Bad News from Blackstone

[tjoyce81]

By having the sense to submit oil for sampling, your engine loves you. That is a great thing to do - BUT the results may give you more worry than necessary. ALL engines wear out eventually. The fact that oil sample results are seemingly not good - may or may not mean anything...Meaning, street engines are built/designed to withstand a significant amount of wear - where as high performance engines are not. Your engine is a street engine, and while it is great that you do so, constant oil sampling is usually not necessary. Oil sampling is common place in HP operations. Problems with wear in a street engine become evident very quickly, and IF there is significant wear issues - there is NO magic oil or oil filter that is going to fix or prolong your engine. The wear specs are what they are - and when they are exceeded, that is the 'end of the road' (so to speak) for your engine...
Here is a great site on oil and actual oil test results - as it relates to the best protection for your engine.
Personally - I prefer full synthetic Quaker State High Durability (the green and gold labeled bottle) - with the use of (by far!) the best oil filter you can install in any engine, which is a Purolator.
FYI - I have a 2007 Tahoe with the original 5.3L engine - and it has 323000 miles on it. Runs great...
https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

 

[Foggy]

If your engine is an AFM/ DOD I would personally never run my
engine down past 50% on the Oil Life Monitor. These lifters hate "old" oil.
IMO, the oil life is programmed to sell cars and/or emissions ... Not to give you your best engine life.. I've seen TOO Many that would still be running
perfectly IF the owner had changed oil more frequently

 

[donjetman]

If you want an "oil expert/pro" to comment on your used oil analysis go to: https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ and join the forum, then post your complete UOA results, the application, and question(s) in the "Used Oil Analysis-Gasoline" area. TYE isn't the place for expert/pro advise on your UOA.

You might want to start educating yourself while your there. I've been there for 10+ yrs and doing UOA on various vehicles for that long too. All's we can do here is give our amateur opinion/guess. There are a lot of amateurs there too, so be careful who you listen to.

So, here's my amateur opinion/guess. Your UOA is not normal/average and is trying to tell the viewer something? IMO, don't throw the baby out with the bath water just yet. After a few thousand miles, send in another sample, and see what the trend is. If it's better, wonderful. If it's the same, oh well. If it's worse, sell it, or tear into it and find the problem, or do nothing and see what happens.

Let's hope it's just a one time event, never to rear its ugly head again, and not the beginning of the end. Like somebody else said, AFM engine need their oil change interval reduced to something like 50% remaining so as to reduce problems. And use premium oil and filters.

 

[gooffeyguy]

I do 5k mile oil changes, which is usually around 30-35% on the OLM.

I'm currently at 38% and have driven 3880 since last change. Will be doing an oil change probably in the next month.

I have AFM/DOD tuned out/turned off

 

[muldoon]

O.P. again saying thanks to all.
Was able to get latest sample mailed off to Blackstone today. Used Harley technique of just poking a hole in the top of the filter and letting it drain to get enough oil for the sample and to mitigate the mess in removing the filter.
Results of filter teardown and inspection were most encouraging. Not a single speck of metal to be found by visual inspection in both daylight, then darkness with powerful inspection lamp. Removed the pleated media and ran over it with powerful cow magnet, and got nothing.
Computer problems keep me from posting full Blackstone response--but only out-of-range categories shown in my earlier post.
Signed up at Bob's the Oil Guy and will check in tomorrow.
DOD was turned off early with Range (30K miles), later with Black Bear.
Also will be installing magnetic drain plug with next full oil change.
Will share info as soon as I hear from Blackstone.

 

[swathdiver]

O.P. again saying thanks to all.

Were you in the Green Berets?

 

[muldoon]

Were you in the Green Berets?

 

[muldoon]

Can't say that I was.

 

[swathdiver]

Can't say that I was.

Thought your screen name might have been in honor of this guy:

https://the-green-berets.fandom.com/wiki/Sergeant_Muldoon

 

[BG1988]

First of all, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond and share their knowledge. Here are some answers to various questions and additional information.
The mileage at the time of the oil change which was submitted to Blackstone was 4,477.
This is in keeping with the average distance between changes. My initial post was inaccurate about using the DIC readout. Only one time was the readout less than approximately 25%. The truck was purchased "Certified" and that gave me "free" (meaning the new owner has actually paid for them in advance as part of the purchase price) oil and filter changes for two years. At first, the dealer was reluctant to change at less than 20%, but finally settled at 25%. My records show the average oil and filter change took place at 4,200 miles. I use the readout only as a reminder and have kept up the change at 25%--which turns out as 4,200 miles--procedure.
A previous oil sample was sent to Blackstone when I initially bought the truck. The analysis from 8/14/2015 showed Aluminum, 4 ppm, Chromium 1 and Iron 27. The summary read "Your engine looks great from our end."
Going forward, I bought some Delco filters and today I will drain enough oil for sample purposes, change the filter and cut the old one open for inspection. Right now, the truck has close to 1,000 miles since the latest full oil change. I am planning do a complete change with Shell Rotella
5W-30 and Delco filter in another 2,000 miles, both times submitting samples to Blackstone. No matter how it turns out, with engine in current state or having been rebuilt, all future changes will be made at approximately 3,500 to 4,000 miles (DIC reading closer to 33%) from now on.
Thanks again, and I'll post the results of both oil reports.

how dirty is the oil at 4400 miles? CLEAR oil color or dark?

mine is still brand new color ready to be reused at 4400 miles it's on ICE 98% of the time.. she does not see above 2100rpm even when i gun it 2100RPm will get it to 50mph quickly with in 8 seconds,

80-85mph=1800-1900 rpm 65PSI on flat land the oil pressure is still good the DIC reports 55-60PSI @ 1100rpm (50PSI idle 600RPM) 95K miles...

 

[swathdiver]

mine is still brand new color ready to be reused at 4400 miles it's on ICE 98% of the time..

I wish! Mine runs better even after changing the oil at 4000 miles or so. It loves new, clean oil.

 

[muldoon]

Definitely not clear oil color. Looks like, well, used engine oil.

 

[gooffeyguy]

Used Harley technique of just poking a hole in the top of the filter.

Would this technique of obtaining a sample contaminate it by possibly introducing particles of the oil filter housing or tool used to poke through it?


2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[muldoon]

Would this technique of obtaining a sample contaminate it by possibly introducing particles of the oil filter housing or tool used to poke through it?


2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon Denali XL
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

 

[muldoon]

Think possibility of inducing contamination would be minimal. Used clean stainless awl and no indication on filter itself of any transfer of materials.

 

[kbuskill]

I have thought about collecting my sample from the bottom of the oil filter using this method but decided against it because I thought that perhaps some of the stuff the filter caught might somehow drain out of the filter and into my collection cup.

I would ask Blackstone and see what they think.

 

[Rocket Man]

I have thought about collecting my sample from the bottom of the oil filter using this method but decided against it because I thought that perhaps some of the stuff the filter caught might somehow drain out of the filter and into my collection cup.

I would ask Blackstone and see what they think.

Their recommendation is to catch the sample in the middle of the drain process.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

Their recommendation is to catch the sample in the middle of the drain process.

Yes. While warm. I have this weird routine where I pull the plug, wait a few seconds, and then fill/dump/fill/dump/fill the bottle. Not sure why, just feels like I get a good bit from different points in the drain time....or I'm just nuts.

 

[Larryjb]

If you catch an early stream, or through the oil filter, wear particles may be more concentrated and make you think you have excessive wear. In my case, I used Blackstone labs to confirm a cracked head. I think oil analysis is an excellent way to help diagnose an existing concern. After reading this thread, I'm not so sure I'd want to use it to hunt for issues before other symptoms appear.

 

[iamdub]

I'd still be concerned about even visibly undetectable contamination from the metal of the punch tool and the metal and paint from the punctured area of the filter. I feel that, with how they're able to detect such trace amounts of materials in a few ounces of oil among everything else that it contains, microscopic flakes of substances and/or metals used in the paint pigments could be detected.