I think that I would like to have a sample of mine done and would like a little direction from the group. Who have you guys sent it to, results, turn around, cost, etc.

Going to do an oil change this weekend and would like to send a sample off.

 

Here you go bro.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

Yep.

I do every car, every 5K miles. Well, that's kind of a lie, I miss one every once in a while. Since I do 4 cars with them, they send me 6 packs of test kits. Couldn't be any easier.

 

Really, what's the point? To make yourself neurotic? If you see something you think may be wrong, are you going to tear down the engine? Its great for aircraft where lives may be at stake due to an engine failure. But for cars....

It reminds me of the type of people that put floor mats on top of their floor mats. Or the invisible bra on the front of the car that not Only ruins the paint they are trying to protect, but actually looks worse than any stone chip ever would.

Can you say O.C.D. ?

 

The point? It helps to know what's happening inside your motor and it's linings. For people who have high mileage cars or want to make crazy HP builds, it's a great tool to know if something is about to go.

Granted, every 5K seems a bit much.

 

When you start messing with AFR and spark advance, it's good peace of mind to know that you're not detonating. If you have an issue brewing, you'll begin to see small traces of copper and I think zinc. Over time, if those metals increase, it can help you diagnose/correct any isssues. They also test for ethylene/glycol which could signal impending doom.


To me, it's a nominal fee for knowing what's going on inside a rather complex and expensive power plant.

 

Ok, so for arguments sake..what are you going to do when the results come back with say, high aluminium content, or copper...

My point is.. Live and let live, why worry about it? Drive the car, use it. If the engine goes a used one can be had for $5K.

 

If I see copper trending up, I'd go back to the stock tune and begin working with my tuner on investigating. Problem might not even be the tune, could be something else. Point is, I'd rather have that tornado siren go off, to give me a punchers chance at saving the engine. V12TT's cannot be had for 5K.

We have different comfort levels with this stuff, and that's fine. No right or wrong answer here. I choose to be over-cautious. And truth be told, I've missed a few of those 5K tests. The oil gets changed religiously at 5K, but I don't always have a test kit handy.

 

Here's a sample report from my daily driver E500 2 years ago. Bought the car with 29K on the clock and have maintained her pretty well. She's got 140K on her now, and still pulls like new, IMO. Car has had a Eurocharged tune on it for most of it's life. Looks like I got a little lazy on the oil change interval during that time. Went 6000, then 7500

 

I agree about wanting to know if a storm is coming. Perhaps do a test to establish a baseline and then maybe next year do another??? I do change the oil in the car every time I take it to the track. That being said, after running on one oil change for say 250 miles, is it going to give me as comparable results as say running 3000 miles?

 

I send blackstone the oil from my M3 since that car sees significant track time and is known for rod bearing failure. I'd rather replace my bearings a little early then replace my whole engine. The E55 I'm not really worried about though.

 

/\/\/\ This **** right here! I almost understand an oil analysis when you buy a car but every 5K or so is just plain OCD. Seriously, are you just going to do a full rebuild if your car has a slightly higher babbitt content from your last oil change?

How many of you guys actually understand what these readouts actually mean? Aside from what they write back to you with the report.

 

I will send you mine lol

 

Just because you have no idea what's being conveyed doesn't mean no one else understands it, either. Like the poster above me with the M3/rod bearing issues, looking for signs of certain metals can tell you what's wearing down and needs to be addressed. For a grandpa'd car, you probably wouldn't care. As I said before, it depends on your needs/demands from your car.

 

I do agree with you. Certain situations may require these measures. To be fair, it was quick to assume as I know this board consists of mostly enthusiasts. My problem mosty lies with customers who want samples to have tested when they come to my business for service and receive a less than perfect report and try to pin you for repairs or compensation. Its not common, but it does happen. I repair and rebuild cars for a living and there is always one customer who is out to burn someone.

I digress. Running a repair shop has soured me in certain aspects. Apologies to anyone who disagrees with my prior statements.

 

No hard feelings. Open discussions are what makes forums!

 

Just don't use it to justify extending your oil change intervals. There's a number of other platforms out there with individuals who post worn cam lobes and tappets. No direct proof (as I always change at 5000 miles) but there seems to be trend with Blackstone reports, extended oil change intervals and failing the valve train.

That being said, oil analysis can tell you when a bearing or tappet is starting to wear out. We do it on jet engines all the time. You just need to know the alloying elements of the wear items.

 

I started the regular analysis after I started modding the V12. To me, to have that data, over time, is worth something. The car is modded, I run it at the track, and don't ever want to be in the position of trying to source a V12TT short block from somewhere. Add to the fact that I'd not be able to handle the swap myself, the cost of a replacement engine could get out of hand. The tiny investment every oil change, gives me peace of mind. And to be abe to trend that data over time, I feel is very useful. Plus, it'd be nice to slap those reports down on the table for the next owner. Shows the car was at least cared about.

Again, I'm not here advocating that you do what I do. I do what I do, because I feel it's worth it. OCD? Perhaps. But I assure you that anyone who has seen or ridden in/driven my SL, will tell you it drives as new.

My other cars probably don't need as many reports. But my E500 is getting up there in mileage, so it's nice to see that the internals are showing minimal signs of wear.

 

^^^^
That was kind of my thought as well. Obviously my car goes from the house to the restaurant and to the track and that's about it. I would like to be able to track the trend. That being said, like i asked in one of my earlier posts, is there a certain amount of time the oil needs to be run in the car before an analysis would be accurate or useful? I change the oil after every trip to the track so an oil change may only get 300 or so miles. Maybe that schedule is a little OCD, but thats one of the things I'm hoping to learn. Thoughts?

 

doing oil analysis however frequent to have a piece of mind for each individual is great to "have a piece of mind" about but to address your question if i may, when you track your car and say you perform an oil analysis say after 300 miles and this will be say your baseline report. you track again and roughly 300 miles you have another report and if those 2 reports are very similar in their readings, then you can have some comfort level in how safe/effective your oil is during those sessions. keep in mind, originally the oil analysis was first pushed to see how long the oil can be driven for before the various stabilizers/modifiers/lubricities/vicosities/etc protectant properties of oil would last and can one be justified to run their engine oils for 10k miles or 15k miles and in doing so, what/which properties of the oil started to lose their "protecting" properties. that was the original intent of oil analysis. but after you track your car and you have several reports and they basically report the same information, dont know why you would need to do them every single time. but what you may use these reports for is, "ok, the oil analysis states that the engine oil is like "new", let me track the car again sometime in the near future and do the oil analysis on that same oil and see what has changed between the first tracked oil and this tracked oil." eventually you will come to a point where the various engine oil ingredients that it has to protect your engine is wearing out and "now" is the time to change your engine oil, it may be after 3 tracked times, maybe even after more or less, but this is what the oil analysis is basically trying to help you see: how effective your engine oil is "protecting" your engine by showing you the chemical breakdown of each ingredient your engine oil has/had from the beginning to now (some time in the future after you used your oil) whether after tracking the car or driving for 5k, 10k, or 20k miles. granted, its assumed you will be using the same engine oil all the time in your vehicle. i may get myself flamed for this last comment but here goes and so sorry for this long, drawn out post: these same engine oil analysis is what have led me to use castrol 0w30 (european formula) in my car because when i experimented with both mobile 1 and castrol 0w30, the castrol at the 10k mile interval driving consistently the same with each type, had more of the same "protecting properties" and it was reported back that castrol oil could be "continued" due to the results whereas the mobile 1 at 10k was well, lets just say, wasnt the same. the oil analysis company did not know i was experimenting with the 2 types of oil. something i did myself.