I was in the garage taking pictures and thought I'd add a post about my little oil experiment.

I don't know the history of the Volvo that we have because I bought it with ~160,000 miles. However, my Eclipse I know has been treatedpoorly for nearly all of its 150,000 miles. After talkingto Dean at www.eEuroparts.com about the ticking noise (attributed to oil pan o-rings), he suggested that it might just be low oil pressure from a sludged up engine. So, I'm following his advicefor a year and here it is. I have a clean sample of oil for comparisons and then I'm going to change the oil as close to every 3000 miles asI can and save a sample. In theory asI change the oil more regularly, more ofthe sludge will get removed and I'll have a cleaner engine. I can tell you for sure that the old oil has had very nasty oil when I've changed italthough it's somewhat hard to tell in the pictures. Here are some pictures of my experiment which I'm doing for both cars. First theVolvo then the Eclipse.

So what do you think? Will the oil ever come out a lighter shade of black? And how long, if ever,before all the sludge is removed?

 

I doubt it will get much cleaner.

 

That's my theory too. It would be neat if it really does become noticeably cleaner though with all the jars lined up. I have a feeling after that many miles, there is plenty of sludge in there to keep the oil dirty for many more miles.

 

The used oil will aways be "dirtier" looking especially if it does it's job correctly. It's suppose to collect and carry away deposits from the engine's vital componets. I don't think it will get any cleaner. Now what would be really interesting is if you use somekind of cleaner mixed with the oil. I like to see the deposits in that oil drain.

 

Well, I can only add that you will only get a subjective result from collecting your used oil in jars (though it would be interesting if you noticed an improvement). If you are after a more objective answer (numbers you can compare) you may consider sending a sample in for a used oil analysis (uoa) from Blackstone Labs (http://www.blackstone-labs.com/). If you compared a sample done now and another in a year from now you could tell if things are better or worse. It might be worth spending a little money if you're interested in finding out. Because in the end, looking at dirty oil in jars may not tell you much.

 

It is indeed an interesting experiment. Be sure not to put back the jars in the fridge, as the clean oil resembles honey, while the dirty one for cranberry preserve[8D]. You don't want to lubricate your internals.

As someone has noted, engine oil gets pretty dirty in appearance after a few hundred miles or more/less. However, I wonder if you can light the jars with strong light source to see if there are any suspended particles, after letting them sit for a while. Magnetic tip detector type drain bolt, BTW,is a good feature and is only a few dollars.

Your experiment has inspired me, but currently I do not even have a tricycle.


JPN

 

Ok, this was very funny and witty. I laughed.

 

Oil is supposed to get dirty. I hope your experiment is successful, but it will be hard to know for sure as other variables such as the environment the engine is run in and other thing affect the outcome.

 

Interesting experiment, but wouldn't your engine rather havea good 10 minute engine flush? From smelling it, I think it is basically kerosene. Itwill get the job done faster and it won't have to run around with a stuffed up nose for a year.

 

I've read somewhere in the past discouraging the "flush" because it can/will break chunks loose that will clog things up later, whereas frequent regular oil changes will slowly take away the sludge and deposit it in the filter.

Anyone have arguments for or against flushes?

 

Engine flushing is something I wouldn't do; if the engine has been receiving scheduled oil + filter change, I don't see much benefit. On the other hand, Iwould flush the radiator at every coolant change.

Do we have any "Oil Taster" here[8D]?


JPN