My Blackstone Labs Oil Analysis results = GNSP
 

98k mi on the clock, the car runs real nice and strong, great oil pressure, not sure what the car's engine work history has been, but it has run hot (sometimes 10 o'clock) during autocross/time trials. I only had 1,500 mi on the Brad Penn 20w50, but I drained it this weekend to do some oil system maintenance (including addressing high temps), so I took a sample and sent it to the folks at Blackstone on Monday and already got the results back by Thursday.

Protip: Their turnaround time is fast enough that you could probably make this part of a very thorough PPI.

I opted for the $25 standard oil analysis and the $10 TBN analysis.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/what-is-oil-analysis.php

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/do-i-need-a-tbn.php


So here are my results.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...-July-2012.jpg

Good night sweet prince.

Interesting. I wonder if wear from the brass valve guides could be misinterpreted as ware from the bottom end? Worth asking the question given this is a known issue on these engine.

How did you take your sample? AFAIK, you're meant to take it as it's draining out, but from the middle of the pour, so not the first bit, nor the last bit. I was told this makes quite a difference to the results

One UOA will tell you very little. This is your baseline. You don't know if wear metals are going up or going down. Regardless, take Blackstone's advice. And you're burning a quart of oil per 750 miles. That's getting very high. Top-end for you, soon. Sorry. Also keep in mind, Brad Penn is not a full synthetic. A good oil, still.

I'm not sure about oil consumption. Oil level seems so inconsistent on these cars, sometimes I wonder if I'm adding oil when I don't even need to.

As for my sampling method, the car was up to temp and I tried to get the middle of the pour, but draining the oil tank on these cars is like my own version of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In the future, I'll get a pump and pump the sample out of the filler rather than the drain.

Once I finish my current wrenching, I'm planning on driving it hard like usual, and will send in another sample when it reaches 100k.

JMHO,

As noted, you need follow-on OA's to track some of the elements such as lead, copper, and aluminum. The guides are not brass; they are a bronze material so those trace elements will show up here, along with iron and such. All of these elements can be traced to various engine components so its important to get that baseline and succeeding OA's to see what you have.

The oil looks almost new based on what I see and that speaks well for 1500 miles of use.

Track your oil consumption as accurately as you can as thats the main bellwether about needing a top end rebuild. :) :)

If your oil temps have been as high as 10 o'clock on the gauge (248 deg F), that's really too hot for the engine. All that does is create oil leaks, increased wear, and reduced performance. I would strongly recommend adding the additional left-side front oil cooler, given your summer temps.

Hope this helps,

I believe that would fall in the "great help" zone .

+2

Smart idea getting a baseline oil analysis. Kind of scary to read Blackstone's comments, but very good advice from Steve going forward.

My hat goes off to the brave, Olympic stopwatch-like soul who (even when gloved up) reaches into - and can time - the "middle" of the scalding deluge/flash flood that is a 'warmed' 964 oil drop.

("You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!")

Taking those samples in my garage... well, let's just say, hasn't often been a pretty sight. :surr:
I gets what I can gets.

Video?
 

I would love to see a "how to" video on YouTube. :)

Wow! Actually Blackstone has a video.