One Drop Oil Test

[tig1]

Some here have mocked the one drop test as I mentioned on my thread " M1 16K OCI". Well it's not sicentific, but I find it helpful and follow the examples on this web site.

http://www.acustrip.com/specs/onedrop.html

 

[Fleetmon]

I use a similar one-drop test on paper towels to look for fuel dilution all the time for constant load diesels as a quick-check during operation....your test would be much more accurate for a quick test.

 

[threeputtpar]

I think it's a valid test to see if there is any foreign matter in the oil. For determining the state of the oil in regards to length of change interval, I don't know how it can determine the remaining additive in the oil. I think that's why people are up in arms about your claim that the 16k miles is fine, without performing a UOA to provide some evidence of that.

I'm a former pro gambler, so I look at OCI as a dice game. Each and every roll of the dice has the possibility to come out in a set number of ways, and what happened on the last roll has no bearing on the next one. One could have stellar results with 5k, 10k, 15k OCIs for 100k+ miles but may have any number of things go south in that next OCI that the previous ones didn't give any indication of happening. I think that's why UOAs are best done part way through the OCI and a decision is made then to extend or change.

 

[KitaCam]

If I may, to take what 3pp says here one step further, the cost-benefit analysis seems more important to me than a 1-drop analysis, or a UOA

...a savings of $50 per 7500mi/1-year vs the cost of the car or even an engine repair seems a gamble not worth taking if one plans to own the car much past 100k miles...

...and with apologies in advance for any offense, extended OCIs posted here seem like p-ing contests more than anything else...

 

[walk23]

Hadn't heard of this method of oil testing but it looks like a quick method to indicate oil life. Those that mocked you for not getting the oil professionally analysed were probably ignorant to this method and commented without knowledge.

 

[Russell]

I do some thing similar. Place a couple of drops on white paper and compare drops(every 1000 miles or so). I see darking of the oil over time. Nothing really significant. Also some oils do start out darker though,

 

[GreeCguy]

Not only oil life, but interior motor condition as well. For the sake of discussion, let's pretend to do a drop test on three different motors.

Motor one: My 1993 Ford Taurus 3.0 v-6 with close to 160,000 miles on the motor. I bought the car at 130,000 miles and previous owner changed oil every 3,000 miles on Mobile One. Since I've owned it, oil has been changed every 5,000 miles on whatever dino was on sale. 30,000 later, oil still looks good on drop test paper towel.

Motor two: My 1995 Olds Cutlass. 3.1 V6 with 146,000 miles. From what I can gather, car started life as a rental. Fellow I bought it from readily confessed he changed the oil when he "felt like it." Changed oil when I bought it and drop test revealed a very black and thick oil. Changed again 1,000 miles later. Still, very black, but not so thick. Continued to change (using cheap dino) every 2,000 miles afterward and noticed each time, drop test reveals a clearer and cleaner oil. This tells me motor is become cleaner and I can extend OCI on Olds.

Motor Three: My 1950 Case model DO tractor. From what I can gather, original motor. Even if I change the oil once a month, (which I did for a period of time several years ago to try to clean the interior of the motor), a drop test reveals an extremely dirty engine. If I didn't tell you it was oil, you would swear it was black paint. The results of this test was to finally convince me it was okay to use my "used" oils from other vehicles in this old tractor as top up oil, (I still change with fresh every six months).

So no, it's not "scientific" - but it does serve, (in my opinion) as kind of a "sight glass" into the interior of the engine.

 

[ottotheclown]

To tell you the truth I find this test tells me a lot about the paper if I need to use other paper in the future. That is just me

 

[FZ1]

I like the odt,and you can't beat the price.

 

[LeakySeals]

Thanks. Not sure if its the right paper, but I use a flattened out oil filter box. Seems to do the trick.

 

[buster]

Color says little to nothing about the oil condition.

 

[Errtt]

We did it in the military using a Simplex Field Test Kit.
A drop onto a circular paper, then color chart for color comparison and a little read about it. The paper was similar to the white coffee filter media.

The kit also contained viscosity cups to compare a clean test sample to the used sample, and we added a measured amount of diesel to the clean sample, retest, repeat until both cups drained at the same time. The number of times the diesel added was equal to 1%. Once the oil showed 5%, we changed oil/filters.
Then a acid test of a measure of oil in a vial mixed with a solution. Shake, let settle and compare color against another color chart.
Out of kit - heat oil (usually a lighter) in foil and see if it smoked first or if there was a crackle sound before smoke.
Oh and we had some Saybolt measuring device... bearing in glass scaled tubes.
Then we went to sending samples for analysis.

 

[gregoron]

Nothing wrong with doing oil blotter tests as long as you know its limitations. Here's an old BITOG thread about it. I'm doing it now too.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1633594

Edit: just realized OP posted it too.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
tig1 - I have used this test reliably with diesel engines for several decades. It is a great indicator and is especially useful in remote locations

Using any blotter paper consistently is one way, treated blotter paper is obviously the best.

A little training and experience enables the process to be very meaningful!!

 

[Shannow]

I do it all the time, about every 1,000km on both of my vehicles.

It costs nothing (travelling salesmen leave me lots and lots of business cards), you need to be under the bonnet regularly anyway to check stuff like coolant and P/S hot.

Get into a habit, and you can see "good"; "good"; "good"; "good"; "good"; "good"; "good"; "good"; "hmm, not as good as it's been"; "still OK, but it's change day"

 

[fdcg27]

Thanks.
I wish I had read this thread before falling for all that UOA bunkum and spending all that money on UOAs and prepaid UOA kits.
All I really needed was a business card I didn't want anyway and a drop of oil off the dipstick.
Thanks for setting me straight on this UOA fad.

 

[147_Grain]

I've used this test in the past on ATF and Engine Oil. It's a little trickier with the gray Lubro Moly additive in the oil, but can be done.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Thanks.
I wish I had read this thread before falling for all that UOA bunkum and spending all that money on UOAs and prepaid UOA kits.
All I really needed was a business card I didn't want anyway and a drop of oil off the dipstick.
Thanks for setting me straight on this UOA fad.


I think the point here is not that oil testing by labs is a bad thing. The point is the oil drop test does have it's uses.

 

[Garak]

I don't think anyone using the test claims it's interchangeable with a UOA. It can, however, show a bit about fuel dilution and soot loading, at the very least.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Thanks.
I wish I had read this thread before falling for all that UOA bunkum and spending all that money on UOAs and prepaid UOA kits.
All I really needed was a business card I didn't want anyway and a drop of oil off the dipstick.
Thanks for setting me straight on this UOA fad.


I think the point here is not that oil testing by labs is a bad thing. The point is the oil drop test does have it's uses.


The first time I heard of this was from Doug several years ago. I realize it's limitations, but simple UOAs has some as well. I am in no way saying the one drop test replaces UOAs, but for me it works for what I need.