Many laboratories try to determine the amount of additive or additive depletion by measuring the amount of additive metals present in the oil. While the tests used to determine these metals are easily performed, they can be misleading. Additive metals can easily fluctuate +20% to -20% as a normal circumstance. Also many of the same metals that are present in the additives are also present in components within a unit ( Magnesium is also present in small amounts in aluminum alloys). Therefore is is possible to have a loss of an additive metal and a secondary gain from an internal component and not not see the actual additive metal loss. It is also possible for a wide variety and quantity of additives to be used to meet the same specification for an oil. Therefore the level of a metal detected to determine an additive does not necessarily reflect the usefulness of that additive in the oil.

Infrared analysis is the most accepted test method in the industry today used to determine the condition of lubes. The method looks at both the additives in the oil and the actual condition of the oil itself. This method gives a true and complete analysis of the lubricant in a way that no other tests can duplicate.