Blackstone Labs - Used Oil Analysis

Has anyone sent in a sample to Blackstone for analysis? I know that they have been advertising in GRM for years.

Just sent in one for the Z06 after 12k miles. Very happy with it turned out. Company was great to deal with and turnaround time was only a few days. Definitely worth the piece of mind.

Yes

I've been pleased

Ive got a sample bottle waiting, ordered it when i thought i had rod knock that ended up being a ps pulley that was bent that sounded just like knock. Thinking about it now, its got my current address on the return label that expires in 8 weeks...damn maybe i should send off a sample of my girlfriends car that burns oil but its getting sold regardless

Sorry for the rambling, glad you had good results! Was that 12k old car or 12k since last oil change? I heard they recommend if you can push the oil change interval longer, was that your case or no?

I used them to track silicone content when I went from an OE to a K&N cone filter.

Silicone increased initially but dropped to acceptable levels after one change.

Its not going to filter as well as OEM but its not the doom and gloom people think K&N is.

I've used them twice, once for my Cayman and once for a BMW. I was very pleased with the whole process. It can give you a lot of peace of mind and I think it's very helpful when it comes time to sell your car.

I use NAPA/WIX (NAPA 4077 is $15 for the prepaid kit and they do TBN standard) but haven't heard anything bad about Blackstone.

I did two tests, the first one went great. The second one, they didn't send me the results, and I should have emailed them to send them to me, I should do that tomorrow.

Yeah, I've used them a few times and will again. I like to keep an eye on fuel dilution in the Ecoboost motors in the Expedition and the F-150 I had previously. It's a good tool for telling you if your OCIs are too short or long.

I use them on every oil change on my M3 to track bearing wear. I am happy with their work.

I just did an oil change on my Evo X and got a sample for Blackstone. My poison has always been Pennzoil Platinum after reading good reviews from forums of my older cars (3.7L Mustang, Mazdaspeed3). Blackstone testing confirmed it's good stuff in those engines- I want to see if the same can be said for the 4B11T. I filled up with Eneos this time so I can compare the two.

Woody wrote: It can give you a lot of peace of mind and I think it's very helpful when it comes time to sell your car.

Excellent summary. I'd say "potentially helpful."

i've used their tests for incrementally tracking oil performance on both my vehicles in order to fine tune oil grade/brand and how long i can run each oil change out to before the oil starts degrading or wear starts increasing. i've done enough now though that i probably don't need another analysis for a long time. a single test can help a little but the real value is doing a couple over time and tracking wear trends or anomalies in the results.

a recent report made me aware of a coolant leak that i wouldn't have otherwise known was there which was pretty helpful.

When I worked in the paper mills we used them 4 times a year minimum to track gear box and main lube sumps (20-40) samples. this helped us decide to replace or just put the filter cart on the sumps.

Just shows that the 3000 mile oil change is obsolete.

iceracer wrote: Just shows that the 3000 mile oil change is obsolete.

It has been for a couple decades.

z31maniac wrote:

iceracer wrote: Just shows that the 3000 mile oil change is obsolete.

It has been for a couple decades.

Honestly, it was always unnecessary for most cars. It was a money-making technique for quickie-lube places.

iceracer wrote: Just shows that the 3000 mile oil change is obsolete.

No joke, at the rate my van leaks/burns oil, i replace the oil every 1500 miles. I don't change oil, I change filters

surprising how many people still do. Or 5000.

Yes, I started long changes in '94.

Ford recommends 10k miles on my Fiesta. Many owners still think that is too long.

Woody wrote: I think it's very helpful when it comes time to sell your car.

Absolutely. "Regular maintenance...oh and I had the oil analyzed at a lab." Watch your prospective buyers' heads' whip around.

I've used it three times to fine tune oil change intervals. I'm at 12,000 mile intervals now, using plain ole Mobil1

I started using Blackstone oil analysis after I bought a used '02 Pontiac GP to test for coolant in the engine oil. Ya know, the intake gasket thing. Dealer claimed the gaskets were changed out but ya never know. I made a note to Blackstone of the coolant concern, results came back satisfactory and I appreciated their reply in their 'Comments' section.

Oil analysis is now routine for any used vehicle new to me and periodically after that for a keeper vehicle, but at 10-15K miles intervals. I don't bother w/ vehicles under warranty that I will trade in soon. I'm a believer now and ya can't go wrong w/ the price but the big win is peace of mind.

I tried selling mgmt. on oil analysis in our industrial applications but that didn't go over well. Guess they'd rather spend $75K to rebuild a screw compressor than a coupla few hunnerd in preventive testing. Their loss.

Tom_Spangler wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

iceracer wrote: Just shows that the 3000 mile oil change is obsolete.

It has been for a couple decades.

Honestly, it was always unnecessary for most cars. It was a money-making technique for quickie-lube places.

Not on all cars. Run the '11-up DI Ecotec 2.4L at the 6000 mile OCI that GM calls for and you end up putting timing chains in it every 40,000 miles.

How do you guys post your UOAs up on the forums? Mine got sent as a PDF, and I lack Acrobat Pro to redact my contact information.

In reply to Mazda787b:

I think you can save/export as jpeg or whatever and then edit. Or screencap and paste into paint if lazy. Been a while since I've done it.

edit: yeah, I just screencaped it

I use them at least once on every vehicle I intend to keep around. If I had something like an IMS Porsche I'd be doing it every oil change.

~12k OCI on the Z06. Oil life monitor was @ 8% at slightly over 12k. Going back down to 7500k. Always M1 0w40 and K&N or M1 (Champion) filter.