I was hoping to try to do a BlackStone Oil analysis on my first oil change and was going to pull out a sample prior to the dealership visit. I just don't trust the dealer to "save me some" of my old oil. My question is, outside of going under the car and opening the drain plug, is there some way I can pull out some oil from the top??? I know there are oil extractors on the market, but they are big for the job...I was hoping to find a smaller piece of equipment!
Also, does anyone know how much oil they need for analysis???
Thanks a bunch for the info!!!!

 

Did you get any results with this? Does anyone else on the board get results on this? With all this talk about oil changes, do we have blackstone reports to backup everyone's positions?

I used to own an E46 M3 during the initial days when BMW has not officially announce the bearing problems that was causing engine failures, people did blackstone tests and found elevated levels of iron and etc. that suggested excessive mechanical wear. The reports were quite accurate in predicting who actually had bearing tolerance issues. When members asked to see the bearings after the recall work was done those that had elevated levels in their oil analysis also saw scoring on their bearings. Later after the bearing recall, everyone used the reports to analyze the effectiveness of synthetic oils at various mileage intervals and it was found fairly conclusive that the synthetic oils still had some life left even after 15k miles. This was Castrol 10w-60 that was used in the M3. I am wondering if people did this type of reports here?

 

Nope, I could not find any way to get the oil out, except to go to the drain plug. I bought the actual oil extracter that blackstone sells, but there is no dip stick tube and there is a screen protecting the oil port. I did not trust the porsche tech to take the right sample. I figured that he would probably forget and just pour some random oil into the sample jar! (sorry to say that I can't seem to trust dealerships much!)

 

+1 on that. The dealers have guys that rely on the PIWIS to tell them whats wrong with the car and what parts they need to replace to fix it. If the PIWIS can't diagnose the problem more often than not neither can they. One of the biggest benefits of a forum like this is the information available on problems/issues owners have with their cars and what the final resolution was for their problem. Saves others a lot of time at the dealer watching the techs scratch their heads when you can tell them where to look first on a problem someone else has already experienced and had corrected.

 

I use Blackstone for my oil analysis. They recommend the oil be hot, and the sample be taken ten to thirty seconds after the drain plug is opened.
The first oil change on my new cars is between 800 to 1,000 miles with an analysis. This gives me a base line to measure against all subsequent changes. The cost is about $27.00 and I like the information it provides on the inner condition of the engine.
Having owned a few aircraft, from piston to jets, the oil analysis is an excellent way to track early inner engine problems and take corrective actions before catastrophic failure.