Hello experts, we have recently had oil samples sent to Cat dealer for analysis on a Cat 966M wheel loader. under 10K hours, DEF model. No one knew what hours were on the oil so it was noted as hours unknown. Visually the oil is very black and fair to assume it has done plenty of hours. Anyway the engine oil report came back as a C with high levels of iron and aluminium. So this has put a bit of a dampener on things. My questions: Would the oil contamination be relevant to the hours of work the oil has done? I'm assuming it would Is the presence of these metals a sign of damage in the engine? What oil hours parameter would the person or computer use to analyse the oil when no hours available is given? If the oil was noted as 250 or 350 hours basically at the end of its service period would this give a different report IE a B report? I can post the report tomorrow when I receive it, just had it verbally so far. My usual experience with these is monitor / test oil and look for a trend, but in this case a decision will be made on the one sample. thanks for your help.
As you rightly point out oil analysis interpretation is all about trends, not the result of an analysis of a single sample at a specific point in time. Unless you have a crystal ball (mine's broke, sorry) there is no way you can make a decision based on the results of one sample analysis. I don't care how good you are. It's all coulda, woulda, shoulda. One sample report on its own ain't worth jack schitt. FYI a quick look at a random prefix of 966M indicated an engine oil & filter change frequency of 1000 hours, with oil samples every 250 hours. There are a dozen different models of 966M so that information may not apply to the machine you're dealing with. There is also a comment about severe service conditions as follows:- "An engine that operates in a severe service application may need more frequent maintenance intervals in order to maximize reliability and/or service life." My first suggestion to establish some trends would be change oil and filter, which I assume you already did when you pulled the sample, and monitor going forward with oil samples every 50 hours to establish a trend. The change the oil/filter again at some point well in advance of the recommended oil change period in the O&M and go again sampling at the same 50-hour intervals until at least the next oil change.
Hello Nige thanks for your input, good info confirming my own ideas. Potentially 1000 hours oil life with testing. That's amazing We will battle on from here thanks cheers Michael
Post up or PM me with the results when you get them, your choice. I may be able to think of other suggestions.
Hi Nige, can you let me know how to PM you please
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