I did in the past and I caught a stretched rod bolt that allowed the bearing to slide under and double stack a little bit. That was on a MGTD with a proper numbers matching block.
I also felt confident seriously over-reving a stock crank stock rod Jaguar 3.8 engine for more than a decade
Red line on that engine ( due to the 4.17 stroke) is 5500 rpm. I never shifted before 6500 and often went to 7000 in the heat of a battle.
I changed oil after every weekend and as soon as bearing material showed up I knew it was time to drop the pan and look on the MG the oil from the Jag came back dirty at first and I found the air filter would slide off under heavy braking and slide back on under acceleration.
I did it on my truck long enough to get comfortable with 10k mile change intervals. I don't do it anymore but at $275k+ miles it doesn't owe me anything and I don't know what I'd do differently based on any kind results. I'm pretty much going to keep changing the oil at 10k intervals and keep driving it till it comes apart.
I inspect the Oberg filter element regularly on the race car but don't send the oil out for analysis. I do pull the pan between seasons to look at the bearings however.
I do, but then again it's what I do for a living. A few tips if you're going to do oil analysis:
Single samples can only provide limited information. UOA is designed to track and trend over time to catch the early signs of wear and to enable you to extend drain intervals. So with that in mind, if you're going to do it, buy a 10-pack and start early.
Provide FULL information when you submit samples. I deal with hundreds of samples a day where they are missing critical information for getting good analysis. Key information: Exact oil brand and type (Shell Rotella T4 as an example), viscosity, engine (or transmission) make and model (Toyota 3.3L) and time on the lubricant being tested as well as total time on the engine (or trans etc). Miles, hours, laps, whatever as long as there is time on there so that the analyst has an idea if the oil is new, old, etc to judge oil condition and whether the engine/unit is new and the wear we are seeing is break in, or if it is older and we're seeing it in it's final stages of death.
If you have questions, contact the lab doing your analysis. They have people like me to answer your questions, provide maintenance recommendations and help understand your report. DON'T call a different lab to go over another lab's results. As much as I try and help, each lab has it's own standards and test methods for different results. We're lucky that all 6 of our labs spread across the world are using the same machines and methods so we can (theoretically) get the same results on the same fluid from any lab.
When pulling your oil, don't pull it from the filter. You'll get abnormally high wear results because the filter is doing what it is designed to do: trap the gunk and wear. If you don't have access to a vaccum pump and hose, catch it on the drain by pulling the plug, allow it to drain for a few seconds and then stick the bottle in the stream. catching the beginning will give abnormally high wear and contaminents while catchign at the end can show an abnormally clean sample. Preference is to do this on a warm engine so that the oil have been mixed recently and will give you a good representative sample.
There's lots more to share and I'm sure I'm missing something critical since I'm doing this at 5:30 on a friday at work.... (don't tell my boss!) But feel free to message me/ask and I'll answer to the best of my knowledge.
In reply to Bobzilla : I used my local Caterpillar dealer for oil analysis because I worked for them and they did it free but later I paid them when I worked for a competitor.
Your description of how to get oil is exactly what they told me. It was difficult on the dry sump to get a mid stream sample bottle filling since I carried 30 quarts in the tank and the most I dared put in the drain pan was 10 quarts. But I'd stop after 8 and stuff a rubber plug in temporary, haul the oil off to my oil bozer restart the stream and then fill the bottle
Nah. I try to get the oil full and keep it changed regularly. Beyond that, if the motor blows it's just sorta "oh well."
I did on the first 3 oil changes with the zephyr. It being a fairly low mileage engine that i rev higher then i should. The wifes saturn back in 06 when we purchased it had samples done for the first 2 years. I send it too the lab my current employer works with.
I ran 6 different analysis over the years on my subaru to gauge what oil was working best, how far out i could safely take an oil change as well as monitor the wear patterns from the abuse i put it through every now and then. i kept it for 10 years so i felt like it was worth it to keep tabs on the engine health. ultimately i went from changing the oil every 5-6k miles to being confident about taking it out past 8k miles per change.
i did it on my wife's xterra a couple times and it helped me catch a coolant leak by showing traces of potassium in the oil.
definitely worth it in my opinion if you're keeping something for the long haul or really pushing the limits. once i found out the sweet spot for change intervals i stopped doing the analysis routinely and only do one every 18-24 mos. modern cars seem to have pretty intelligent oil change computers, which might make analysis even less useful, but my cars have never had that.
In reply to ScottyB : I agree with your approach to checking oil on a daily driver. I got 371,000+ miles on my last one basically using your approach. However I was thinking more about our toys. Race cars collector cars etc
If by oil analysis, you mean look for chunks of the engine in the oil pan...
In reply to Bobzilla :
this makes me feel better about my junkyard engine, all I could get was a few drops from the pan and filter, everything came back normal but the wear items were in the higher range of normal by comparison. Blackstone said it was nothing to worry about seemed like normal for given age/mileage
