engine oil testing

[mad_boater]

Anyone had an oil test done as a part of their survey when buying a boat.I was told its supposed to indicate if there is any iminent problems, head gaskets and other nasties.The engines are Volvo kmd 42 230 hp circa 1992 with 2,500 hrs on the clock ?

 

[Tidnock]

Anyone had an oil test done as a part of their survey when buying a boat.I was told its supposed to indicate if there is any iminent problems, head gaskets and other nasties.The engines are Volvo kmd 42 230 hp circa 1992 with 2,500 hrs on the clock ?

I guess a one off oil sampling might give you some insight as to the condition, however, in my opinion, they tend to work on historical/comparison information ie raised levels of contaminates since the last sample.

 

[David_J]

Anyone had an oil test done as a part of their survey when buying a boat.I was told its supposed to indicate if there is any iminent problems, head gaskets and other nasties.The engines are Volvo kmd 42 230 hp circa 1992 with 2,500 hrs on the clock ?

Personally I would definitely have an oil analysis done on engines with a bit of age. Its not expensive and it can give an indication of contaminants and possible problems. I reckon you cannot have too much informationwhen buying.

 

[CharlieAlpha]

I've just had them done as part of a survey cost £25 per sample. [2 engines + 2 legs = £100] Still awaiting the results normaly take about 5 working days.

 

[LittleShip]

Absolutely pointless if the engines have just been serviced or you dont have a reference point to look at.

Oil analysis is a great way to have the condition of your engines checked on a regular basis and can inform you that something is going wrong before it actually does, that said, any indicators that would show up will have been removed if the engine has just been serviced or only run for a short period of time.

Personally I would invest in a good engineer to check them over. Lets be honest not many engines go bang in a big way it's more likely to be a heat exchanger or the such that will let you down and an engineer should be able to spot that, oil samples wont!

IMO

Tom

 

[pheran]

My surveyor offered me an engine oil sample and analysis during our recent boat purchase but actually told me he didn't think it was worth the trouble. In all his years, he had only had a handful of cases where the analysis had revealed anything. Mind you, I suppose you could be one of a handful......!!

 

[mad_boater]

oil samples

I am going ahead with one, any information is better than none at all

 

[Peanuts]

I know it could be a peace of mind having an oil sample done to check the engine but as already mentioned without any history it is difficult to evaluate any results. I will attempt to explain.

On the engines I work on we carry out a oil sample every 20 hours together with magnetic plug visual examination. For a evaluation of the oil sample the materials of all the rotating assemblies must be known, in fact all of the bearings have a trace element in them so if a particular bearing starts to have problems the trace element is detected so we only have to change one bearing instead of all of them.
It must also be known what the engine has been doing - slowing running etc etc and how long the oil has been in the engine and if any oil has been added since the last change.

So by all means have a sample but I cannot see what can be found from it with out any history.

 

[Bilgediver]

I am going ahead with one, any information is better than none at all

Depends if the person reading the report has enough background information to make sense of it.

As others have said these reports are only of real value when part of a series of reports showing trends. One single random report is almost as usless as no report.

Just think....If the oil has been in the engine for a week then the report will give totally different readings to those obtained if it has been in a year. Also the way the reading is taken can create errors. If a sample is sucked out of the bottom of the sump of an engine which has been at rest for a while then the solids will give different readings to those obtained from a sample bled from the engine while running at normal temperature.