Blackstone Labs Oil Analysis

[Erik88]

I don't recall if this has been mentioned here before but car guys may find this interesting. Blackstone Labs is a company that will analyze your used oil to gauge engine health. If you request a few free kits they will mail them to you. You will then send back a few ounces of used oil and they will analyze the metal content found in it. 

This tells me I shouldn't have any concerns keeping my wife's Rav4 a while longer. Not that I was concerned. I'll send in another sample at 175k. 

 

 

 

 

[Sidecarist]

I'm curious what this cost you? I have a Duramax diesel pushing 250k that I'd like to test. 

 

[Erik88]

18 minutes ago, Sidecarist said:

I'm curious what this cost you? I have a Duramax diesel pushing 250k that I'd like to test. 

 

It's $28 for the standard test. You can also pay a little more if you want to know how long you can go between oil changes. They will do additional testing to see how much life was left in the oil when you changed it. People who drive a lot each year like this info as they may be able to delay an oil change from 5k to ....? 

Lots of great info on their website. 

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/tests/standard-analysis/

[DWARREN123]

Test should also include the oil packages and check for unwanted contaminants in the oil not just metal.

If done correctly a oil sample analysis program can be a great thing especially for fleet or emergency equipment or equipment you want to have for a long while.

 

[TomInMN]

I'd never heard of a service like this before. I don't have any need for it at this point, but it's good to be aware of it.

Thanks for posting!

[gregintenn]

What does one gain from this test?

[Erik88]

3 hours ago, DWARREN123 said:

Test should also include the oil packages and check for unwanted contaminants in the oil not just metal.

If done correctly a oil sample analysis program can be a great thing especially for fleet or emergency equipment or equipment you want to have for a long while.

 

I cropped out the top part that had my address. That had the oil packages too. I believe the contaminants are covered in the bottom portion. He did mention fuel in the comments but said it wasn't enough for concern.

[Erik88]

16 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

What does one gain from this test?

It can give you overall engine health down to more specific issues. If a certain metal count if off the charts they can identify the specific issue it may be having.

Here are a few examples from their website.

 

It looks blurry. Here's the link if you care,

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/engine-types/gasoline/#

 

 

Edited September 7, 2019 by Erik88

[mike_f]

I've had oil analyzed by Blackstone Labs for my F150 that has 240K miles on it.  A couple of years ago I was having transmission trouble and before I put money into the transmission I wanted some indication of the engine health. If I had both the engine & transmission were at the end of their life, I wasn't going to sink a bunch of money into it.

The analysis showed that my engine was in good health - no unusual element amounts; no detected fuel, water or antifreeze. So I went ahead and had what I thought was a transmission issue addressed. Turns out it was a problem with the coil packs (not the transmission) that was making it shift funny.

I also used Blackstone for front differential analysis when I changed the gear oil and it looked cloudy. I was worried about water being in it. Turned out that it was OK too, nothing unusual, good viscosity, and no water. Never determined why it looked cloudy, but it still continues to function normally.

[DWARREN123]

Cloudy can be from air mixed in the oil.

[Allen1]

Caterpillar has oil labs as well for a reasonable price although I don't know what that cost is right now.  How you take the sample is important since you don't want to introduce contaminants into the sample.  An oil sample will also not pickup large chunks of metal, like a tooth breaking off of the ring gear.  Best case would be to take a sample at each oil change so that you have an established base line, if the sample moves from the baseline you can spot a problem very quickly.

[No_0ne]

Oil analysis is done regularly on aircraft engines to look for specific wear patterns among the internal components.  However, to be most effective, you need a history of analyses from the engine over time to show changes in the levels of particulates in the oil.  While a single test may prove useful in determining the relative health of the engine at that particular moment, doing the test repeatedly is much more valuable as its the changes over time in both the type and amounts of metal contaminants in the oil that give the best picture of engine health and longevity ...

[gregintenn]

I can see doing that for an airplane, but it sure seems like overkill for a passenger car.

[A.J. Holst]

14 minutes ago, gregintenn said:

I can see doing that for an airplane, but it sure seems like overkill for a passenger car.

I don't know, $30 to make a decision on a engine replace, rebuild, or buy something different seems a fair.

[No_0ne]

19 minutes ago, A.J. Holst said:

I don't know, $30 to make a decision on a engine replace, rebuild, or buy something different seems a fair.

Except even the aircraft guys will tell you that it's a bad idea to make such a decision based off a single analysis.  You need (according to most mechanics) a long, preferably lifetime series of analyses to compare with ...

[peejman]

4 hours ago, No_0ne said:

Except even the aircraft guys will tell you that it's a bad idea to make such a decision based off a single analysis.  You need (according to most mechanics) a long, preferably lifetime series of analyses to compare with ...

And you have to know what the various internal parts are made of for the data to be worthwhile.  Most auto manufacturers don't publish that sort of info.  And very few car owners ever see their oil filters much less know if its gone into bypass.   

Theres lots of tools used to determine relative health of an engine. Oil analysis is just one. 

[Erik88]

5 hours ago, gregintenn said:

I can see doing that for an airplane, but it sure seems like overkill for a passenger car.

It's $28 Greg. This tells me that after 7 years and 110k miles our Rav4 is still healthy. It's a small price to pay for helping me decide to keep the car another 7 years and barely took any of my time. The worst part of this test is having to step foot in a post office.

[DaveTN]

I’d do it if I had an airplane. Maybe every year.

[TomInMN]

1 hour ago, DaveTN said:

I’d do it if I had an airplane. Maybe every year.

Our oldest (4yrs) is convinced that the spoiler makes our rustbucket a racecar.

Get some duct tape and slap a prop on the front of your car. Make yourself an airplane!

[No_0ne]

6 hours ago, Erik88 said:

It's $28 Greg. This tells me that after 7 years and 110k miles our Rav4 is still healthy. It's a small price to pay for helping me decide to keep the car another 7 years and barely took any of my time. The worst part of this test is having to step foot in a post office.

It can't hurt, albeit I'm not convinced that you know anymore now than before.  With modern automobile engines, I wouldn't expect any appreciable wear at 110k, most of these engines are capable of 3 or 4 times that amount of mileage ...

[Capbyrd]

I just got back my second report.  

I'm not doing this for the health of the engine as much as I am the health of the oil coming out.   I've been running 5000 mile oil changes since I bought the car.  If I had been running 7500 mile changes the entire time, I'd have done 2/3rds as many and saved myself a good bit.   I'm about to switch to 7500 miles on this next oil change and see where I'm at.   After that I probably won't be getting a sample done every change but every other or every third is an option.