2/22/99
Rick,
As you may now, this kind of oil testing is being regularly used by
owners of large trucks (& others?) to track normal wear & identify engine
problems before they become too big to deal with by anything short of an
overhaul. The cost of rebuilding a large diesel engine is several thousand
dollars. One trucker I know who comes regularly to where I work has been
telling me about this procedure for the last 2 years since he did the last
rebuild on his own rig. He has about 600,000 miles on the Cummins engine
now and is shooting for 1,000,000. So far, all his tests have shown no
unusual problems, so he is a happy camper.
I have no idea what the cost of such testing is, but your friend
may want to check this out. Does he have any idea of the type and cost of
the necessary equipment? Lab equipment can be costly. Maybe he is talking
about something less exhaustive than what I am talking about above. Could
it be offered at a cost that Joe Average would want to spend? Certainly a
very interesting question.
Regards, D. Kernberger
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