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I am considering having the oil in my cars analyzed by Blackstone Labs. I’ve read up on it and the chemistry behind their analysis is very sound. I’m thinking it will be a good coarse indicator of the health of the engine.
Do any of y’all have those done? What are your ideas/thoughts about it?
Thanks for the help with all of my questions I’ve been posting 🙂
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Chris Fix had it done looks prity cool… I was going to have it done but I just changed my oil… so I have to wait
I dont know what svc chris fix had it done by tho… ya go watch his video it was cool they told him basicly like what stuff he added to it and what kind of condition his engine was in… ya he like brakes down the test analisisServices like that are nice to have available and they might be good for your internal engine geek, or if you want to see if your oil really is good or not, but honestly, you can do a lot on your own. For instance, note how fast your engine consumes oil. Note how fast it takes to get dark. Does your oil sell like fuel? Signs of moisture/coolant in the oil? If you really need a lab to tell what’s in your oil then the engine is probably fine.
[quote=”Jasonw1178″ post=172026]Services like that are nice to have available and they might be good for your internal engine geek, or if you want to see if your oil really is good or not, but honestly, you can do a lot on your own. For instance, note how fast your engine consumes oil. Note how fast it takes to get dark. Does your oil sell like fuel? Signs of moisture/coolant in the oil? If you really need a lab to tell what’s in your oil then the engine is probably fine.[/quote]
An oil analysis can tell you the type of microscopic wear metal in your oil, and the type can point you towards the components that are producing it.
Having said that, a single analysis is practically useless. You need several consecutive analysiis, using the same type and brand of oil and filter. It’ll establish a baseline of what’s happening inside your engine. Then, if something begins to trend above the baseline, it tells you that something unusual has begun inside the engine.
Blackstone is the same company used so I will give them a try. I already sent a sample off from my Aunt’s car and should have the results soon.
I plan to do one on my Mini as a baseline as soon as the oil is due to be changed.
Living on another continent, the shipping cost for the sample exceeds the cost of the oil change, so while it would be helpful to determine internal engine life (bearings and such), the initial goal of checking whether or not the oil can be run a little longer without replacing it completely misses the mark for me. Its not like its an expensive truck engine with 8 gallons of oil in there.
We have a local oil analysis company too (Shell has a lot of stuff here), but they charge something like $50-80 a sample, also really not worth it if you have cheap oil in a cheap-to-replace engine.
If I owned a $100k+ car, I’d be doing used oil analysis. As-is, I have a $100 car with a $1000 engine in it, I’m somewhat curious, but I’d rather do another oil change instead.
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