirt to wear out the motor faster
I understand what you are saying about the dirty oil and what it may do to the engine. Since the oil analysis should let you know if there are damaging particles in the oil. Just because it's "dirty looking" doesn't mean that it's dangerous. As I had mentioned, I can put clean oil into a diesel, and within a few days, it's already very dark and dirty looking, but it's still well within the oil limits.
Yes, you could probably have spread the sampling, but as I had mentioned in my earlier comment, you will learn things faster with the analysis than waiting for them to happen in the engine. If they had suggested that you change the oil at 15K miles, you would have done it, and it would have saved you a possible fortune in repairs.
Plenty of folks will change their oil every 2-3K miles....and are happy to do it, because they feel that they are saving their engine in the long run, but they probably would be fine, with double that number.....or even more, if analysis was done periodically.
I don't trust oil test labs. Sent in two samples that I knew had diesel in them. Both came back normal.Plus I was told by one lab tech. That test were a rip off.By the time any damage shows up it is to late. Regular oil changes do more to help the life of your engine.
I have done it a few times when I had a problem. My thrust bearing wore into the crank and after it was changed the annalysis showed the same thing happening. I know a lot of you won't agree with my solution but I don't care. I used one of those PTFE teflon oil treatments. Additional oil annalysis showed the problem stopped and I continued to drive the car well over 100,000 more miles before I sold it and they continued driving it for several years before they sold it with nothing wrong. Since then I just change the oil using synthetic changed twice a year. Keep in mind synthetic will last longer but as a previous poster said it looks dirty, well that dirt is is still dirt wearing away at the bearings and such and the only way to get rid of it is change it.
Offline
....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys 
.
FMCA# F407293
