Just got my second oil sample back from Blackstone and all looked good except silicone. What causes silicone levels to be high? I thought it was air filter but it had a new Bhaf the entire run. Had stock air box and clean looking filter when I got it and silicone was high then too.

Edited April 23, 20159 yr by 98whitelightnin

John, I made the rep comment because your starting to sound a lot like one, and that isn't meant as a compliment. Money is money no matter how its allocated or charged. If I were a lab I could offer free analysis but charge $35 for the sample bottle. Or if I was Amsoil I could claim a lower price point than my competitors but make it up by charging double for shipping, or an insane mark up on filters that they dont manufacture and hydraulic fittings which they faithfully do all of the above. You've been drinking the Amsoil koolaid a little too long.

Who brought Amsoil into the thread? Who made a false statement about the cost of the Amsoil kit and doesn't want to admit it?

 

How are they charging double for shipping? Charging double implies that there is additional shipping charges from Blackstone.. there isn't a shipping option for Blackstone so double of zero????

 

There isn't a single comment in this thread about who I use, nor did I recommend Amsoil to Ryan. Amsoil was brought into this thread by you, with false information about the cost of a UOA kit.

 

I simply stated how useless a UOA test is without TBN. You are all hung up on what Amsoil offers for shipping, but what about Blackstone not including the single most important result for oil life/longevity??? What about Blackstone charging 140% more to include TBN than the competitor???

 

 

Anyway you look at it the general customer pays $24.15 for a kit, that's ALL (just like Blackstone there is not a shipping charge to get the bottle to your door). There are 3 return shipping options. One is the customer pays the return shipping, one is USPS, and one is UPS. If you choose USPS or UPS Amsoil charges an additional $9.75 to provide the shipping. Is that a lot for shipping, YES!!! Do plenty of customers want to pay the $9.75 and not deal with a shipping center, yep! For those that don't want to pay extra they can take it to UPS or USPS and pay the exact shipping charges.

 

The UOA kit is $24.15 and includes TBN, that is $10.85 cheaper than Blackstone for the same test results. Shipping is the customers choice, if they want to overnight it for $20 they can or they can prepay, or they can ship it slow and cheap.

Nobody asked you for your opinion either yet you had no problem giving it. If thats not a sense of entitlement i dont know what is. I never made a false statement. The prepaid kit is posted on their website for all to see. Please tell me you dont believe it costs $10 to ship a little bottle. I know you know better than that. Yes, that is double or dam close to the actual cost of shipping. But hey,they dont charge for TBN, so they gotta make up for it somehow, right?

And then there is the all mighty membership which is a racket of its own. An oil company that requires a membership just to get pricing that is somewhat manageable. Who else does that? NOBODY. There are enough areas where Amsoil more than makes up for their fictitous pricing on the UOAs. I bet you can't come up with one other service or product where they are actually cheaper than their competitors. This is very likely the one and only.

Edited April 24, 20159 yr by diesel4life

Nobody asked you for your opinion either yet you had no problem giving it.

 

Yes I gave an opinion based on the title of the thread, and Ryan's first sentence. Generally threads are started to entice discussion. It worked :-)

 

 

 

The prepaid kit is posted on their website for all to see.

 

And??????? So is the no shipping included kit. Again, really not sure why you are basing you cost analysis on a shipping option????

 

Apples to Apples, OAI Testing (It's a division of Amsoil but the lab is NOT Amsoil.. It's Polaris Labs, and OAI contracts them to do the tests) is cheaper for a full report than Blackstone is for a partial report.

 

 

Please tell me you dont believe it costs $10 to ship a little bottle.

 

Not really reading the thread are you?

 

If you want a hint look at my post that was made 56 minutes before you asked the question.

 

 

But hey,they dont charge for TBN, so they gotta make up for it somehow, right?

 

 

So how is this magical makeup happening why you just buy the kit? Maybe it's Blackstone that is adding 40% to the cost for TBN since they know how important it is. It's a way to get more money for a test that doesn't cost that much to do.

 

Really hard to compare Amsoil to competitors, as I am not aware of any competitors that offer identical products. But their bypass filtration kits are cheaper and more efficient than the FS2500 kits. There is one, and that didn't involve any research.

 

 

Since you don't like Amsoil go elsewhere, but you should really start looking at the facts when you make an opinion. You brought Amsoil into the thread to show they weren't cheaper than Blackstone, that backfired and you're now using fuzzy math to convince yourself. I highly doubt anyone else reading the thread is following your math.

 

Just a recap

 

Blackstone report with TBN $35 + shipping of the sample to Blackstone

OAI Testing report with TBN $24.15 + shipping of the sample to OAI.. Or $33.90 with a pre-paid label. Cheapest option either way.

 

Return shipping options aside the OAI report is more bang for your buck. Since both companies use similar bottles and quantities actual shipping costs should be near identical... OAI Testing thru Amsoil is cheaper and more comprehensive.

 

It's pretty hard to argue with the black and white of UOA testing costs.

 

 

 

This should have stopped long ago... post #8 got me wound up since it had some false data, but it didn't need to go on.

 

Done here.

 

I have been using Blackstone for the last several years and never thought about amsoil but I might use them next time because I am a dealer and if I can get a discount I will.

 

Give them a shot and see what you think. With dealer price it is only $17.95 for a kit and $25.75 for a pre-paid kit.

WOW what a pissin match!!

it matters not who chooses to use what testing company. if your choice is cheeper so be it. just smile and know your saving 10$ why start an argument for that? not very professional on both your parts i would be ashamed to of had that happen to on of my threads.

 

MKy 04 shows high silicon as well. like 40 something. all my boots are tight. i'm thinking of changing away from the little BHAF.

I too have leak tested mine and checked for boot issues and have found none.

i run VPB 5-40 and LF 9028 filter.

WOW what a pissin match!!

it matters not who chooses to use what testing company. if your choice is cheeper so be it. just smile and know your saving 10$ why start an argument for that? not very professional on both your parts i would be ashamed to of had that happen to on of my threads.

 

MKy 04 shows high silicon as well. like 40 something. all my boots are tight. i'm thinking of changing away from the little BHAF.

I too have leak tested mine and checked for boot issues and have found none.

i run VPB 5-40 and LF 9028 filter.

 

Apologies... done here.

 

 

I have had a couple readings in the 20's and one at 31 one my UOA's. The 31 was taken shortly after I had the valve cover off a couple times for the ARP head stud install. I purposly did the install at the end of an OCI, but should have done the UOA before the engine work.

 

All of the readings in the 20's were with the early HPCR 2" filters, which were undersized. I now run the OEM 4" pleat filter and even with all my additional airflow I have very little silicon. My reading on my last UOA was 8, and the highest I have seen (aside from the stud install) with the OEM filter and ±415 rwhp is 17. Most the samples are around 7-9K miles.

 

Another place to check for a tight fit might be the crankcase breather. Pressure should generally be positive, but???

Since you don't like Amsoil go elsewhere, but you should really start looking at the facts when you make an opinion. You brought Amsoil into the thread to show they weren't cheaper than Blackstone, that backfired and you're now using fuzzy math to convince yourself. I highly doubt anyone else reading the thread is following your math.

Not one time did I ever say Blackstone was cheaper than anybody. And that is why this thread got out of control, things get twisted around and interpreted as they see fit. Sorry that that's all you've taken away from this, but at this point and time it no longer matters.

Ryan, again, I apologize for wrecking your thread. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get roped into such a silly argument.

     

I sit here and read this thread and then think to myself about CajFlynn with his 1.3 Million mile Cummins that use just Chevron Delo 15W-40, Fleetguard oil filters and a BHAF. Never did any oil testing. Just changed oil every 20k miles. Day in and day out driven back and forth across the country.

 

Personally speaking... If you you super worried and got deep pockets go for it. Pay the price and do the testing I will agree with AH64ID it best to get a test with TBN numbers. But if you like 99% of the people they just change oil and keep driving for well over 500k miles without much issues.

Mike the difference is the fact that his ride saw open road miles every day of its life, take that into consideration and there would be a ton more in the same boat but 99% of folks do not run them over the road like that daily. no different than over the road trucks seeing the same mileage common place. Daily drivers and short trips will always shorten the life of an engine and other components.

 

Can't use caj in any comparisons for that reason alone. When I worked at Inland truck parts and service I worked on a fleet of five 2nd gen Cummins that saw 8k+ miles a week and they too had 450-900K on them when they sold them and were all still in excellent shape with no issues other thaN THE BASICS AND STANDARD CONOCO 15W 40 OILS THEIR ENTIRE LIFE. oops cap lock accidental. I saw one get exactly 10K miles on it in a week serviced it Friday very next Friday came in with exactly 10K on it. Two drivers running round the clock pulling heavy loaded 45 foot enclosed triple axle trailers to furniture stores all over the USA, the company manufactured and delivered fake flowers basically.

Like myself I'm a long distance from everything so every time I fire up it's not a 3-5 mile trip to the store but more like 70-120 miles trip to the store. Like now working from home when 6pm rolls around its a 40 mile round trip to New Meadows for my parts when I do have a parts order. So I'm not the typical driver myself. This year I won't be going into the back country much at all for firewood. So I'll have mostly highway miles.

Like myself I'm a long distance from everything so every time I fire up it's not a 3-5 mile trip to the store but more like 70-120 miles trip to the store. Like now working from home when 6pm rolls around its a 40 mile round trip to New Meadows for my parts when I do have a parts order. So I'm not the typical driver myself. This year I won't be going into the back country much at all for firewood. So I'll have mostly highway miles.

 

But still not close to comparable to how cajflynn uses his truck. Your use is easier on the engine than most, but still a different league.

Argumentative threads like this are good when blood is running slow. Really gets the lift pump going but not for hurtin a friendship..... it's never worth that.

But still not close to comparable to how cajflynn uses his truck. Your use is easier on the engine than most, but still a different league.

Agreed.

Ok... So what class do you have to be in to worry about oil analysis and what class do you have to be in to not worry about it like Cajflynn?

UOA is really only necessary for extended drain intervals, aside from that it is a nice to know.

 

Caj did run long intervals in terms of miles, but not in terms of hours.

20,000 mile oil changes roughly every 3-4 weeks. So at 60 MPH which was CajFlynn average speed that's about 333 hours on the oil.

 

So doing a UOA at 2,500 or 5,000 isn't exactly a requirement. Like myself I run 7-10k miles on oil changes. Owners manual states 7,500 miles for 2nd Gen 24V oil changes.

Yeah, low hours! My 10K mile OCI will be around 400 hours.

I run changes annually, about 10K miles. I do a UOA at 7,500 just to check soot and TBN. My oem interval is 7,500.

I thought 2nd gens were 3,750 for schedule B? Schedule A use is a unicorn used almost exclusively for marketing IMHO. No towing, no slow dirt roads, no light load in cold weather, etc. basically interstate travel for the entire OCI, no traffic, etc...

I started doing UOA's when I switched my truck over to synthetic oil because I wanted to know how it was performing. The synthetic vs standard oil debate can and has been debated at great length so I won't get into that.

My main reasons for switching

A. I wanted an oil I could run year round in the huge ambient air temperature changes my pickup is exposed to. (-30 to 100 deg.) Yes I know others run 15w-40 in the same temps but I didn't like how long it took for my oil pressure gauge to come up when it's cold out.

B. I have enough vehicles to change oil on so if I can avoid draining one of them great!

C. I like to base my decisions on cold hard facts not on what others see as "best practice"

I'm sneaking up on 20k miles on this oil change.

Yeah, low hours! My 10K mile OCI will be around 400 hours.

I run changes annually, about 10K miles. I do a UOA at 7,500 just to check soot and TBN. My oem interval is 7,500.

I thought 2nd gens were 3,750 for schedule B? Schedule A use is a unicorn used almost exclusively for marketing IMHO. No towing, no slow dirt roads, no light load in cold weather, etc. basically interstate travel for the entire OCI, no traffic, etc...

 

I'll have to dig out the owners manual again and take a peek at the Schedule B. But I'm not going to change every 3k that's plain nuts. Even the 1996 is set for 6k miles for V8 gasser. I was of the mind set of changing every 3k on the gasser when I first got it but then started to realize the oil was still rather clean. So I read the manual at switched to 6k and it just barely darkens by then. That's a 6 quart system. Now my Cummins is a 12 quart system (mine is plus one from the extra filter) and I would have to change at 3k... Not happening. Funny part is both trucks get used around here doing trailer hauling and wood hauling too.