How to analyze an oil report?

[benvr]

What're the key things to look for in an oil report? Anyone have a good resource for acceptable or common ranges? At what point do things become serious red flags? Same goes for hydraulic oil reports.

Example that's on a forklift I'm considering:

 

[Mr.Dj123]

Hey @bnvr, those numbers actually look decent. Iron at 13.61 PPM is typical for normal wear, and the low silicon (4.43 PPM) suggests the air filtration is doing its job. No glycol, water, or excessive fuel is a good sign, those would be big red flags for contamination or internal issues. Lead and aluminum are low too, so bearings and pistons seem clean. If this forklift runs regularly and hasn’t hit a service interval yet, that sample’s looking pretty healthy overall.

 

[Sammy Montes]

Thanks for the clear breakdown, Mr.Dj123! That helps a lot, its good to know those levels mean the forklift’s in pretty good shape.

 

[Sean Henrich]

Look at wear metals like iron, lead, and aluminum; contamination signs like coolant, fuel, or water; and additive levels, those tell the real story fast.

 

[allanReed123]

interesting stuff... i've always glanced at oil reports but never really understood what all the numbers meant. Do you guys use any cheat sheet or tool to quickly interpret the results, especially for newbies?