Diesel oil analysis ppm thresholds

[phorvati]

Out of all the oil analysis threads nobody talks about ppm and thresholds. I did mine at Caterpillar SOS, and I got a bunch of ppm numbers without explanation of what the limits are. Anyone know what the thresholds are and if any of these numbers are close.
Cu 61 Fe 30 Cr 20 Al 5 Pb 6 Sn 1 Si 10 Na 83 K 6
Mo 41 Ni 0 Ag 0 Ti 63 V 0 Mn 1 Ca 2187 Mg 379 Zn 1552
P 1288 Ba 0 ST 4 OXI 20 NIT 11 SUL 22

[ranger58sb]

Is that a Cat dealer? Surprised they couldn't flesh that out for you...


Analysis would likely be specific to a given engine. Call Caterpillar.


Also, the numbers are slightly more useful over the course of time... as you compare the next reading with the first... subsequent readings with previous... developing a long-run analysis of engine activity.


-Chris

[GordMay]

See ➥ http://www.spectrosci.com/default/as...AL_2014-08.pdf

And ➥ http://www.rsareliability.com/Oil%20...s%20Tables.pdf

[a64pilot]

You have hit on the issue of oil analysis, there are really no normal or alarm limits.
That is why for oil analysis to really mean anything you have to do it frequently, that way you know what the normal numbers are for YOUR engine are, and then you look for trending changes.
But what do you do if and when you spot trending changes? I can tell you from years of experience, you do nothing, cause nobody that I have ever seen pulls a motor apart based on an oil analysis, not if it is running fine, and if it isn't, then they would be pulling it apart anyway.


If you really want to know if your engine internals are OK, buy an oil filter cutter and cut your filter open and inspect it at oil changes, you will tell more that way than you will by oil analysis.

[phorvati]

Originally Posted by GordMay

See ➥ http://www.spectrosci.com/default/as...AL_2014-08.pdf

And ➥ http://www.rsareliability.com/Oil%20...s%20Tables.pdf

Thank you. I'll get in the habit of doing it every oil change.

[dannc]

I have been using Blackstone labs for years for UOA. Here is an example of their oil report. I just picked this one and it happens to be from a CAT. Once you build up a history of samples you can see trends but Blackstone also give averages for the engine which is helpful.

Diesel Engine Sample Report 1

Later,
Dan