What oil sample analysis service do you use?

[June]

I need to have this looked at.

This is my oil just under 3K and under 2 months with Valvoline synthetic. I am running Redline now and am curious of the cleanliness at 3K.

We had hurricane Irma coming and Volvo didn't have time to change it so I bought a Volvo filter and took it to Goodyear. The Goodyear oil change sticker is set for 3K as is the Volvo sticker now. The Castrol Synthetic installed by my dealer turns just the same by 3K in my engine.

I plan on starting a thread about the mileage the oil turns if the 100% synthetic oil does better so I took these pictures for that purpose. My 2004 2.9 T6 has always had the oil turn like this since day one and so did the 2002 2.9 T6. The oil in the 98 2.3 T5 and all Volvos before that stayed clean between changes.

I really understand the frustration with the oil turning dark earlier than it should. I always check all fluid levels with every tank of gas and the pictures I took are normal for my car throughout it's life and why I am so insistent on no more than 3K per change. My car does run in a hot climate and I drive a car harder than most my age. June

[matthew1]

Here's the report. Explanation of results: https://www.blackstone-labs.com/report-explanation.php

I'm going to sit down tonight and go through these results to get an idea of how good or bad they are.

[tryingbe]

[matthew1]

Thanks for posting yours, tryingbe.

[June]

Matthew, what was the determination? I am rather curious. June

[matthew1]

Here's their comments, from the PDF they sent (attachment above):

MATTHEW: Your Golf's first sample has a lot of metal and silicon in it compared to universal averages,
which show typical wear levels after about 7,500 miles of oil use. The extra metal and silicon is just material
from new parts wearing in and harmless sealers used to put the engine together. It often takes several oil
changes to wash all this stuff out, and soon, things should look similar to universal averages. As long as we
see progress with each oil change, we won't have any reason to worry. Physically, the oil was fine and free
of harmful contamination. So far, so good!

So... I guess I'll sleep tonight. I'll still look around the Web for takeaways from this report, if I can find comparison results.

[FlyingVolvo]

I used Blackstone for the second time a little while ago.

Oil.png (134.46 KiB) Viewed 3408 times

[rspi]

Here's their comments, from the PDF they sent (attachment above):

MATTHEW: Your Golf's first sample has a lot of metal and silicon in it compared to universal averages,
which show typical wear levels after about 7,500 miles of oil use. The extra metal and silicon is just material
from new parts wearing in and harmless sealers used to put the engine together. It often takes several oil
changes to wash all this stuff out, and soon, things should look similar to universal averages. As long as we
see progress with each oil change, we won't have any reason to worry. Physically, the oil was fine and free
of harmful contamination. So far, so good!

So... I guess I'll sleep tonight. I'll still look around the Web for takeaways from this report, if I can find comparison results.

So this is on a new vehicle with less than 10,000 miles on it?

I thought they run engines in before installation?

[matthew1]

So this is on a new vehicle with less than 10,000 miles on it?

Yes, 6500 miles.

I thought they run engines in before installation?

Hm I don't know. Sounds plausible.

[abscate]

They run them in before delivery but it's a process that continues for the first 500 miles or so. Break in is one of those things that prompts all kind of stupidity and dogma on the Internet