Has anybody ever had an oil analysis done on their DS? I have had Blackstone labs do some testing on my oil in my truck. So that got me wondering, why couldnt I have it done on my DS. I mean after all it does detect metals and chemicals in your oil that should not be there. I have about 20-25 hours on mine now, would be good to see if all the bearings and internals are wearing properly. Just curious.

 

Hey,
I haven't has it done but was wondering the same thing. I would ask the guys at the lab if the fact that the engine oil is also the transmission fluid will skew things. I was wondering about the actual disk deterioration and what that will put into the oil. I don't know a lot about cars and trucks, but I don't think too many if any have an arrangement such as the DS uses. Could be worth asking before going that route!

 

The oil analisis will tell you exactly what and how much- chemical compounds are in the oil after subtracting the elements that the original oil had in it. If you know the chemical makeup of the clutch discs you can ignore those and monitor the others. The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) sheets on the disc material will tell you the chemical makeup of the disc and is readly available from the manufacturer. If you call Bombardiers customer service and tell them that you are a repair shop that works with their products and you need an MSDS sheet on the clutch discs,(your hands come in contact with the used oil) they have to supply it or they will direct you to the company that makes the disc.

 

A history of oil analysis is usually needed to determine if levels of detected metals are out of the ordinary, because there will always be some metal in every sample. If an analysis is done routinely, at precise hour intervals, and each result is compared with the previous, then the measured amount of metals can be monitored for changes. If the metal content is stable over a period of time, and then goes up all of a sudden, this would indicate a definite problem inside the motor that needs to be addressed.
This is how it is explained to me by the company that performs the oil analysis of the industrial equipment I maintain. We ship around 20 different samples a month.

 

Who does your guys oil analysis Chris. Do you guys do any vibrational anlysis on your eqpt. as well?

 

I don't know the name of the company that does the oil analysis, it is a local lab here in Indy though.
I'm a vibration analyst, although still in traning - it takes years to master this field - but I'm all we got, besides my trainer who I call once in a while with stuff that gets me baffled.

 

We do this with all the semi's that I work on. This has saved us 4 engines so far and it's a godsend for us. I should send in samples of my ATV oil from now on. Thanks for the idea.

 

If you have a Caterpiller Dealership near you they can do it it costs 12 bucks at the dealer I work at.