As part of an RV inspection drawing fluid samples and sending them off to the lab can provide very useful information when considering the purchase of an RV in addition to an inspection by a certified engine mechanic. The NRVIA has a very helpful document explaining all the benefits of fluid analysis that you can review here; so I won’t bother to reiterate it all.
Instead, I want to let you know the mechanics and drawbacks.
When our client requests fluid analysis on the RV, we take samples of engine oil, transmission fluid, engine coolant, generator oil and generator coolant (if the generator is liquid cooled).
The additional cost of fluid analysis can be significant. Our current price is $300 if all 5 fluids are done. The greater part of that price is the lab fees and shipping cost of the fluids. Our profit is very low -we offer this service mostly as a service to our clients.
Although the lab is reputable and analysis is thorough, the biggest problem we have is the turnaround time from the lab. We send them to the lab on the same day we draw them (unless the inspection gets us home after the Fed Ex office closes -then it’s the next day). It takes 2 days for the samples to get to the lab. It can take the lab 5 – 10 business days or longer to get the results back. That’s a LONG time and we have often had unhappy clients telling us that waiting on fluid analysis has jeopardized their purchase because the seller does not want to wait.
Since our focus is exclusively on making our clients happy, I want to discuss here if the fluid analysis is worth your time and $$.
The benefits of fluid analysis are clearly spelled out on that attached info sheet provided by the NRVIA and the Lab we deal with, so I’m not going to try to “upsell” you on the benefits. Read that info sheet and decide for yourself if it’s something you want.
If you decide to get fluid analysis, there are a couple things you can do to make it less costly and stressful.
Should you have all the samples done?
The most important are the engine oil, transmission fluid and engine coolant. The analysis can tell you if these fluids need to be changed (which will cost significantly more than the lab fees) or if there may be serious issues of contaminates in the samples which could be the result of engine/transmission/cooling mechanical problems. I won’t even weigh the cost of the lab fees against replacing an engine or transmission!
Let’s talk about the fluids for the generator: Most generators on large class A RVs are liquid cooled -but not all. Most generators on Class C, Class B RVs are not (but some are). If a travel trailer or 5th wheel RV has a generator at all, most likely it will be a smaller generator and not be liquid cooled.
Most generators are not used all that often. They are only needed if you are “off the grid” and not connected to shore power. Consider how many hours are on the generator. If several hundred hours, you may want the analysis. If the seller has no idea when the last time the generator was serviced (you’d be surprised how often this is the case), you may want to just change the fluids when you get the RV. This would serve as your baseline of generator maintenance going forward. In that case, maybe skipping the fluid analysis is okay. If the generator has not been maintained, then analysis will not have much more to tell you than it’s time to change the fluid -or it’s okay. Yes, if the generator has not been maintained, replacing it would cost several thousand dollars. So, if peace of mind is important, by all means get the fluid analysis. Afterall, if you are getting fluids performed on the engine… in for a penny in for a pound -right?
Now, let’s talk about that awful turnaround time.
The lab offers an expedited turnaround time -for a fee of course. They say by paying this additional fee, the results will be available within 48 hours after receipt of the samples. Expedited turnaround time is $30 per sample. In addition to the lab processing fee. For all 5 samples, that $150 over the lab fee. YIKES! In the past, we never even mentioned that to our clients because we just thought it was absurd. However, we just had an instance where the last sample results have STILL not been received 17 days after the inspection (17 calendar days; 9 business days). Our client is not happy; we are not happy.
Alternatives:
- Pay this absurd fee.
- Make the decision to pay the fee on the important engine oil, transmission, coolant samples, and let the lab take their time on the generator fluids.
- Roll the dice and skip the fluid analysis (always a risk)
Our goal is to have informed clients who make up their own minds based on all the available information.
It’s up to you.