Oil analysis results from Blackstone

dan79brooklyn · 08-30-2006, 01:32 PM

I received my report from Blackstone labs from my 79 SC.
Looks Good!
I was worried because I went 6,000 miles between changes on Castrol 20-50. The car was run pretty hard and hot several times.
But it looks like I was fine and could even have kept the oil in a bit longer according to the report. Now I definitley feel like it is unnecessary to change oil before 5,000 miles.

Here's the report:

bkreigsr · 08-30-2006, 03:06 PM

excellent numbers.
glad to see the anti-freeze was way down there.
also looks like the bearing surfaces are holding up just fine considering the mileage

oliver88 · 08-30-2006, 03:57 PM

Simply a great report! Do a few more and get a baseline established for your wear numbers...I would think 10,000 mile OCI's would be easy for this engine.

cnavarro · 08-30-2006, 04:35 PM

The viscosity loss was nearly nil. I have test data from virgin castrol gtx 20w50 and even unused it comes in low for a 20w50. Just to give you an idea, the Zn and P is down about 25% from what it started at. I too thought that my oil would be shot on my 912 after 4000 miles with oil temps 230-250 sustained and also two solid days of dyno time, but the TBN on the RP I had been running had only decreased from 8 to 6.9 in that time. Makes you think about intervals alot and why you should use the best possible filter and change it more often rather than changing the oil more often.

dan79brooklyn · 08-30-2006, 04:45 PM

thanks for the feedback.
it's funny -my wife mentioned this- I don't even know my own blood type, but am doing an oil analysis on my car!
It does make me feel better about longer oil change intervals and the health of my engine.
The next change will probably be shorter than the last as i will switch to 10w-40 for the colder months probably around November.
The oil analysis was easy with the kit from Blackstone. I received the results in about 1.5 weeks by email. The hardest part was convincing the Post Office to take the rather strange shaped package. Next time I will just stick the $1.59 postage on the container and drop it in the mailbox.

dan79brooklyn · 08-30-2006, 04:51 PM

Here's a link to the Blackstone web page that helps understand the analysis;

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

DW SD · 08-30-2006, 04:52 PM

For the naive:
How do you initiate the process with them? I've never used this type of service before. From where do the containers come?

Thank you,

Doug

oliver88 · 08-30-2006, 05:02 PM

I don't know what type of 10w40m you are using...but I would be curious to see if wear drops even further...In my case i had better wear numbers and lower oil temps when i switched from 50 wts. to 40 wts.

dan79brooklyn · 08-30-2006, 05:58 PM

Doug- Go to their website and request an oil analysis kit. The kit is free:
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/free_test_kit.html
the test is $20 plus $10 if you want the TBN report which can tell you about the "life " of the oil.

Brant- I use Castrol GTX it seems to be a favorite.