DIDGUSTED with Blackstone Labs!

[Turboman]

I've sent maybe 50-100 samples to Blackstone, never lost one and always quick turn around.

 

[MichaelAnderson]

i wanted to ship a gallon of oil

I wondered about this too, but the PO said as long as its a 'consumer quantity' (read small quanitity I guess), has a flash point of over 200', and is double packaged, its fine. Apparently depending on the flash point some oils are restricted to surface only, and some are a no-go.



-Vic

i wanted to send a gallon of oil (new) and they said no.

and also told me something about cherry jubilee be prohibited too!

'flammable,perishable,liquid. '

in northern va we are about 20min from dc and everyone is always edgy and rude and up tite. so maybe it's not the same everywhere. drivers here are really terrible, worse then in boston! at least in boston if you make a move they'll let you, here your invisible even in a 3500 ram.

take it easy mike

fairfax va

 

[Sled Puller]

Thank goodness, Gary that would have been a CATASTROPHE, losing 6 months of data. At your age, you just can't replace 6 months for free, ya know!!!

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"Thank goodness, Gary that would have been a CATASTROPHE, losing 6 months of data. At your age, you just can't replace 6 months for free, ya know!!!"



What's HARD, is the MILES!



In our new location, the truck spends most of the time just sitting in the garage while we drive the wifes car for the local stuff - probably not many longer mileage runs for the truck other than infrequent trips, RV or otherwise - so accumulating another 15,000 miles or so might take a long time!

 

[E7mack96]

Blackstone

We were using Blackstone exculsively for our fleet analysis. They have messed up several of our results. Every one took 1. 5-2 weeks to get back. After their last price increase (2 yrs ago), we quit doing business with them. They were pleasant to talk to but refused to do anything on volume discounts, ect...

 

[Tony T.]

Trying them one more time, changed oil in the truck Tuesday evening an took a oil sample. This will be my first one if it makes it to Blackstone this time. I used the post office again, but done some checking with the clerk first before I mailed it, boy did I have his mind messed up for awhile. He was searching through this haz mat book they have seeing if it could be mailed,asking me all kinds of question an saying I have never had anything like this come up :-laf . Finally he went an ask his supervisor an they said "yes" it's mailable. This time though I got a confirmation number after springing for the extra . 55 cents so I can track it. Maybe this one will make it through.





Tony

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

I figured that if I was ever questioned about what sort of lab samples were being mailed, I would say "dirt samples" - technically correct...

 

[LightmanE300]

Gary - be careful, most of the CAT tests kits I've seen don't include some important factors, like TBN.



Back in 2000 I bought a pack of 10 test kits from Amsoil/Oil Analyzers. I have to say that in every instance the test was done quickly. Since they sub their lab work out to Cleveland Technical Services (CTC/Staveley Services) things have gotten even better. They allow you a username and password, so I can get on stavely's site right now and view all of my oil analysis results for various vehicles I've tested through them. That's a free service as well.



Also most folks with bypass systems recommend testing BEFORE an element change, because this is indicative of how bad your oil gets before it's refreshed. Testing after the filter change is sure a nice way to post pretty results though. .

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

CAT will provide TBN if you specify it - look up at the CAT analysis I provided at the beginning of this thread, and you will see their TBN number included.



Obviously, there are several different scenarios for the taking of samples for analysis - and USUALLY, I take such a sample immediately before changing both oil AND full flow and bypass filters - but since THIS "test" is for both extended oil use AND Frantz bypass efficiency, I want to give the FRANTZ it's BEST chance to display it's ability - so I have been taking oil samples about 500 miles or so AFTER a filter change and addition of makeup oil.



BUT HEY, others preferring a different scenario are free to do their own tests, using their own methods - might make good comparison material!



And for THAT matter, *I* would like to see a similar test with another brand bypass filter, like the popular Amsoil bypass, using Delo or a similar quality dino oil for comparison of filter efficiency...