Talked to a fleet mechanic about oil sampling, now I get it

I was bitching about a 2012 Ram 2500 with rod knock at 186k miles, and a fleet guy said he catches those failures before they happen with oil analysis. He showed me the lab report from his own truck, and the iron levels spiked three months before any noise showed up. Has anyone here actually used oil sampling as a regular thing, or is it mostly for big fleets with deep pockets?

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benb2122d ago

Been running oil samples on my own stuff for about 4 years now, not a fleet or anything. Sent in my first one after a buddy who works at a dealership told me the same thing, that the wear metals show up way before you hear anything. My 6.0 Powerstroke started showing high copper and lead at around 140k, and yeah, about 2 months later the bearings were toast. Would've saved me a whole motor if I'd started sampling sooner. Cost is like 30 bucks a pop through Blackstone, which is nothing compared to a rebuild. Big fleets do it because downtime kills them, but honestly for a guy with one truck it makes even more sense since you can't just swap in another rig. Set a baseline, sample every oil change, and watch the trend instead of freaking out over one number.

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