Engine condition

[pflaming]

My dad bought me a ‘50 Plymouth Fast back without my knowledge, After highschool. I was mad at first but learned to like that car. Now without checking anything, my bro and i drive it to California and back, never worried about the engine. So with that, beyond compression testing, temp in various situations , and oil pressure is there any way to determine the condition of an engine without opening it up? 

[kencombs]

Leakdown testing can help evaluate the condition of rings and valves. Oil pressure will provid some indicaiton of bearing condition, but not with any real accuracy.  Best to pull the pan and look.

[Matt Wilson]

You could always take an oil sample and send it off to a lab for analysis.  They can tell you if there is metallic debris indicating excessive wear of bearings, pistons, rings, etc.  I don't know any names of the companies that do this type of work, but I'm sure a Google search will bring up something.

[pflaming]

Or maybe warm a sample to thin it, then pour it through a paint strainer? 

[Eneto-55]

Some years ago I bought a <different brand> pick up that I should have left set on the car lot.  Oil was really black.  Drained it & dumped in some used ATF, ran it for 3 minutes, on idle, with my hand on the ignition, to shut it down immediately I I heard anything that sounded different.  Drained the now VERY BLACK ATF & put in oil.  I would imagine that that process washed out a lot of the sludge (if there was any), because the oil stayed clean and new looking after that.  If there was any metal in an engine before a procedure like that, I would suspect a good bit of it would come out with the ATF.

[kencombs]

The oil sampling/lab testing measures particles (if you can call them that) that are near molecular in size.  Far to small to see in a screen.  Just consider the sample size, 3 oz.   And in that they measure 20 metals/minerals as well as water, antifreeze and other contaminates.  The measurement is in Parts Per Million.   To be of any value, the oil should have been run a known distance or time, so testing a newly purchased engine may be problematic.

 

These are usually used as part of a maintenance program to determine change intervals and predict future issues.  First became popular with airlines and trucking companies.  When I first started with the airline, almost every part was removed, inspected and overhauled base solely on flight time.  Now most are under a 'condition monitored maintenance' program.  in the 60s a Pratt and Whitney engine on a boeing 707 would have had a life of 750 hours (I think that was the first number).  that gradually grew to about 5000.  Now engines are not changed based on time alone.  Oil analysis along with in use pressure,  vibration and speed measurement and recording can predict shaft, bearing or other component wear.  Those components or sub-assemblies are repaired as needed, usually on-wing.

[pflaming]

Would an ATF cleaning be helpful as a preventative exercise? 

[Los_Control]

Paul you are over 80 years old .... your dad bought you a car?

[pflaming]

He’s very giving! LOL