"Coyoteboy" > wrote in message
...
<snip>
> But the point is - at what point do you decide to fix whatever is wrong
> from
> the results? Also, when its not a daily driver and covers no more than 8K
> miles a year, what difference does it make? If it goes breasts up I call
> breakdown and get carried home - who cares? And then i know whats gone
> wrong, what needs repairing and how to do it myself.
>
> J
>
>

That is a good point. The last engine I was involved with that failed
internally was in my #2 son's '82 Corolla. The oil light started coming on
at idle, and we brainstormed a course of action. The upshot was that the car
wasn't worth any of the investigations or potential repairs (like oil pump
replacement) that would have made a difference. Eventually a rod threw - big
surprise - and the matter was settled. Oil analysis probably would have
shown the problem earlier, but it still would have required a prohibitive
amount of work to investigate further.

The same could probably be said about any car that is more than a couple
years old. For a car that is under some sort of warranty... the report
within the warranty period would support a claim if the engine failed after
the warranty expired, but you can be sure the warranty won't support any
action be taken on the basis of an oil analysis.

I used to work in general aviation, and oil analysis is very common there.
With such expensive engines and scary prospects in case of internal failure
it is a sure winner. For most cars I don't see a path forward if the
analysis shows a problem, unless you count selling the car without notifying
the buyer.

Mike