Oil Analysis

[SR71]

Has anyone used http://www.oil-analysis.co.uk/index.html for their oil analysis?

I'm about to drop my oil and am wondering whether their service, which will include gas chromatography analysis to determine fuel dilution, is worth the £100 fee?

Comments?

I'm particularly interested to know whether FSI engines are more prone to fuel dilution of their oil due to the high pressures at which fuel is injected into the cylinder.

Any experts like to avail themselves of their wisdom?

Cheers.

[ciaranthemurph]

We've used them at work, but that's for big diesel engines, it's done quarterly and we get all the information about blow-by and dilution etc. I've never seen it done with a petrol engine, or anything as small as a car engine. Surely on a car as new as your's you shouldn't need to be worrying about contamination etc.

[SR71]

Hey Ciaran,

That S2 looks cool mate!



If you read http://www.rs246.com/index.php?name=...wtopic&t=60856 you'll see that an owner in the USA has done some research and discovered that something is reducing the flash point of the oil used in the RS4 severely even after a few thousand miles.

His contention is that it is to do with FSI.

I'm just curious whether the same can be observed in my oil. I plan on changing it every 6-7000 miles anyway but it would appear even that mileage results in severely degraded oil.

It would appear that European oils are somewhat better specced that USA oils so I hope that the state of the art synthetic oil Titan Fuchs GT1 Longlife III 5W-30 which is the factory fill oil and which I have used subsequently is doing a better job of protecting my engine.

Oil analysis only need a 100mL sample for testing and with the additional fuel analysis its £100 all in....

Without the fuel dilution testing its only £35 for an oil analysis.

Bargain when your engine costs well into five figures to replace.

[Jay]

Its good to see you still on here SR71

Why pay £100 on the oil test?? Just spend that money on another oil change to reduce the mileage further

They do it on comercial engines because they are in near constant use and down time = money, that way they can detect a problem early and book down time when its least costly.

If you had a load of engine blow ups that were put down to oiling problems then it might be a wise move to find the fault e.g fuel wash, heat or non-compatible oil/substances.

These long service intervals are driven by the money tight lease companys as more and more people lease there say grows but oil just can't keep up specially on diesel so if the car is 'yours' then change the oil more frequently specially on something high reving as the oil gets a proper battering

Jay

[Fat Audi 80]

If it were me I would get rid of that longlife crap and talk to Opie oils about what they recommend for that engine. (It will cost you up to £50 for 5 litres) but you will have the best and the right oil for your car. Then change it every 5000 miles.

However if you are curious and fancy spending £100 satisfying your curiosity, then go for it!

https://www.opieoils.co.uk

Cheers,

Steve.

[EspenW]

Send it to Blackstone labs in the US instead, that is what all the US boys use. Cost is $ 22.50, and that should be approx. £11 with todays ridiculous exchange rate:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/standard_analysis.html

[SR71]

The Titan Fuchs Oil which I use and which Audi use from the factory is THE oil to use, as Guy & Simon at Opie Oils will attest.

Although it is a longlife oil it is a fully synthetic oil with a super specification...so I'm led to believe.

The problem is that whilst I always intended to change my oil every 5-6K, the research in the US is suggesting even this is not good enough on our 4.2 FSI V8.

So the owner in question has had a special oil made up by a tribologist and the subsequent performance of this oil is far superior to anything he can get locally.

This may be because the oils he can get locally are **** and European spec cars will not suffer this problem, but I'm quite happy to spend the few quid on an analysis just to see if this problem is also evident on my car.

I don't expect Audi to let on if it is and I know of no-one else who has done this analysis here in the UK, so I'm happy to be the guinea pig.

The B7 RS4 uses 9.65L of oil on a fill and the Titan Fuchs oil costs about £100 from Opie Oils. I pick 12L up every time I go and visit my folks in Penzance as its on the way.

Nice guys down there.

The US analysis option might be good though....

Cheers.

[Fat Audi 80]

I was guessing the Longlife oil would not be the best! If it is then I guess you may have to spend £100 to find out for sure...

Good luck and let us know.

Cheers,

Steve

[S2central.net]

Well - if you can afford a B7 RS4 then £100 quid at an exotic oil test is in the noise

Go on then - please let us know the kind of results you get from that work.

I dunno about sending an oil sample to the US for testing - the homeland security folk would freak out.

Paul