Buzzbomb

Last year I posted an oil analysis on my stock 99’ Civic Lx. The oil tested was AMSOIL 5w-30. The oil was in the car for 1 year and accumulated 9,359 miles. The car also ran 1 AMSOIL oil filter the entire time. Link to original thread HERE.

Some questioned the results because I used OilAnalyzers, a sister company of AMSOIL. Their argument was that of course they’d show good results with their own oil. Gotta love the cynical nature of forums., which is fine.

So this year when I changed the oil, I decided to send a sample to Blackstone Labs to compare the results. Now I know the best way to accomplish this would be to send a sample from the same oil change to both places, however I am confident comparing results from last year’s oil change is sufficient because the parameters are identical:
1. The car is still stock.
2. I used the same oil and filter combination.
3. Time on the oil and filter is the same.
4. Mileage on the oil and filter is VERY close to the first sample. (9,182 miles, a difference of only 177 miles).

First are the results from OilAnalyzers:



And now the Blackstone results:




As you can see, the results were very close to each other, backing up the accuracy of the first test.

One area that I kinda disagree with is the silicon comment in the notes. Sometimes silicone is misinterpreted as dirt if the additive package contains silicone polymers as an anti-foam agent.
Quote from the Blackstone site. “Aftermarket oil additives often use compounds that will leave silicon reading high in an oil sample. There is a compound for instance, used in anti-foam additives, that can run silicon up to as high as 70 ppm. This form of silicon will not affect engine wear.”

More information on the subject can be found HERE.

I suspect that AMSOIL uses a similar package in their oil. However I could be and it may in fact be dirt. The air filter is a FRAM paper filter in the stock air box. It’s not like I’m running an intake with a high flow filter. Who knows.

Out of the 2, I like Blackstone better because of the “Comments” section. It gives a little insight on the test instead of just printing the results. However, I do not like the extra $10 charge to get the TBN level, which is included with the OA test. I also found the first sentence of their comments very interesting. I would have thought that any excessive metal give off by the engine would be filtered out by the oil filter. I would also like to know what brands are the worst at this.

Anyway, I hope others find this information useful.