A customer left a very black sample of oil for me to have analyzed from a 8.3 Cummins in a large pusher motor home after a trip to Alaska from Gainesville, TX. I stopped at a truck parts store and got a sample kit. The Pennzoil Quaker State lab showed the oil to be very clean with a very low wear rate. It doesn't take much soot to turn the oil black.
I have an 8.3 at work that has a similar report from the lab but it has a lot less soot and a filter with three times the capacity and doesn't push a motor home over the mountains. It is in a yard tractor that spots trailers. I don't have the 500 hr sample back yet. I have a tee and valve at the inlet to get samples. I got a suction pump from Caterpiller but they are nasty to deal with. They pull the sample out of the dip stick tube. I also have a machine that checks the conductivity of the oil. The dirtier the oil the better the conductivity. I can rub oil in the palm of my hand and tell the same thing. If the viscosity feels right the oil is slick and doesn't stain the skin it's ok. The oil analysis and particle counts are to kiss .... at work. The head engineer eats it up.
Ralph
I have an 8.3 at work that has a similar report from the lab but it has a lot less soot and a filter with three times the capacity and doesn't push a motor home over the mountains. It is in a yard tractor that spots trailers. I don't have the 500 hr sample back yet. I have a tee and valve at the inlet to get samples. I got a suction pump from Caterpiller but they are nasty to deal with. They pull the sample out of the dip stick tube. I also have a machine that checks the conductivity of the oil. The dirtier the oil the better the conductivity. I can rub oil in the palm of my hand and tell the same thing. If the viscosity feels right the oil is slick and doesn't stain the skin it's ok. The oil analysis and particle counts are to kiss .... at work. The head engineer eats it up.
Ralph
