Lubricheck device

[Corkster52]

I struggle a bit with how often I need to change the oil on my girls. I have, in the past, gone strictly by mileage. My brother-in-law has been using this device for a couple of months and sent me one for my birthday. He swears that it is pretty much right on for predicting his oil life on his vehicles as he checked recommended changes by operating hours (farm equipment). He did say on his Honda car that has about 5000 since his last change was still in the good range. I checked 4 of my 5 vehicles a few minutes ago and it looks like I have a few more miles to go on the 99 Aspy before I need to change it.

[HawkeyeGL1200]

Thank you for sharing. I'm going to read the information in the site and then talk to an oil guy I know to see if he thinks it works. I'm mainly interested in what the machine tests for. It may be doing a conductivity test for dissolved solids like iron or bearing wear products. It is still very interesting to me when you consider a one-time purchase VS sending off oil to be tested for 20$ or more per sample.

I just drain mine and forget about it about every 3000 miles. Maybe I can stop wasting oil and money, as I'm fairly certain I change my oil far more often than is needed.

[Corkster52]

More info.....

Lubricheck analyzes a physical property inherent in every tangible object in the universe. It is called the "dielectric" or "permittivity" property of a molecular structure. Lubricheck also measures the high impedance (resistivity) of the oil sample for high carbon content, and metals.
The combination of these two physics principles allows for an accurate measurement of the quality of engine oil. The Lubricheck combines the measurement data for acidity, metal particulate level, carbon level and foreign liquids (except fuel) into one, easy to understand rating of your oil condition.

[WingAdmin]

It's an interesting idea - but I change my oil frequently enough that I doubt it would ever get to the point where this device would detect the oil as "worn out" - based on a 1-10 scale. I'd be far more interested to know specific information - is my engine making metal, is there a lot of carbon in the oil, etc - things that tell me more about the health of my engine, not just "is my oil worn out." For those sorts of things, you need to send a sample off to a lab.

Where I see a market for this thing is to automakers. Currently, most engine oil life monitors built into cars pop up a "change oil soon" warning based on mileage, or by counting the revolutions of the engine. They don't take into account the type of driving - is it stop and go driving? Highway driving? That makes a big difference in how long your oil lasts. Having a sensor like this built into the crankcase that allows the car to actually detect the acidity and other qualities of the oil in order to determine when it needs to be changed would be a great feature - but unfortunately one I doubt people would pay extra for.

[Grasshutperformance]

I use synthetic oil and change it every 6000 miles, or 6 months. Probably a little more often than needed, but no one ever had issues because they changed the oil too often. If I used regular oil it would be every 3000 miles or 6 months. Think about this, only 20 to 50 MILLIONTHS of inch of oil film prevent metal to metal contact on your bearings. Not much! You may have 0.0015 clearance, but the journal is slammed to one side, so 20 to 50 millionths is all there is. I want good quality oil and changed often.
Tom