The Gulf Coast Filters Oil Analysis Program

·    Know the wear rate of your engine!

·    Change oil when the Lab says to!

The Gulf Coast Filters Oil Analysis program allows us to monitor the wear rates of your equipment and contamination levels and physical properties of the lubricant. In our program the customer simply pulls the oil sample and mails it in.  Gulf Coast Filters receives the oil analysis results and thoroughly monitors all the available data to determine what steps, if any should be taken.  Once we have analyzed the report we will send a copy of the report with our recommendation to the customer.  We will have a file on the customer’s engine and be able to compare future samples for long-term predictive preventative maintenance.   Gulf Coast Filters uses Titan Laboratories exclusively for all our oil analysis.  Over the years we have looked at several different laboratories, and even looked into using our own equipment, but Titan Laboratories offers more detailed consistent samples than any other company we have worked with over a 30 year time frame.

How much does it cost to join the Gulf Coast Filter Oil Analysis Program?  $20.50

How do I join the Gulf Coast Filter Oil Analysis Program?
Click here to contact us today!
or order on line

What is Oil Analysis?

Oil analysis is a report that allows you to monitor the amount of contamination, the wear rates, and the physical characteristics of a lubricant. Oil analysis is a tool that can be used to allow you to have control over the reactions going on in your engine, giving you a measurement in regards to what the experts in the petroleum industry have determined to be considered normal or abnormal.  Basically, oil analysis gives you, the owner of the equipment, an excellent opportunity to get the maximum amount of life out of your equipment by being able to monitor the wear rate of your engine and being able to detect problems in their earliest stages before becoming catastrophic.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know when to schedule an overhaul for your engine instead of having it out of service at the wrong time with a major problem?  It would also be nice to know that your engine is not in need of an overhaul regardless of the amount of hours the engine has run.

When using our program, Gulf Coast Filters will monitor the following items:  Physical Characteristics, Wear, Additives, and Contamination Level.

1.      Viscosity- Insure that the oil stays within SAE guidelines.  Increases or decreases in viscosity can alert us to a potential problem.  For example, a coolant leak would increase the viscosity of the oil as the antifreeze enters the system.  A bad injector could cause excess fuel in the oil and lower the viscosity.  Viscosity measures the flow ability of oil at a given temperature.  Viscosity variations of one grade or more indicates the need to change oil.   

2.      Fuel Soot-Reported as % weight is the most abrasive of solid suspension in the used oil.  Fuel Soot is the major contaminant in diesel engines.  With over 20 years of monitoring fuel soot, Gulf Coast Filters has determined that once proper GCF filter changes are established, the GCF filter will control Fuel soot and keep it within acceptable levels.  When a customer is using our filter we know that an increase in fuel soot can be associated with a potential problem.  For example, the 1990 Peterbilt that we tracked which has now run over a million miles with only 1 oil change had an increase in fuel soot.  We compared past samples and noticed that the fuel soot was slowly climbing.  It was later determined that the turbo was going bad and affecting the fuel and air mixture.  Once the turbo was replaced the fuel soot went back to normal.  If we had not been tracking this information the fuel soot would have reached unacceptable levels and engine performance would have been affected.

3.      Water-A water test is conducted on every sample to check for possible coolant leaks.

4.      Fuel Dilution- This test examines the amount of unburned fuel in the oil to make sure it is within SAE limits.  Every engine generates normal amounts of fuel dilution.  Unburned fuel is normally evaporated from the heat of the engine.  When Fuel Dilution reaches unacceptable levels chances are that the engine has a problem with the turbo or the injection system.

5.      Antifreeze-Every sample is checked for Antifreeze contamination.  One of the items that we check on the Report is sodium.  Small traces of Antifreeze may get by the standard antifreeze test, but if you have a small coolant leak the sodium (a key ingredient) in antifreeze will go up.  One of the advantages of tracking oil analysis is being able to detect problems at the beginning, before engine damage occurs.

6.      Wear Metals- Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Tin, and Aluminum.  From the time an engine is brand new it begins to wear.  By monitoring the numbers of wear metals we can establish the wear rate of the engine.  When numbers of a particular wear metal go up, many times you can find what engine component is causing this wear and repair it before excessive wear damages the engine.  We know the normal numbers for each engine and will monitor these wear rates to help insure that your engine will run the maximum amount of hours between overhauls.  It should be mentioned that by adding the GCF oil filter, wear rates will immediately begin to decrease, showing that the filter is increasing the life of the engine.

Chromium (Cr)  Rings-Rollers-Liners-Exhaust Valves-Seals-Shafts-Coolant Treatment

Copper (Cu) Bearings-Bushings-Washers-Pumps-Gears-Anti-Wear Additive

Iron (Fe) Blocks-Bearings-Cylinders-Crankshaft-Pumps-Liners-Gears- Pistons-Rings-Discs-Valves

Lead (Pb)  Bearings-Additive

Tin (Sn)  Bearings-Bushings-Pistons

Aluminum (Al) Bearings-Bushings-Pistons-Blowers-Washers-Clutches-Pumps

7.      Additives- An additive is a chemical substance added to a petroleum product to impart or improve certain properties.  Common petroleum additives are:  Antifoam agent, anti-wear additive, corrosion inhibitor, demulsifier detergent, emulsifier, EP additive, oiliness agent, oxidation inhibitor, pour point depressant, rust inhibitor, viscosity index improver.  Every major brand of oil contains an additive package.  These additives are refined into the oil to help the oil perform at its maximum potential.  Your additives fall into 3 major categories; Detergents, Corrosion inhibitor and Anti-Wear.  We monitor the numbers of each particular additive to insure the oil’s additive package remains within acceptable limits at all times.  By monitoring these numbers it will also help us determine whether the engine oil is normal or whether there is a potential problem.  For example, if the TBN (Total Base Number) begins to decrease the acid in the oil will increase.  If the TBN decreases to unacceptable Levels, the engine wear will increase.  We monitor the TBN at all times to insure the base number is within acceptable limits.  When using the GCF filter the additives have virtually nothing to combat against, thereby keeping the additive package intact.  When the GCF filter is changed, new makeup oil is added with new additives to an already clean system, which insures that the additive package is within acceptable limits at all times.

This is an actual oil sample from the 1990 Peterbilt that has now run 1 million miles with only 1 oil change!!!

(Note:  All oil samples taken before element change and new makeup oil added.)

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