Doing 1st UOA. Have a ?

[Douglas M]

I did not have a container with me or a kit when I drained the oil. All the oil is now in the container that caught it while I was draining it, including the oil in the filter. How wil that affect a UOA?

 

[darkdan]

Depends on how dirty the container is.

If it has some dust in it expect a higher Si number. If it's dirt your insoluable number will be higher. If it's been used before and has coolant or baby puke or whatever....expect that.

Need a kit? =)

 

[shortyb]

Obviously not the optimal way to collect a sample but it may be salvagable with some caveats if you absolutely must use this oil.

First, was the container absolutely clean, no oil or anything else in it previously?

Second, how long has that oil been in the container and has it been stored uncovered?

The main concern is contamination. If you drained into a clean container and sealed it up, it MAY give a fair report. I'm not sure how long it takes for metals and such to fall out of suspension and to the bottom of a container either. This can give inaccurate results and its why most samples are taken mid-stream. You may get some skewed results from the oil filter oil too, if some of it leaked passed the anti-drain back valve from the contaminated side of the filter media.

Not to sound discouraging, but IMHO, I would forget the UOA with this oil. Do one later with the proper equipment and chaulk this up as an education.

 

[Douglas M]

It was a brand new container. I changed the oil on Sat. The main reason I wanted to do this was because of the talk on this forum about K&Ns. I put one in when I changed my oil last time, replaced it with an OEM filter when I changed my oil this time. I was going to take another UOA at the next oil change and compare data. But if you guys think it would be a waste of time I could always throw in the K&N at the next oil change. Thanks for the responses.

 

[shortyb]

If it was a brand new container, and nothing dropped into it since Saturday, go ahead and send it in for grins. Just don't be too alarmed if some numbers are high, especially the silicon. Your sample may have had some dust or dirt fall into it if left uncovered for awhile.

I'm assuming you meant discussion over K&N air filters? Their oil filters seem to be top-notch albeit alittle pricey.

 

[Douglas M]

Yes K&N drop-in filtercharger.