Blackstone oil analysis

[Jim Peace]

I am on my 18th sample with them.

it always takes forever for them to get it.  Sometimes a month.

Its been almost three weeks since I mailed my last sample and its still in the USPS system.

Just spoke to one of the owners.  They suggest to peel the label off the sample kit and put the container in a normal box and then put the label on the box.  For some reason the post office does not like little plastic containers.

Anyone else have issues?

[Vance Harral]

Not as bad as you describe, but we have had occasional issues.  Over the course of a decade, one sample was lost entirely, and another disappeared and was rediscovered by USPS after over a month.  The complete loss occurred before tracking was added to the pre-paid labels, no idea what happened to it.  The lost-and-found case was the result of a tenacious USPS employee who I interacted with via e-mail, who eventually convinced an employee at a distribution facility to look multiple times in the equivalent of the dead-letter office for packages.  Said employee was familiar with oil samples, and said - as Blackstone themselves does - that mail which is obviously oil samples is sometimes incorrectly routed for hazmat handling.  I think putting the container in a "normal" box has less to do with the little plastic container, and more to do with avoiding some misinformed-but-well-intentioned USPS employee from saying, "this looks like it contains oil, I better pull it out of the normal processing chain".

In all other cases, I wouldn't call completion of the testing "rapid", but I always assumed this had as much to do with Blackstone's backlog as it did with shipping time.  Perhaps I'm mistaken about that.  The only time I've bothered to look at the tracking info in detail is the aforementioned disappearance.

[Greg Ellis]

My samples that I send in usually take quite a while to receive the results.  Blackstone even has 3-4 FAQ's on their website answering why it may take some time to get your results and mainly they say it is because USPS takes their time with them.

[EricJ]

The only big issue I've had is that once I left the out-going sample in my mail box for the mail man to take and he didn't.   It just got left there.  I took it to the P.O. and dropped it in the parcel chute and it got processed.   That's the only one that got interrupted so far, and I suspect maybe it was a temporary mail man or something, as usually they take them.   There's definitely a lot of variance in how long they take to process it, but it always gets done.   I've learned to just not be in a hurry for the results, which is easy enough to do.

 

[Sabremech]

I would not use their USPS labels period. If you want a timely report, box it and send it FedEx or UPS. Mine took longer than a month to get received. 
David

[larryb]

Never USPS. I always ship UPS or FedEx. Sign up for an account online, print labels at home and drop off at UPS store. I always save my smaller Amazon boxes to use for my oil samples. UPS charges by both weight and volume. So a small box is good. Usually $12 to ship the oil sample.

[Jim Peace]

On 12/10/2020 at 9:01 PM, larryb said:

Never USPS. I always ship UPS or FedEx. Sign up for an account online, print labels at home and drop off at UPS store. I always save my smaller Amazon boxes to use for my oil samples. UPS charges by both weight and volume. So a small box is good. Usually $12 to ship the oil sample.

I like the idea of UPS.......go brown....

[PT20J]

I just mail mine and always get a response within 2 weeks.

Skip

[BDPetersen]

I mailed a sample last week. Haven’t checked the tracking on it, but I have 3 purchases of items coming priority mail and they are all two weeks enroute and seem to be hung up in various parts of the country with no sign of movement. Probably a good time to avoid USPS.

[Jim Peace]

My plane has been flying a lot lately....I am almost at my next oil change since I mailed my sample in and still nothing....

[exM20K]

USPS has been sending out notices to shippers and online merchants saying that the volume of packages this holiday season has badly backed up their system. My sample went into the mail last week, and I’m not expecting a report any time soon

-dan

[Seth]

I had them lose two samples, but likely it was USPS never delivering them. Both of the lost samples were sent from the same shop, one I used for a while to change oil, but not the shops I use for other services or when i send it in myself.

After learning what I read here, I'll likely send it in a regular box moving forward.

Separately, I learned this recently: Unless you send items priority mail through USPS they sit at a warehouse waiting for room on trucks. If sent priority, they get on the truck. Regular packages NOT priority only get on the truck if there is space. Otherwise they sit there. I had a piece of art sit in Chicago for over a week because it was a large box sent regular an not priority. It wasn't until both the shipper and I called numerous times that it magically was put on a truck heading out of that shipment center. Yes, this was recent and during COVID (not holiday season). It ended up arriving over 10 days after it was initially estimated due to lack of space on the truck for a regular package.

-Seth

[Jim Peace]

I think its time to shift away from Blackstone.  going on almost a month with no results....

All you get from the company is the standard USA default response..."We apologize" 

What are some good alternatives?

[Andy95W]

34 minutes ago, Jim Peace said:

I think its time to shift away from Blackstone.  going on almost a month with no results....

What are some good alternatives?

As to good alternatives, I'll open myself up for flaming by saying "why bother?"

In loose fitting air cooled engines like ours, particularly the carbureted O-360, the thing we're most worried about is camshaft spalling or some other catastrophic internal failure.  The large chunks of metal or cam shards shed during that sort of event are simply too large to appear on an oil analysis report, which will only report sub-microscopic particles at nearly the atomic level.  The metal will appear, however, in the oil filter and suction filter.  Pay the money you're sending to Blackstone instead to your mechanic to cut your filter every time, and pull your suction filter at least every annual, if not every oil change.

Blasphemy, I know, but worth considering.

[Jim Peace]

5 hours ago, Andy95W said:

Blasphemy, I know, but worth considering.

I am considering ........

[PT20J]

On 12/15/2020 at 10:36 AM, Seth said:

I had them lose two samples, but likely it was USPS never delivering them. Both of the lost samples were sent from the same shop, one I used for a while to change oil, but not the shops I use for other services or when i send it in myself.

After learning what I read here, I'll likely send it in a regular box moving forward.

Separately, I learned this recently: Unless you send items priority mail through USPS they sit at a warehouse waiting for room on trucks. If sent priority, they get on the truck. Regular packages NOT priority only get on the truck if there is space. Otherwise they sit there. I had a piece of art sit in Chicago for over a week because it was a large box sent regular an not priority. It wasn't until both the shipper and I called numerous times that it magically was put on a truck heading out of that shipment center. Yes, this was recent and during COVID (not holiday season). It ended up arriving over 10 days after it was initially estimated due to lack of space on the truck for a regular package.

-Seth

Ah, that explains why the postage rates keep going up -- storage costs!

[Immelman]

AOA was cheaper last time I looked (and they still are, $10 cheaper, postage included with the sample kit). But they don't write you a nice little story, only boring numbers and historical graphs to see trends. Boo hoo.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Immelman

[Jim Peace]

I have the another sample sitting on my counter since I sent in the last sample....I have no motivation to mail it in......total shit show...

but Blackstone does apologize.  so there is that......

Maybe I am a bad customer:

[KLRDMD]

I sent samples on December 7th and had the results in my E-Mail on December 16.

[Jim Peace]

Just now, KLRDMD said:

I sent samples on December 7th and had the results in my E-Mail on December 16.

did you send in the normal container they provide?

[KLRDMD]

Just now, Jim Peace said:

did you send in the normal container they provide?

Yep.

[Guest]

On 12/17/2020 at 3:23 PM, Andy95W said:

As to good alternatives, I'll open myself up for flaming by saying "why bother?"

In loose fitting air cooled engines like ours, particularly the carbureted O-360, the thing we're most worried about is camshaft spalling or some other catastrophic internal failure.  The large chunks of metal or cam shards shed during that sort of event are simply too large to appear on an oil analysis report, which will only report sub-microscopic particles at nearly the atomic level.  The metal will appear, however, in the oil filter and suction filter.  Pay the money you're sending to Blackstone instead to your mechanic to cut your filter every time, and pull your suction filter at least every annual, if not every oil change.

Blasphemy, I know, but worth considering.

Sometimes it causes more worry than it’s worth.  I’ve had reports come back saying all is good, yet I have a pile of metal in the filter.

Clarence

[0TreeLemur]

On 12/20/2020 at 6:16 PM, M20Doc said:

Sometimes it causes more worry than it’s worth.  I’ve had reports come back saying all is good, yet I have a pile of metal in the filter.

Clarence

That happened to me this year.   With the engine making copious quantities of aluminum glitter and oil analysis detected no problems.   The MSC that did the annual didn't note any metal in the filter, but I did when I changed oil before and after the annual.  Attentive oil changes can make a big difference.   Relying on oil analyses to detect all engine problems is not wise.

[JimB]

On 12/20/2020 at 7:16 PM, M20Doc said:

Sometimes it causes more worry than it’s worth.  I’ve had reports come back saying all is good, yet I have a pile of metal in the filter.

Clarence

I completely agree. The only reason I do it once a year is for trends and resale value (if and when I ever think about selling). I also keep my engine analysis data, the pictures during borescopes of my valves/cylinders and pictures of my oil filter all spread out. I even took pictures of the gears on my landing gear actuator the last time I had it out performing the AD. Figure it won't hurt and the cost is pretty small in the big scheme of things. 

[tmo]

17 hours ago, 0TreeLemur said:

Relying on oil analyses to detect all engine problems is not wise.

With all due respect, I'd be more inclined to say "relying on oil analysis only to detect engine problems is not wise" (add "only" remove "all") - I see oil analysis as another tool; but I also add Camguard and blow dry air into the engine with an aquarium pump.

It might very well be a case of "while I'm doing X, might as well do Y"...