I No Longer Trust Blackstone Labs

Trust is earned! There have been numerous threads concerning the USPS and Blackstone. They may listen, but nothing changes....
 
I emailed Blackstone asking them if I could get 8 tyvek sleeves to go with the 8 sample kits I have. They replied within a day saying they're sending them out.
 
I emailed Blackstone asking them if I could get 8 tyvek sleeves to go with the 8 sample kits I have. They replied within a day saying they're sending them out.
Did you email through their contact page? They haven’t responded to either of my contact page emails.
 
I now send mine 2nd day air, UPS or Fed Ex. Put it in small box. Kind of expensive bot WTH I drive a $50,000 truck. Bye the way, I'm retired from the USPS. I avoid them regardless of cost.
 
I did the same, replied to a test result on Wednesday about sending some tyvek mailers, no response. this is now 3 separate contacts to blackstone without a response.
That stinks. I usually get a response from them in 24-48 hours. You could try calling them.
 
That stinks. I usually get a response from them in 24-48 hours. You could try calling them.
So, no response but did get 3 extra mailers sent to me. Weird…. I think I’ll give them one more shot and use them for uoa’s but go with Napa/wix for voas.
 
Has anyone tried sending the same sample to Blackstone, Polaris and Oil Analyzers? I'm curious to see how that would turn out.
 
LoL yeah, I'm sure they get a real kick out of just randomly holding on to people's 3oz of used oil for no good reason 🤣
No, I think they’re just sloppy and inefficient. They always mention the usps and mailer issues, never address the process time after acceptance. The other analysis outfits are a 1-3 day process once in shop.
 
No, I think they’re just sloppy and inefficient. They always mention the usps and mailer issues, never address the process time after acceptance. The other analysis outfits are a 1-3 day process once in shop.
Use the other guys, then. I just prefer to support a grassroots, family-run business. I've personally never had more than a 3 day processing time. Any other delays have been carrier delays.
 
Use the other guys, then. I just prefer to support a grassroots, family-run business. I've personally never had more than a 3 day processing time. Any other delays have been carrier delays.
I do after the experiences I’ve had with blackstone. I was in the camp of supporting them and paying double, I was hoping for a competitive turnaround at minimum.
 
I sent Blackstone a virgin sample of Audi 0W-30 fully synthetic oil. It was clearly labeled as Virgin 0W-30 oil. ...

In the future, I'm using either Oil Analyzers or Polaris Labs for my oil analysis.
I tend to ignore the comments - they have always been saying silly things, such as, "this is a 5W or 10W - XX" when they have not looked at sub freezing viscometrics - or calling significantly sheared oil with a KV100 of 8.3cSt "still within 30 grade .

With a high workload, possibly they have other office personnel typing the response from the test info chart , which is performed by another tech.

I just look at the analysis and make my own assessment, though comments about high fuel dilution and potassium get my attention.

So, and interesting oil with 2x Bo then no Mo compounds evidenced; one might guess there are a lot of new-chemistry adds that are not visible in this simple test that give the lubricant a high specification

-Ken
 
The trouble is:
If you ignore the comments (which I agree one should do because they're nonsense),
and you ignore the test result numbers (they're all over the map and proven to be highly unreliable),
and you ignore the universal averages (someone in this thread said they send different UAs to different people?),

...then what exactly are you paying them for?
 
The trouble is:
If you ignore the comments (which I agree one should do because they're nonsense),
and you ignore the test result numbers (they're all over the map and proven to be highly unreliable),
and you ignore the universal averages (someone in this thread said they send different UAs to different people?),

...then what exactly are you paying them for?
I would not ignore the test numbers ( though question % fuel due to the methodology in that evaluation)
only in instances where there appears to be an obvious mixup - and here a retest can be requested.

I tend NOT to perform UOA I dont see much value in them generally. though I did in the instance where the warranty on my Wifes car expired and she was under a "Lifetime" engine service contract and I knew she could drive farther than the Subaru 6000 mile OCI requirement.
I wanted some ammo in the case there cropped up a major component failure between 60K miles and when she planned to sell the car.
The contact fine print appeared to state that they do not cover "gradual wear" though. So if it starts burning a bit of oil - you are likely not getting a refreshed engine.

If you distrust this lab - pick another one. I will not defend them :)

I would also question and distrust anecdotes appearing in non-professional online forums
 
The trouble is:
If you ignore the comments (which I agree one should do because they're nonsense),
and you ignore the test result numbers (they're all over the map and proven to be highly unreliable),
and you ignore the universal averages (someone in this thread said they send different UAs to different people?),

...then what exactly are you paying them for?
Where have the test results been "proven" to be unreliable? I'd like to read the white paper where this was scientifically determined.

The universal averages are constantly updated. In general, the more samples they get, the lower the wear numbers, especially with newer vehicles because the cars that are being sampled have more miles on them, so break-in is less emphasized because the average car has more miles on it.

I agree the comments can be more or less useful. I've seen good ones and not so good ones. I don't agree that they are "nonsense". Sometimes they are stating the obvious, sometimes they recommend a higher OCI than I'd agree with. But they only do that when you check the box on the slip that says you are interested in extended oil drain intervals.
 
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