Oil Analysis Reports

Does anyone know if I can send old oil? I placed it in the container blackstone sent but have not sent it out yet. It's been 2 months.

dakarwu wrote

Does anyone know if I can send old oil? I placed it in the container blackstone sent but have not sent it out yet. It's been 2 months.

Yes. I’m bad about that and do it all the time.

Here's a VOA of the recommended rear end oil for our machines. Search dparm's UOA from a couple years back on BITOG and note nearly identical results when excluding wear metals.

This is some older TWS I came into and ran over the winter. Sealed bottles and stored in a relatively climate controlled environment I'm told. I will investigate the oxidation and advise if I learn anything. Off the top of my head this could be from more ester basestock such as castor oil, but seems a bit high even for that. No extended idling, maybe 800 miles track use or 8 hours. Oil pan heater used below 20 degress F. Lab typos 80L should be .8 top up and you can probably back into the unit mileage from the prior sample.

Well, this is hardly the report you want to see. The last test was done early last year (sample was taken in Dec 2017). So basically in ONE year the lead more than doubled.

At this point it's pretty evident something is out of tolerance, obvious guess is rod bearings. The dilemma I have is to get it done ASAP or run another 3k and take a 3rd reading. Car is a daily but I don't commute for work, only fun/task driving.

Update: No fuel additives or leaded gas has been used.

mkeefe wrote

Well, this is hardly the report you want to see. The last test was done early last year (sample was taken in Dec 2017). So basically in ONE year the lead more than doubled.

At this point it's pretty evident something is out of tolerance, obvious guess is rod bearings. The dilemma I have is to get it done ASAP or run another 3k and take a 3rd reading. Car is a daily but I don't commute for work, only fun/task driving.

Update: No fuel additives or leaded gas has been used.

Get it done IMO. The sooner you do, the better your odds of avoiding crank damage.

mkeefe wrote

Well, this is hardly the report you want to see. The last test was done early last year (sample was taken in Dec 2017). So basically in ONE year the lead more than doubled.

At this point it's pretty evident something is out of tolerance, obvious guess is rod bearings. The dilemma I have is to get it done ASAP or run another 3k and take a 3rd reading. Car is a daily but I don't commute for work, only fun/task driving.

Update: No fuel additives or leaded gas has been used.

Prices on that service have come way down and there are a lot of shops who can get it done. I wouldn't wait much longer.

How important would knowing the exact mileage of the oil be? The oil had just been changed in the car before I bought it but don’t know the exact mileage. Should I wait to do an analysis on my next change or can I get a good idea knowing it has between 3-5k on it?

SCREAM3R wrote

How important would knowing the exact mileage of the oil be? The oil had just been changed in the car before I bought it but don’t know the exact mileage. Should I wait to do an analysis on my next change or can I get a good idea knowing it has between 3-5k on it?

Just tell Blackstone you don't know the exact mileage, and tell them your estimate. 3000 vs 5000 isn't a big deal, but 3000 vs 15000 is.

Something tells me USPS didn't like my black little bottle.

InnerBlueSkies wrote

Something tells me USPS didn't like my black little bottle.

http://i68.tinypic.com/5vraty.jpg

I used to do contract work at Postal sorting facilities across the country and while the operation was typically very good sometimes a package for whatever reason would just sit on a random desk by the sorting machine. It used to always baffle me that no one would go pick it up and throw it back in the pile. Typically if it couldn't get automatically sorted which anywhere between 80-96% of packages did, it would go into a bin where someone would manually sort it. Your package probably fell of the conveyer on the way to be sorted and a custodian picked it up and put it on a desk and because government workers, no one took it upon themselves to resort it. They just left it there 😂. The people who work at those facilities are like unionized robots who only do what they're told, they didn't think your package was hazardous, even if it spilled they would have threw it in a bag sent it to its destination.

InnerBlueSkies wrote

Something tells me USPS didn't like my black little bottle.

I've always put it in a USPS Priority Mail Tyvek bag, no problems. I'm skeptical of sending the black bottle by itself.

InnerBlueSkies wrote

Something tells me USPS didn't like my black little bottle.

Blackstone actually has a letter if USPS balks at sending the bottle, but I guess it only helps when initially mailing it, not anywhere else along the route.
After my first oil analysis, Blackstone sent me 6 pre-paid (mail) test bottles. Is that normal?

dparm wrote

Just tell Blackstone you don't know the exact mileage, and tell them your estimate. 3000 vs 5000 isn't a big deal, but 3000 vs 15000 is.

That makes sense. Thanks

I've never bothered with a UOA for my car because I'm the original owner, car has only 12k miles, always warmed up properly and it was my understanding that I have the newer bearings that do not contain any lead. Anyways, I finally got a UOA with TBN because the car is so rarely driven (in fact the CBS has yet to call for even the first oil change), I've been doing oil changes only once per year (always Castrol 10W/60). My most recent oil change was after 18 months and only 500 miles, so I wanted to see if I could go even longer between changes. I might bump it up to 2 years between changes now...

DavidZ wrote

Blackstone actually has a letter if USPS balks at sending the bottle, but I guess it only helps when initially mailing it, not anywhere else along the route.
After my first oil analysis, Blackstone sent me 6 pre-paid (mail) test bottles. Is that normal?

Yes.

DavidZ wrote

I've never bothered with a UOA for my car because I'm the original owner, car has only 12k miles, always warmed up properly and it was my understanding that I have the newer bearings that do not contain any lead. Anyways, I finally got a UOA with TBN because the car is so rarely driven (in fact the CBS has yet to call for even the first oil change), I've been doing oil changes only once per year (always Castrol 10W/60). My most recent oil change was after 18 months and only 500 miles, so I wanted to see if I could go even longer between changes. I might bump it up to 2 years between changes now...

I wouldn't recommend using the same oil for more than a year unless the manufacturer specifies it can be used for longer interval.

kyrix1st wrote

I wouldn't recommend using the same oil for more than a year unless the manufacturer specifies it can be used for longer interval.

The M3 has a big sump, and as long as you are able to get the oil up to temperature and sustain that (e.g. highway drives for 30+ minutes) periodically, it'll be fine.

I agree that for a car with lots of short trips or that is rarely driven, a year is about the max. Too much moisture and acid build up.

kyrix1st wrote

I wouldn't recommend using the same oil for more than a year unless the manufacturer specifies it can be used for longer interval.

That's why I sent an 18 month sample to Blackstone. They said I could still extend my interval. Is there a better measure of oil "life" than TBN? All the other oil properties look tip-top. Not like I'm trying to save money or anything. Just seems like a waste to throw out oil that's still as clear as maple syrup.

I'm pessimistically optimistic.

DavidZ wrote

That's why I sent an 18 month sample to Blackstone. They said I could still extend my interval. Is there a better measure of oil "life" than TBN? All the other oil properties look tip-top. Not like I'm trying to save money or anything. Just seems like a waste to throw out oil that's still as clear as maple syrup.

The better metric is TBN versus TAN. If the oil has become too acidic (TAN > TBN), it will cause problems. This is why I am always telling people to pay the extra $10 for TAN in addition to the $10 for TBN.

InnerBlueSkies wrote

I'm pessimistically optimistic.

It's one report in isolation, but it is the first step in establishing a baseline. Next time, pay for TBN and TAN. Nothing looks out of line: wear metals are low, oil is still in grade, no dilution from fuel/coolant/water, no air filtration contaminants, add pack not totally gone.

2,500 miles isn't much. How long was this in the car for?