The Crackle Test: Do You Really Have to Hire Out Oil Testing?
The following article will detail for you one of six incredibly informative used oil tests you can use to quickly establish the continued viability of your oil, without ever sending it off to a lab.
Although any vehicle owner can wind up with water in their engine oil, it is most commonly a problem for those vehicle owners that make primarily low mileage trips with their vehicle, drive their vehicle very infrequently and/or live in a humid climate or one with significant fluctuations in temperature. If you happen to be one of these individuals, it would be wise to perform the crackle test, which is useful for determining whether condensation has caused a build-up of water in your oil.
Why test for water ingression? Because water doesn't lubricate very well and because water build-up leads to increasing levels of acid in your oil. Acid causes corrosion which leads to pitting. 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. Thus, it stands to reason that you'd want to know if you were getting water in your oil BEFORE acid build-up depletes your oil's acid fighting ability. 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 tell you if you have fuel dilution. If you do, then water ingression is irrelevant and the crackle test is likely unnecessary. The fuel dilution alone may be reason enough to consider changing your oil, if it is severe enough and/or causing any other issues.
To perform the crackle test, you place a small quantity of oil onto a hotplate of some sort and set it to a temperature high enough to boil off any water in the oil. Since most engine oils are not volatile until they gets up around 375 degrees F or higher (synthetics much higher than that), setting the plate to something between 250 and 300 degrees F should work well.
With a small amount of oil on the hotplate, the oil should boil quickly. You'll either hear a crackling sound or you won't. If you don't hear it quickly, chances are that you have no water in your oil.
Paying for a professionally performed oil analysis will tell you not only IF water has contaminated your oil, but also how much contamination has occurred. Nevertheless, even though less information is provided through the crackle test it's nice to know that you can utilize this free test to at least tell you if there is water in your oil.
Related posts:
- Snap, Crackle, Pop: Why Hire Out Your Oil Testing?
- Oil Testing for the Financially Declined
- Motor Oil Analysis for Minimal Expense
- Oil Analysis for the Financially Declined
- Discuss Whether or not to Utilize an API CI-4 or CJ-4 Rated Diesel Motor Oil?
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