CaymanSinAR

My 2015 Boxster GTS goes in next week for an oil change. I'm just shy of 50K miles. I've had the car less than a year and put nearly 20K miles on it in that time. That pace will slow quite a bit now as I've added a 991.2 911 to the garage. The BGTS will primarily be a weekend car going forward.

I have zero concerns about the car. It's covered under CPO for another 28 months and has not given me any mechanical issues over the last 11 months.

It's fastidiously maintained in terms of detailing and service, and I'd like to add a used oil analysis to my routine. Blackstone seems to be the standard recommendation. Can't hurt to ask for other recommendations before placing an order for one of Blackstone's free kits though.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

LexVan

I've been using Blackstone for over 13 years. No complaints. I buy in bulk of 6 test kits and save a little $.

CaymanSinAR

Thanks. Blackstone kit has been ordered.

Should have thought of it sooner. Kit probably won't get here in time. Their site says it is not a problem to keep a sample in a clean container and transfer it to their kit when it arrives. That is what I'll do if I don't get it by Wednesday.

LexVan

They are pretty fast. Just hold a sample in a clean jar. Catch it mid-stream.

Another tip. I ship my samples to them UPS. A little faster than US Mail. They can usually send my report via email in <7 days. This last test was about 24 hours upon receipt.

cr2012

Yup I've used a drinking glass before.

toma nova

A one-time sample will give you a baseline and a snapshot of what's going on, but subsequent samples will show any trends. I've not analyzed the Boxster yet but will start with this year's oil change. I analyze every change on my bike (routine) and Jeep (coolant leak).
Blackstone offers great comments and recommendations also.

Tom

CaymanSinAR

I should have listened to this tip. USPS sat on my sample for almost two weeks. Next time I'll do UPS or stick the sample in a USPS flat rate box.

Received the results within 48hrs of delivery confirmation. That's good service.

Report was all good news. Everything well within spec. Combined with the rev report I had my indy provide when I had the oil changed everything is coming up aces. Feel great about the car at 50K miles.

Zach L

Just ordered a test kit. Seems like most of the time people start suspecting a problem with their engine and then wish they had a prior sample to compare it to. Figure I'll get a baseline sample.

This tests are really not that expensive relative to how much we spend on oil changes, track time, insurance, and the many other costs of these cars... or even the car itself.

PorscheAddict

One UOA shows very little, but a string of them shows trend data which is valuable. Very cheap peace of mind for a $20k engine.

danschy

I guess you could go the UPS route if you're in a hurry, but a sample kit from Blackstone now include a USPS postage label (with tracking ID) so you can just drop it in a mailbox - couldn't be simpler.

CaymanSinAR

That's what I did. The problem is the USPS appears to have a tendency to freak out about it being hazardous, so they took it from the facility where I dropped it to a holding facility where they sat on it for 10 days before deciding it was OK to ship.

In the future I'll pay a couple of bucks to ship it in a box where they treat it like any other package and send it on its way. The alternative is next time they might decide it is hazardous and dispose of it rather than clear and ship it. Then I have to wait another 10K miles before I can get another sample. No bueno.

PorscheAddict

There is actually a form letter on Blackstone's website to give to USPS for this very reason. https://www.blackstone-labs.com/wp-c...ce-Letter3.jpg

I've never had issues, but I'm sure it depends on your particular USPS location.

CaymanSinAR

Yeah, I got the letter, but it goes straight in the trash after you hand it to the person at the counter. They don't appear to have any sort of special sticker of approval or anything to put on the package to keep it from getting held.

Bottom line for me is I'd rather part with an extra $8 once a year than have my sample held again.

Zach L

SPEEDiagnostix is a $60 alternative to Blackstone that's recommended by LN Engineering... more expensive, but includes things that might be appealing to some of you.

Full info on LN Engineering's site: https://lnengineering.com/products/f...lysis-kit.html

One of the main appeals is the FTIR analysis:

okie981

I used Blackstone for years and recently started using SPEEDiagnostix for three reasons. One, the sample bottles come in a pre-paid Priority Mail box, no delays getting to the lab. The USPS sees the Blackstone bottles with "LIQUID" on them and quarantine them for a time causing a 2.5 to 3 week turnaround time from the day the sample is mailed. Yes you can use UPS, which I have done, but that adds cost to the original sample kit price. Two, SPEEDiagnostix uses FTIR to determine the fuel percentage in the oil in addition to overall health. This is a far superior method to determining fuel content than what Blackstone uses. I emailed Blackstone and asked how they do it and found they estimate the fuel percentage based in interpretative results from the flashpoint test. Since fuel content is one of the critical concerns in a DFI engine so you can spot if an injector is dribbling/leaking as soon as possible, having a more accurate means to determine it is a plus. Three, you can exchange emails directly with Lake Speed Jr. at SPEEDiagnostix if you have questions about the report or your oil use in general. Lake has actually called me before to discuss results and lubricant questions because it was more efficient than a series of emails.

Blackstone will do a fine job, not trashing them. For now I've switched to SPEEDiagnostix. For example, with my last engine oil sample, I ordered a 2-pack and also sent them a virgin sample of the Mobilube PTX 75w-90 to do a report and compare to the used oil I drained from my PDK gearset that had over 32k miles and about 15 track days on it. I will be posting those results on the other thread here on RL where I posted results of PDK clutch side oil, used vs. virgin, tested by SPEEDiagnostix.