Oil Analysis Companies ???

vristang · Feb 6, 2007

I am seriously considering oil analysis for determining proper oil change intervals while running Mobil 1.
Most places seem to be $20 a sample (or less).

Here are some places google found...
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.html
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...l_Analysis.asp
http://www.oaitesting.com/index2.htm
http://www.oillab.com/

Has anyone here used one of these companies, or any other oil analysis company?

What features should I be looking for in one of these companies?

I am interested in hearing what others think.

Thanks,
jason

giddyup306 · Feb 6, 2007

I honestly wouldn't go that far. You change oil because it gets contaminated not because it breaks down (under normal driving conditions). A common misconseption is that if the oil is black it is bad. That's not entirely true. It just means that the oil is doing its job and keeping blowby particulates suspended in the oil. If you use the standard oil change interivals you should be fine. Unless you are doing some severe service stuff (IE drag racing). Rick91GT changes oil after every pass at the drag strip (if I remember correctly).

If you really want to promote engine lonegivity and are worried about the oil breaking down I'd look into an oil cooler.

vristang · Feb 6, 2007

I had an oil cooler years back and it never allowed the oil to fully warm up.

At $6 a qt (or more), why would you change the oil more often than required?
I have a 7qt pan.

Mobil 1 advertises their stuff to 15k miles.
The only way to know if it will actually last that long is to run an analysis test.
At $20 a test, I don't think I am going overboard.

I figure I will send a sample every 2,500 miles and see what the results are.
After that I will have an accurate way of predicting oil life.

All the reading I find says that synthetic will last longer.
I feel the need to quantify that.

jason

giddyup306 · Feb 6, 2007

vristang said:
I had an oil cooler years back and it never allowed the oil to fully warm up.

I have one on my SVT and I don't have that problem. Ford uses the same cooler on some of their meduim duty gas engines

vristang said:
At $6 a qt (or more), why would you change the oil more often than required?
I have a 7qt pan.

I don't bother with synthetic oils. Far too pricy. I'd rather change my oil every 3000 miles. Then again their are some auto manufactures that recomend oil changes with synthetic blend oils of 10 or 12K miles.

vristang said:
Mobil 1 advertises their stuff to 15k miles.
The only way to know if it will actually last that long is to run an analysis test.
At $20 a test, I don't think I am going overboard.

Like I said oil needs to be changed because it gets contaminated. Not because it breaks down. If you really feel that the oil can go 15K like they say I'd take Mobils word.

vristang said:
I figure I will send a sample every 2,500 miles and see what the results are.
After that I will have an accurate way of predicting oil life.

Yeah it will be accurate to according to your driving conditions. If you drive like a granny around town the test results will be inaccurate for dragstrip conditions

Mike

795.0pacecar · Feb 6, 2007

$6 per quart and a 7quart pan = $42 for 15,000 miles as advertised by mobile 1 +120 for $20 testing every 2500 miles and you've just spent $162.

Dino oil $3 per quart + 7 quart pan = $21. Change at 5k intervals for 15K miles and you've spent $63.

Engines will last more than 200,000 miles with cheap dino oil being changed every 5000 miles. There is no reason to use the expensive crap and have it tested all the time.

HISSIN50 · Feb 7, 2007

First off: Mike, great to see you in here. I owe you an email.

I know a few folks whom have used Blackstone and were very happy. As far as members in here (if you desire contacting someone), two I know of are Sgarlic (Andy) and Wytstang (Danny). Both are very nice guys.

I think it's a good idea personally. It's the only way to know how long of an Extended OCI you can crank out. 5K on dino oil is not unusual and obviously it goes way up for a PAO basestock (though there's obviously no way to know unless the oil is analyzed). I run synthetic in some of the cars and a UOA is something I've been meaning to do myself (we have a huge Tractor service place nearby - I want to check with them to see what kind of deal they offer or if they're just middlemen).

None of that helps much though. A quick search on BITOG can reveal what folks think of what service providers too.

Good luck Jason.

HISSIN50 · Feb 7, 2007

Pacecar, the one place I disagree is if the synthetic is being used for for thermal reasons. I don't like to see dino oil hit 250*F for too long. With synthetic, one can worry quite a bit less. For those of us whom live in a really hot climate (or those whom live in a cold climate and want to run 0 weight), that's an ancillary benefit.

795.0pacecar · Feb 7, 2007

I agree, however I based what I said off him saying that with a cooler he had trouble getting the oil to fully warm up, so I assumed that without a cooler he was getting to the desired temps. On a race car I would use synthetic. On a street car, I don't think there is a very good reason to drop the extra cash on synthetic.

DocZG · Feb 7, 2007

I think if you want to do it, thats awesome and i think that you shouldnt be shot down for it. Sure you might be spending more money for the testing, but you will be learning something that everyone in this forum can benifit from (learning isnt always cheap.....look at college ). Plus i would personally like to know . 15k miles between oil changes would be awesome, but i think in my 195k engine that the oil could probably be badly contaminated at that point.

I dont want to gank a thread here, but since we are on the topic of oil, has anyone tried those billet reusable oil filters? They trap stuff down to i think 10 mircons or something... i remember they add saying it trapped particles down the the size of a red blood cell. That would also be nice because keep those suspended solids out of the oil. System One makes one and so does CPI (http://www.chriscoproducts.com/index.html) and i know there are more. I was reading the CPI one and theirs says theres traps everything 35 microns and greater, because there is no bypass.

Thats just another thing to think about

Zach

vristang · Feb 7, 2007

giddyup306 said:
Like I said oil needs to be changed because it gets contaminated. Not because it breaks down. If you really feel that the oil can go 15K like they say I'd take Mobils word.

Yeah it will be accurate to according to your driving conditions. If you drive like a granny around town the test results will be inaccurate for dragstrip conditions
Mike

Contaminants will show in the oil analysis as well as viscosity breakdown.

I drive the way I drive, everyday. The random romp on the throttle isn't going to completely corrupt this data.
Still, I have to ask...
How do you know what the effects of hard driving will be, if you aren't doing the oil analysis?
You have to start taking data to learn anything.

795.0pacecar said:
Engines will last more than 200,000 miles with cheap dino oil being changed every 5000 miles. There is no reason to use the expensive crap and have it tested all the time.

5k miles on dino oil would be great, but maybe the change interval could be 10k, or maybe even 15k, on dino oil?

The point is no one seems to be taking the time to do the oil analysis test, so all change interval recommendations are just regurgitations of what was speculated by some one else.
The analysis is the only way to judge the 'aging' of oil.

Keep in mind that I won't have to test the oil every 1k miles.
I will be cautious on the first attempt at a 15k mile oil change, and test every 2,500 miles. This will be pricey, but if I keep testing until I start to see oil degredation/contamination then I will have a better idea of when to start testing on the next oil change. I may feel safe running 10k or 12k miles before the first test.
With more data samples I will be able to narrow down an oil change/test schedule.

The bottom line is...
There isn't any reliable data out there showing what kind of change intervals are reliable, so I have to develop my own data.
At $20 a test, I don't see much reason not to!

I greatly appreciate the responses... However,
You guys aren't going to talk me out of running Mobil 1, and you aren't going to talk me out of performing these tests.
This is something I have to know.

JT-
I was getting ready to email you about this and DC Controllers. Glad to have you stop by.
Thanks for the leads, I will try to contact those guys tomorrow...
I'm just not really sure how to select a company for oil testing. They all seem the same, and pricing is nearly identical.

Wasn't there an Oil/Lubrication/Filter forum?
I can't remember the name and can't seem to find it.
Does anyone know what I am talking about?

Thanks for all the great responses,
jason

vristang · Feb 7, 2007

DocZG said:
I think if you want to do it, thats awesome and i think that you shouldnt be shot down for it. Sure you might be spending more money for the testing, but you will be learning something that everyone in this forum can benifit from (learning isnt always cheap.....look at college ). Plus i would personally like to know . Zach

Thanks Zach,
I hear ya' on college...
I will post the results as soon as they start coming in.
I won't be able to keep that kind of info to my self

I hope to have the motor running by the end of March...

jason

HISSIN50 · Feb 7, 2007

Jason, I'd hit up BITOG (Bobistheoilguy - that's the forum you're probably thinking of). That's where I get a lot of my info. You can read the UOA (Used Oil Analysis) section. People post their intervals, car, engine, miles, viscosity, oil brand, results, etc. It gives a real good idea of how some oils can hold up in a random engine (I look for trends).

When I go to do an analysis, I'm going to use Blackstone (there's info on BITOG about how to get started - it's free to get the tube last time I checked). I'm going to do a sample from ~5K mile PAO basestock synthetic (that's when I'd normally change it, so I want to see if I'm short changing myself). The results can allow extrapolation of how much further the oil can be pushed. Any testing interval shorter than that would be unnecessary IMHO (and that's just MHO).

Definitely email away about whatever. There aint much that I know that you don't but comparing notes is always good.

795.0pacecar · Feb 7, 2007

Ok, I see what your saying now. Its not something I would do, but its not a bad idea either.

giddyup306 · Feb 7, 2007

HISSIN50 said:
First off: Mike, great to see you in here. I owe you an email.

Sitill have my addy?

How shall I know it is you sending? You didn't send me an email saying "Sexxy s in barn yard gang bang" did you. If so I will have to retreive it from my trash folder. j/k

Mustang78 · Feb 8, 2007

what if you spent 150 on a good labscope(microscope), and checked out the junk in your oil yourself?

~Mark~

dragnazz5.0 · Feb 8, 2007

BITOG is definetly a good site. prepare to put your waders on because some of those guys get deep with their oil knowledge

vristang · Feb 8, 2007

dragnazz5.0 said:
BITOG is definetly a good site. prepare to put your waders on because some of those guys get deep with their oil knowledge

I spent a couple of hours there yesterday.

My head is still spinning
There's so much info there it isn't funny.

From posts I found on BITOG, quite a few guys are using Blackstone. A couple of guys on the Corral are using Blackstone as well.
I haven't seen any complaints.
I haven't seen any one who used a different company either.

jason

vristang · Feb 8, 2007

Mustang78 said:
what if you spent 150 on a good labscope(microscope), and checked out the junk in your oil yourself?

~Mark~

I'm not positive, but I don't think that would pick up all the chemicals and trace elements.

Some of these companies can pick up moisture content as low as 1%.
Not sure you'd see that in a microscope

Not a bad idea though, it would be nice to do it myself...

jason

dragnazz5.0 · Feb 8, 2007

i used to have a link to a company that sold oil analysis kits. i cant remember the ilnk or how much it was but there are kits out there. they arent cheap but you can use them a bunch of times. might be something to look into if you are serious about doing it a lot

HISSIN50 · Feb 8, 2007

ECU, I think I also have that link somewhere. The kit I'm thinking of had an endorsement from an old timer on one of the oil boards.

I agree about the microscope thing. Since more is being inspected than particulate, the actual analysis is something beyond the scope (no pun intended) of what a scope can do.

Mike - you betcha I still have your addy.

Oil Analysis Companies ???

vristang

giddyup306

vristang

giddyup306

795.0pacecar

lover of pudgy polygamists

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

795.0pacecar

lover of pudgy polygamists

DocZG

New Member

vristang

vristang

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

795.0pacecar

lover of pudgy polygamists

giddyup306

Mustang78

New Member

dragnazz5.0

My "0" key d0esn't w0rk, s0 I have t0 use the zer0

vristang

vristang

dragnazz5.0

My "0" key d0esn't w0rk, s0 I have t0 use the zer0

HISSIN50

"How long does it take to get help in here?

Similar threads

Oil Analysis Companies ???

lover of pudgy polygamists

"How long does it take to get help in here?

"How long does it take to get help in here?

lover of pudgy polygamists

New Member

"How long does it take to get help in here?

lover of pudgy polygamists

New Member

My "0" key d0esn't w0rk, s0 I have t0 use the zer0

My "0" key d0esn't w0rk, s0 I have t0 use the zer0

"How long does it take to get help in here?

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency