I've had 4 samples done by these guys, roughly every 7000mi. They are always quick to respond back and usually show that everything is ok with my truck. Today I got a phone call from them! They just ran my analysis from my last sample and were concerned about the Al/Fe/Si levels they found. I'm super impressed that they look at each sample individually and actually called me to figure out what was going on. I believe this sample has such high dirt/wear levels because I had gone mudding this spring and also did 1000+ mi roadtrip on mostly gravel roads in September. I'm cleaning my air filter just to make sure, and sending them a test sample at 2000mi as well.
What does it cost and what is the purpose? Money spent on repairs is money spent on repairs when it gets to a level that stuff starts showing up in your oil.
It's only $25/sample + postage. Well worth it when I can go 7000mi changing oil vs 3000, especially at $80 per oil change.
You using oil made of gold or something? Motorcraft synthetic blend and motorcraft filter is only 25 bux and thats what came in it from the factory...its what I use and every 5k miles.
7 quarts of Royal Purple + a K&N Filter... about $80.... Alaska counts as severe/heavy duty and it's recommend to do 3000mi changes, so doing it every ~7000 equals about $40/change. Which isn't that bad. That's the best part about doing the analysis, my viscosity and flash point were still good, so if it wasn't for all the dirt I sucked in my oil would still be ok. Probably not going to try 9800mi between changes again though Just cleaned my JLT with a K&N recharge kit. Holy Crap was it dirty! Used the cleaner and rinsed it out twice, letting it dry now, going to put the oil on soon and let it sit overnight. Too dark to put it back on anyways.
The first sample kinda gives them a baseline, but they do have universal averages for the F150 5.4 to compare it to. Can't go wrong with trying