Do It Yourself Engine Oil Testing: The Crackle Test
The article shown below will describe for you one from a total of six incredibly informative engine oil tests that you can use to quickly establish the continued viability of your oil, without ever paying a single dime to an oil analysis lab.
If you are one of the many people who owns a vehicle that is driven infrequently, is commonly driven for short distances and/or is driven or stored in a humid climate or one that often has wide temperature swings, then performing the crackle test would likely be a good idea. This is a simple DIY test which will tell you if condensation has caused water build-up in your oil.
Why test for water ingression? Because water doesn't lubricate very well and because water build-up leads to acid build-up. Acid causes corrosion , and that can lead to pitting. Of course, you don't want pitting inside your engine. Even a high TBN extended drain synthetic oil like AMSOIL can eventually be overcome by water/acid build-up. So, as a general rule, you'd probably want to know if you were getting water in your oil BEFORE acid build-up depletes the acid fighting additives in your oil. For this reason, I recommend performing the crackle test.
It should be noted that fuel in your oil can cause some confusion in the results of this test. Performing the blotter spot test (business card test) beforehand will indicate whether you have fuel dilution. If you do, then you probably don't need to worry about water ingression and the crackle test is likely unnecessary. You already have a problem that likely will have you wanting to change your oil.
The test goes something like this: place a small amount of oil onto a hotplate of some type (just a few drops). You want to set the hotplate to a temperature which is higher than 212 degrees F (the boiling point of water). Since motor oil won't typically be volatile till 350 degrees F or higher, any temperature setting between 250 and 300 would be good.
At that temp, when you place the oil on the hot plate, you'll hear a crackle as the water boils off. The crackling should occur very quickly as long as you don't use much oil. Of course, if there is no water in your engine oil, you will hear no crackle.
Obviously, this hot plate test is not a very informative test, and it will not provide any detail as to the AMOUNT of water in your oil, as a professional oil analysis will, but, it can still provide you with some valuable, low cost info. - 21393
If you are one of the many people who owns a vehicle that is driven infrequently, is commonly driven for short distances and/or is driven or stored in a humid climate or one that often has wide temperature swings, then performing the crackle test would likely be a good idea. This is a simple DIY test which will tell you if condensation has caused water build-up in your oil.
Why test for water ingression? Because water doesn't lubricate very well and because water build-up leads to acid build-up. Acid causes corrosion , and that can lead to pitting. Of course, you don't want pitting inside your engine. Even a high TBN extended drain synthetic oil like AMSOIL can eventually be overcome by water/acid build-up. So, as a general rule, you'd probably want to know if you were getting water in your oil BEFORE acid build-up depletes the acid fighting additives in your oil. For this reason, I recommend performing the crackle test.
It should be noted that fuel in your oil can cause some confusion in the results of this test. Performing the blotter spot test (business card test) beforehand will indicate whether you have fuel dilution. If you do, then you probably don't need to worry about water ingression and the crackle test is likely unnecessary. You already have a problem that likely will have you wanting to change your oil.
The test goes something like this: place a small amount of oil onto a hotplate of some type (just a few drops). You want to set the hotplate to a temperature which is higher than 212 degrees F (the boiling point of water). Since motor oil won't typically be volatile till 350 degrees F or higher, any temperature setting between 250 and 300 would be good.
At that temp, when you place the oil on the hot plate, you'll hear a crackle as the water boils off. The crackling should occur very quickly as long as you don't use much oil. Of course, if there is no water in your engine oil, you will hear no crackle.
Obviously, this hot plate test is not a very informative test, and it will not provide any detail as to the AMOUNT of water in your oil, as a professional oil analysis will, but, it can still provide you with some valuable, low cost info. - 21393
About the Author:
Could you stand to learn more about at home oil analysis testing, how you can compare and contrast motor oils, how synthetics CAN and sometimes CANNOT be good options, how to compare oil filters and much more? Click this link to my Motor Oil Bible Blog or head over and check out my Motor Oil Bible ebook.
posted by X - Men @ 1:39 AM
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