UOA on oil containing assembly lube?

[ducatisl]

I just performed some valvetrain work and when I reassembled the valvetrain, I applied some Federal Mogul and Comp Cams assembly lubricant to things like valve seals, rocker arms, pushrods.

Will a used oil analysis on the resulting "contaminated" oil be way off on things like zinc, moly, and viscosity? Anything in particular?

 

[UNC017]

Almost certainly it'll have tons of ZDDP and molybdenum. If you replaced a cam, it may also show a lot lower TBN and higher TAN because some cam break-in lubes contain an acidic etchant to create a micro-roughness on the lobes for improved oil retention. You can usually tell that type of cam lube because it will have dire warnings to NOT let any of the lube get on the cam bearings- you're supposed to use ordinary assembly lube or plain oil for those, the special etching break-in lube just on the lobes.

 

[Steve S]

Why would you do a used oil analysis on the inital fireup of an engine unless something bad is suspected?

 

[Jim Allen]

Yeah, I agree with SteveS. I doubt's there's much of use it could tell you. It will have high levels of all sorts of junk. If you just want to see what it looks like, well that's different... scientific study. I would just advise not drawing too many conclusions, or taking any significant steps based on what you see.