Blackstone Laboratories

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F9K9
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Blackstone Laboratories

Post by F9K9 »

I did a quick search here for Blackstone and didn't come up with any results. It's basically a lab that you can send a sample of your used oil to and they will analyze it for you to determine if, you might be having issues with your engine internally. The test kits are free, as well as, all shipping from them and your sample back to them. It's $25 for the basic test and $35 for a more in depth test. The results will alert you to many problem areas like antifreeze in your oil. If, the test results are bad enough, they will call you and alert you to a major problem. Otherwise you'll get an email with the results.

They are used heavily in the heep forums because of problems with the newer I-6 4.0L engines and the way that the EPA keeps reducing the amount of allowed additives in modern oils. The 4.0 is an old design and the tooling to make them was just plain worn out when they stopped production. Cams, as well as other parts, are failing right and left due to the lack of certain additives. There is no clear cut answer for the 4.0's problems but, I'm running with oil that contains ACEA A3/B3 for my 4.0 and it has over 110K on it. Cam problems have occurred on ones with less than 10K on them.

Don't have the time to link all of the research to motor oils and the such but, a Blackstone report will alert you to things that may be a problem for any engine.

Just tossing this out to you but, $25 seems to be cheap insurance on an out of warranty engine.
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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by Horsehammerr »

Anything specific to watch for with Synthetic oil ?
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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by F9K9 »

Horsehammerr wrote:Anything specific to watch for with Synthetic oil ?
No, not really. It is literally all over the dial. Companies like Hesco recommend not using it with their parts. The lack of zinc or to little zinc is blamed on 4.0's cam and lifter problems. Personally, I am going with the High Mileage Mobil 1 if, I see the ACEA logo and A3/B3 on the bottle. I mean on each and every bottle. Walmart carries the HM Mobil 1 but, the logo is gradually disappearing. It may be the same stuff but, I won't buy without seeing the logo. Advance still carries HM Mobil 1 with the logo and I buy there. On black Friday they had 5 qts and a Mobil 1 filter for $32 and I cleaned out a store. I got the filters for our CCs because I run a Donaldson filter in the heep. It ups my capacity from 6 to 8 qts. Allegedly there is a Mobil 1 for diesels that carries the A3/B3 cert but, I haven't seen it.

EPA has really gone to far and is often requiring oil to meet FUTURE requirements for Future engines...WTF?

The neat thing about Blackstone is that they really explain what your results mean. A club member got a call from them and they told him to park his rig or he would cause major additional damage if, he continued driving it. Antifreeze was in the oil and he was able to prevent damage to his bearings by simply replacing the head gasket. His oil looked normal but when he pulled the head, antifreeze was visible on top of his pistons.

I'm ordering 2 more free kits for the CC and the Grand Cherokee that have 45 and 140K on them respectively. $25 each is a sound investment to me. That's less than a meal for the wife and kids at McDonalds!

BTW.........
What is ACEA?
The European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), founded in 1991, represents the interests of the sixteen European car, truck and bus manufacturers at EU level.
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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by HenryJ »

Our area is primarily agricultural. Caterpillar tractor dealerships have labs for oil analysis. I have used their services for many years. I am sure most tractor dealerships offer similar services. I do not recall what our cost for the sample runs.

Check out the Rotella oils. Their zinc levels are higher than some. Many are substituting titanium. I don't like the iron oxidation that is creating. Zinc is disappearing because it is causing issues in the particulate and catalytic converters. We need the sacrificial properties of zinc.
No lead in fuel and no zinc in oil, a sad state of affairs.

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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by roadrunner »

One more reason I like and continue to run Prolong in my oil at every change in every vehicle.
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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by F9K9 »

I am not liking what I see here.

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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by roadrunner »

Still running prolong and non-synthetic oil at 3k interval with both owner and motor happy. From your numbers I'd question the assessment on the sodium as it's only one higher than the averages? :?:
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Re: Blackstone Laboratories

Post by ApproachMedium »

I would hate to send them a sample from my CC. One of those things I would rather not know. I have read a few times before on the VW forums people using blackstone to check their oil because theres a lot of controversy over VW Specification oil for their engines and what kind of damage you will cause by not using it. If you think its a bad idea running this new oil in our older truck engines, you should see what happens to a precision designed german engine when modern oil, not up to spec for that motor, is used in it. 5w30 isnt 5w30 anymore.

I only see things going this way in the future. America doesnt want us to have older vehicles anymore. They would rather they all cease up, and we buy brand new ones every 5 years so we arent "destroying the environment"
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