Member Since: 18 Sep 2017
Location: On the NC500
Posts: 525
Does anyone do oil analysis on their V6 diesel engine?
To keep an eye on wear levels and maintenance schedules, I always send my old oil to Millers for analysis and watch the trends developing.
If anyone else does the same and is interested in sharing their data with me then I would like to create an amalgamated dataset that I can then publish in the forum.
A larger sample size would give more accurate parameters that we could then use to assess the relative health of our engines.
If there is interest in doing this I will set an email address to send data too.
Thanks!!
10th May 2023 5:31 pm
Davethegeo
Member Since: 01 Oct 2015
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 907
I've just had my oil analysed by Finning. More than happy to share the results especially as I don't really know what the numbers mean and am happy to receive comments from the clever people here.D1 300Tdi - gone
D2 Td5 ES (Alive remapped...mmm) - sadly gone
D4 2012 SDV6 XS - Stolen
D4 2014 SDV6 HSE - Shiny
4th Apr 2024 9:29 am
zig
Member Since: 09 Sep 2005
Location: Scotland
Posts: 638
Short of having the oil analysed, perhaps every time we have the oil changed, we should examine by eye the oil filter and see what it has captured.
19th Apr 2024 12:07 am
NC500
Member Since: 18 Sep 2017
Location: On the NC500
Posts: 525
Davethegeo wrote:
I've just had my oil analysed by Finning. More than happy to share the results especially as I don't really know what the numbers mean and am happy to receive comments from the clever people here.
Be great to keep a running comparison between different engines. I think I’ll create a thread to publish the data.
19th Apr 2024 8:10 am
Gary_P
Member Since: 03 May 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 1596
Best place for analysis?
ThanksGary
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Discovery 4 HSE 2016MY
19th Apr 2024 10:15 am
Breg90
Member Since: 04 Feb 2017
Location: Falkirk
Posts: 355
Davethegeo wrote:
I've just had my oil analysed by Finning. More than happy to share the results especially as I don't really know what the numbers mean and am happy to receive comments from the clever people here.
I'm not an expert at oil analysis, but I do get the reports for compressors/pumps/GT's at work and have 'some' working knowledge. I'd happily offer an opinion (even if that was 'don't know') if you posted your results.Series one 1949 - in bits, chassis is strapped to the ceiling in my garage (beside the canoe)
LR 90 - In bits
Disco 3 - currently in bits
20th Apr 2024 12:58 pm
Alex Umb
Member Since: 24 Apr 2020
Location: beccles
Posts: 7
Just thought I would add my Millers Oils analysis. I have never done one before, the D4 has done 90,000 miles and I've just changed the oil after 5000 miles, about 4,000 of that is mainly motorway driving but the last thousand in the last month has been 4 or 5 trips per day of 5 minutes on B roads. The IID tool showed 1 failed regen so I thought I should do a change of oil and filter. I've been using Smith and Allen Momentum C1 F 5W30. Glad to see no catastrophic wear metals but a bit surprised by a "critical" soot level, have to admit I have never heard of this before. If anyone has any views as to why I would be interested to hear them. I do have the Alive engine remap which I have to say has been fantastic and makes it a different car, but I rarely hammer it so I doubt that has any impact.
Click image to enlarge
15th Aug 2024 6:31 pm
PROFSR G
Member Since: 06 Mar 2017
Location: Lost
Posts: 4938
Looks like the failed regen is due to the short 5 min trips and likely the cause of the high soot levels .
Short drive cycles are deadly for diesels with DPF's. Burn it up the motorway once a week for 20 or 30 mins and it should sort itself out yµ (idµ - eAµ) ψ=mψ
15th Aug 2024 6:45 pm
Alex Umb
Member Since: 24 Apr 2020
Location: beccles
Posts: 7
OK Prof!
I'll try that, thanks very much for the feedback!
15th Aug 2024 6:51 pm
NC500
Member Since: 18 Sep 2017
Location: On the NC500
Posts: 525
High soot levels can be as a result of over fuelling, poor atomisation of fuel (poor injector spray patterns) or overuse of cetane boosters. My money is on the remap (over fuelling to give better performance levels)- I’ve seen this before
15th Aug 2024 9:19 pm
NC500
Member Since: 18 Sep 2017
Location: On the NC500
Posts: 525
Here is a screenshot of the more recent oil sample analysis undertaken on my 2014 D4. The vehicle is driven on a mixture of roads (Dual carriageway down to 'C' class roads) so I would say neither one type of driving dominates any other.
Click image to enlarge
Remember - it's not the actual figures that are important here - it's the trend. Any number showing consistent high levels or an increasing upward trend should give cause for concern. Oil analysis gives you an indicator of engine health and the components and processes that keep it running.
Click image to enlarge
Soot levels began to increase so I treated a couple of tanks of fuel with a diesel injector cleaner and it did the job of bringing soot levels back to 'normal'.
I did use Ceratec as an additive but I can see that it does nothing to improve the health of the engine so I have now stopped using it. Indeed, if levels of Moly get too high it can actually INCREASE engine wear!
Last edited by NC500 on 16th Aug 2024 9:35 am. Edited 4 times in total
16th Aug 2024 9:03 am
Alex Umb
Member Since: 24 Apr 2020
Location: beccles
Posts: 7
That's very interesting, thanks. I had no idea how much the values change each time. I don't use any fuel additives and don't fancy giving up on the remap, so maybe I'll have to try Profsr G's advice first and see what impact that has, otherwise maybe more frequent oil changes - it's not an excessive cost.
Thanks again for your help.
16th Aug 2024 9:19 am
NC500
Member Since: 18 Sep 2017
Location: On the NC500
Posts: 525
Ahh yes, the old 'Italian tune up'....
16th Aug 2024 9:24 am
Gary_P
Member Since: 03 May 2016
Location: Kent
Posts: 1596
Thanks for sharing. Interested in your graphs and how varying amounts of minerals are found in the oil. Are these cumulative results from many points of analysis (in other words, is your x axis ‘time’ and if so over what period (months, years etc).
CheersGary
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Discovery 4 HSE 2016MY
16th Aug 2024 9:35 am
Alex Umb
Member Since: 24 Apr 2020
Location: beccles
Posts: 7
NC500 wrote:
Ahh yes, the old 'Italian tune up'....
I liked that! SWMBO is Italian and when I showed her that she fell about laughing!!
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