This is a combined me and the fleet list: Found and corrected intake tract leak, shortened air filter change interval, replaced failing coil pack, detected and corrected faulty PCV valve, changed oil change intervals to combat tendency for deposit build-up, changed oil type to combat build-up, backed off of a potentially ugly fight with a local shop on account of an engine that failed right after they performed some service work and changed the oil (Dyson's UOA showed it let go on its own, not from something they messed up), and some other things. We are also aware of some major bearing issues in an engine series we have a few examples of, but those engines are now slightly out of warranty. We won't be able to save them from destruction, but we've taken steps to significantly delay the day they let go.

The local oil distributors can be found in the yellow pages under oils, lubricating. They're the guys that distribute Shell, Chevron, Mobil, etc. products to the local industrial base in the area (they'll have 5-gallon buckets, drums, shuttles, and bulk deliveries, but usually also some amount of quart cases). They're sometimes the fuel distributors, too, but not always. Their UOA kits often have their oil company's name on them, but they essentially all go through Staveley Services or Polaris Labs. My experience is that going through the distributor is less expensive than going directly to the labs. YMMV.

EDIT: Forgot to say that many local Caterpillar stores/shops have in-house UOA capabilities.

 

Please forgive me for posting this twice- I got bumped off the active page before the question was answered, so I want to make sure people see it:

I just bought one of these rigs, and have had a hard time analyzing this issue. The dealer told me that the DPF injection was exhaust stream, but what I've read seems to indicate that regeneration happens in-cylinder, which is what leads to oil dilution. Does anyone know the particulars of this well enough to give me a "final answer"?

Thank you so much.

 

Thanks for the tip on local oil analysis. I would much rather do that then have to deal with the post office. If I find such a resource I'd still have the same question of reliability/quality that you pointed out. Dyson says they're a lot "better" but what does that mean? Is it worth five times the price? I fully expected the Blackstone report to point out potential failures just like those mentioned. Don't get me wrong, I'm not questioning your integrity here, I just prefer to understand the data myself.

 

I hear you. Dyson's lab is ISO certified, whereas BS is not. That goes to accuracy and repeatability. At least one of the other majors (Polaris or Staveley) is also ISO certified. Dyson uses different methods for some things, which offers greater capability than the other labs.

The real value from Dyson, though, is the feedback. BS's feedback is bs (pun intended). It's not actionable, and from what I've seen it's not at all uncommon for them to be telling customers something that's almost the opposite of what should be done, or they'll miss an important thing entirely. No BS customer would have caught any of the items I listed based upon their UOA's comments section, because the feedback is not useful in that way until/unless you can clearly see a problem for yourself. Dyson IDs these issues before you even notice that anything's amiss.

Maybe the best way to characterize the difference is this: Dyson is a paid analyst or consultant (he'll 'interpret' any report from any lab for you), whereas Blackstone is a provider of raw data. As a mere data provider, BS is a poor value, IMO. OTOH, as an analyst I am aware of no publicly-accessible option that comes close to his expertise and actionable feedback.

We each pays our money and makes our choice. Cheers!

 

Ford uses an additional injection cycle during the exhaust event for the regens. I believe that only one bank of cylinders are involved however. GM uses the 9th injector in the exhaust. Dodge uses the same as the Ford but Dodge also cleans up the NOX emissions with the add'l injection cycle as well as a different EGR system. This results in higher exhaust temps and add'l fuel dilution. Ford and GM clean the NOX emissions up with urea so the regens are much less often and shorter in duration so the fuel dilution is potentially less...driving habits still impact the results to a degree. This is referring to light duty trucks.

 

Thank you Hd05. My truck is an F450, but for the purposes of this discussion, I imagine it's the same. What you said jives with what I read.

Bummed that the Ford guy told me it was exhaust stream, but it's confusing. He probably just meant exhaust event.

I've always liked Fords, but I do find it interesting if GM is the only one doing exhaust stream injection. Really seems like the best way to go.

 

I use the local CAT lab for my UOAs and I must say they are very complete results including TBN, TAN and about 27 other things. They are also ISO-9001 certified.

 

One could also wonder why GM was the only one swimming upstream. This ninth injector issue has been beat to death. Our resident Ford 6.7 engineer has chimed in on an earlier thread about the DPF system and the decision to not utilize a ninth injector. His position was that Ford tested both types of DPF injection systems extensively. Ford went with the current one bank regeneration after determining that the complexity, maintenance and extra cost of another computer controlled system was not in the best interest of Ford or the customer. So far the oil analysis reports are bearing this out.

As to the negativity about Blackstone Labs, I used to own an airplane and Blackstone was the lab of choice in that venue. I never heard a complaint about them in the 5 years we had the plane. Everyone I knew used them for 25 or 50 hour analysis. I did not see planes falling out of the sky. YMMV and I am not looking for an argument

Regards

 

I was under the impression that a previous Ford diesel used the ninth injector. Was that never the case?

I'm not intending to be negative, rather to share my experience with a range of labs. That happens to leave Blackstone with nowhere to be, for me

 

Nope, no production Ford engine ever used this. The 6.4Ls were the first-gen DPF trucks and have problems with oil dilution from the regen cycles. 6.0s never had a DPF.