I used to have Lab reports done on my oil, they were all taken at oil changes and was "end of life" oil. As you say, the reports said I had thrown away good oil. I suppose that is better than a report that says you have been running on bad oil? Ha Ha The consumer reports agencies have been saying for some time now that the oil intervals stated by manufactures and automotive service industry are way too short. Which may be true, probably a mix of over caution by the manufactures and marketing by oil service industry. I finally stopped submitting oil samples, but I still follow manufactures recommendations for oil change intervals though.
I "know" guy on another website that buys the cheapest oil specified for his engine and waits for Purolator filters to go on sale at Sears at which point he buys a case.
He changes oil per the manual and is done with it. Buying oil as he does, does not bother me, but the filters makes me twitch a bit.
Certainly, he is doing his engine right the cheapest way possible.
Sometimes, I question the value of my UOA costs...
But, one of the tests a few oil changes back showed some wear metals.
My stupid fault since I let the oil drop more than I should.
However, the oil sample was not horribly bad, more of a what the heck is going on and the test results have gotten better since then.
However, however, recently I noticed the engine coolant is going down.
Ruh Rah Scooby. There has never been coolant in the oil, and I did an oil change a few months ago and there was no coolant in the oil. I just added some make up oil to the engine, as is usual, and I dont think there is any coolant in the oil. I have an easy to open drain plug on the drain pan that makes changing oil or taking a sample easy to do so I think I will take a sample. The oil test site says coolant in the engine can kill said engine quick.
My guess is that the water pump is the problem since that is a known issue with this engine which is 13 years old with almost 200K miles on it. The value of the UOA is that I know there was no coolant in the oil at the last oil change, and if the next sample is negative, then the coolant is going somewhere else. I have gallons of coolant left over from coolant services so it is easy to just top off until I find the problem, unless the coolant is in the engine oil, at which point I have a bigger problem.
I figure even expensive oil is cheap to change when you do it yourself, though it does bug me to toss perfectly good oil, but I figure if I have run an extended time, I have gotten my money out of the oil. I run a better quality oil because it can take me awhile to find time to change the oil. I don't sweat, too much, if I miss my oil change time. Given what it costs to have someone else change the oil, if I do the change, I can put some of the savings into a better oil.
JD oil filters are, or were, made by Fleetguard per my deal sales guy and articles I read in the Wall Street Journal years ago. My sales guy is so good I wish I could buy cars, boat engines, and more tractors from him.
For the truck, I have used Fleetguard from International, JD, WIX, Mobile and Motorcraft. With the exception of the label they all look and feel the same. HEAVY.
The filters could be different inside but they all appear the same but since they are from good brands I think the filters have all done the job.
Later,
Dan