Kigiin

Anyone ever have their oil analyzed by them?

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/what_..._analysis.html

I have a 2000 LX470 with about 92K miles and it is burning 1/2 quart every 2,500 miles, which seems high for a Toyota motor. My friends over at IH8MUD.com (similar to rennlist, but for Landcrusier owners) recommend I have the oil analyzed. By the way, the truck is neither leaking oil or smoking.

Rob

Streetfighter

I am waiting for my kit to come in the mail. I have only heard good things from other people that have used them. Timely service not bad on price, depends on what you want them to test for.

ilko

I use them all the time. Especially on my daily driver which is still under warranty but I do my own maintenance and oil changes.

They are great to work with and usually you get results within a week.

Kigiin

What can an oil analysis tell me about why my truck is using oil?

ilko

It could tell you a lot and it could tell you nothing. If you have a bad gasket and oil is seeping through it it won't show in the analysis. But if the analysis shows a high concentration of say aluminum, and you have an aluminum block, you can see where this is going...

Cactus

I just got 2 kits for my DD's that I run between 8,000 and 10,000 miles between changes on Mobil 1. I want to see if that is too many miles on the same filter.

Stealth 993

I used get it done on my M3, it's a great way to see what's going on with your engine. It's also nice to know when you should change the oil.

FlatSix911

Bringing back an old thread on Oil Analysis.
I Received the Oil Analysis Kit from Blackstone Labs today including 6 prepaid oil analysis containers, a siphon pump and dipstick tubing.
Each bottle has a postage paid stamp and a place for my return address. I opened a bottle and found it neatly packed for a single sample.

Inside the box:

-An inner bottle which screws to the pump and receives the oil being siphoned.
-A plastic bag to put the sample bottle in.
-A processing order which provides data to Blackstone with date, mileage, quantity of oil was added since last change, etc.
-Packing material and detailed instructions.

I will send a sample off next week. I was curious if any of the other posters who mentioned Blackstone have sent their sample in for analysis and how long it took to get the results.
A few questions:

• How often did you test your oil sample?
• What has the average recommended length between oil changes?

amfp

I know someone that had many relative large metal shavings in the oil filters. Sent in for oil analysis and no red flags were raised from their report. Would think the many shavings would include some microscopic shavings in the oil during the testing. Maybe not. Guess is like CARFAX, just another piece of info as data point that needs to be included with further results.

No HTwo O

I've been using Blackstone for about 4 years with the Boxster (4 times, once per yearly oil change), and the past year with the Turbo (2 tests plus trans). Service has been great. I like the data points they provide.

I have them test my trans fluid too. Delvac 75W90 in the Turbo.

They will email the lab results to you the day they are completed. Usually about a week after you mail it to them. Depends how fast you are mailing the sample. Keep an eye on your spam file. For some reason that where my lab results go for my Yahoo account.

I buy in bulk. 6 test at a time to save a little money.

I change my oil yearly or at 7,500 miles in the Boxster and 5,000 in the Turbo.

I encourage you to call, and discuss, your report with Blackstone when you receive it. Their tech support is great. They will tell you the number of engines in the specific sample size too. For example in the 987S 3.2L they have about 85 engines in their data base. For the 993TT, they have about 50. These number are constantly going up. They discard any data (that's used makes up their universal averages) that has been used for racing or show funky/messy results, as not to skew the results for everyone else.

Lastly, one test will tell you very little (maybe your baseline). It's the cumulative data over the years that's valuable.

mongrelcat

Some interesting comments re: Blackstone on BITOG and Pelican lately, Ex;
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/5901062-post1565.html

I get Staveley kits from Charles Navarro when I pickup oil.

Kigiin

I was using Blackstone to see how long I could safely go on Mobil 1 EP - apparently almost 15K miles is to far.

Cincy_Ron

I've had my 986 (Boxster) oil analyzed twice now. First time was after going 2 years and a tad over 15,000 miles between oil changes. Second was again a 2 year interval with 11,470 miles on the oil. Results were excellent both times. I've also had my F-150 oil analyzed, which I use to tow a travel trailer about 1,500 miles twice a year. The results from that showed that I was waiting too long between changes. Didn't have a test kit available when I did the 993 oil last year but I'm planning on having it analyzed the next change.

Anyway, here are my two reports for the 986 which makes me feel comfortable going with the longer intervals between changes.

(1) 4/22/06 - 4/01/08 15,466 miles between change




(2) 4/01/08 - 3/26/10 11,470 miles between change

FlatSix911

Great information on the Oil Analysis process so far.

Does anyone use the Blackstone TBN (total base number) test to measure the amount of active additive left in a sample of oil?
I thought the TBN might be useful for people who want to extend their oil usage beyond the normal range of 3,000 to 5,000 miles.
I currently use Mobil1 5W-50 and would like to safely extend to 7,500 miles.

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

No HTwo O

I do not do the TBN. Since I'm not looking to extend the life of my oil change interval, I am only looking to extend the life of my engine.

We hear good stuff about the Mobil 1 5W50. You should be pretty safe with the 7,500 miles, but not much more. Maybe what you can do, is do one TBN, evaluate the results, and then adjust your interval up or down, based on the info received.

Oil is cheap compard to the engine. I see no value in squeaking out an additional 1,000-2,000 miles. Owners going over 10,000 miles and 2 years is just plain crazy to me. To each thier own.

To me, the TBN stuff makes sense for fleets, who are trying to extend the interval, and reduce costs over a large number of vehicles.