Oil testing

Picked up an 04 coupe in January and when I had the ppi done, the oil change had just been done so I figured there would be no value in checking the filter at the time. I have just put on about 100 miles since I got it. Question is, how many miles should I put on it before checking the filter for debris? Also sending an oil sample to blackstone labs. Thanks!!

I would check it now. I had a really bad IMS and it put metal in quickly. Just do this to be sure they didn't change the oil just to hide shavings. If this is neg I would then go a few thousand before sending it off.

Thanks, so change the oil now, check it and then drive for a couple thousand miles -and do it again?

I was in same situation when I got my car I gave it about 1000 miles and the changed it and from that point forward been doing every 5k or 6 months and each one I send to Blackstone Labs. So far she is getting better with age as each report comes back as good or better than the last, LOL.

I would just check the filter now to make sure there is no metal in it. You can check the filter without changing the oil, only about a half quart of oil is lost.

Made this when I first got my C4 in Jan . These magnets are incredibly powerful so I just remove the filter housing & wipe inside w/ clean rag or paper towel & also scan filter as magnets only attract ferrous metal . Bob 01 C4 31 Ford cp chp & ch, 302/350 40 ******, 302/350, IFS 38 Ford cp, 327/350, IFS 57 Belair 62 356B --long ago

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Genius! I was going to buy a magnetic plug but after seeing this, I think Im going to go for the same idea.. Where did you buy these magnets?

I liked the idea and did order some magnets but got to thinking on how the oil flows into the filter. Is the oil entering the center and the cleaned oil against the magnets? I did limited search on oil flow diagrams but did not find an answer. Thanks John '03 Targa

+1 on Blackstone - had it performed 2x now - great for piece of mind.

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http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=ZB8 Be careful handling these separately & place them at least a foot apart as they will leap a considerable distance @ high velocity to connect to each other damaging fingers &/or shattering themselves. BTW, oil enters the outer portion of the filter Bob 01 C4 31 Ford cp chp & ch, 302/350 40 ******, 302/350, IFS 38 Ford cp, 327/350, IFS 57 Belair 62 356B --long ago

I had mine analyzed from the first time I changed it, and ever since. The strength to the analysis is trend over time.

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Your PPI of the car should have included a nice test ride followed by a drive. 15 miles is a nice number of miles. Then afterwards the PPI should have checked the oil filter for any debris. This at least gives you peace of mind the IMSB isn't about to go out. For oil analysis� I'd not bother unless you were attempting to diagnose say a coolant/oil intermix problem and wanted to check for anti-freeze compounds in the oil. I'd just drive the car and change the oil/filter every 5K miles. Up to you if you want to examine the oil filter housing oil and oil filter element. When I do my own oil/filter services I kind of look the oil filter over but do not bother to drain the filter housing oil into a clean drain pan for inspection. When I have the car serviced at the dealer the tech's do not bother to do either of the above either, though I'm sure if the filter showed signs of something amiss they'd bring it to my attention.

I'm in Chicago the car was in Dallas, so test drives were out of the question due to time constraints. Only has 24k miles and besides IMS fears, extremely happy with the purchase. I think I will still at least check the filter now and put a new one on. Won't blackstone give me an early indications of metallic objects in the oil?

From what I've read, larger particulates will not be included in the analysis results.

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The limit is around 30 microns� To find these particles a particulate test is required, I have these done by Caterpillar.

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Among other things, oil analysis will give you the content of material in the oil, like metals (alum. copper, lead, iron, and other ferrous metals), silicon (can be from dirt getting past the air filter), water, anti-freeze compounds, acidity. Here's a link to what a Blackstone analysis offers: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/gas-e...e-report-1.php It is possible for an engine to suffer a catastrophic IMSB failure and the oil analysis finds nothing amiss. The failure has to be slow enough that in the case of an IMSB failure in progress ferrous metal bits get ground up/pulverized and blended with the oil to show up in the analysis. Oil analysis gives you a false sense of security. It is unlikely any failure for which you are relying upon the analysis to give you adequate forewarning of would coincide with your analysis schedule, unless you were doing this say (just a WAG) monthly or even more often. There have been plenty of reports of a car/engine going from no signs of any trouble to busted and broken in sometimes just minutes. Also, I'm not a fan of trying to use oil analysis to try to stretch the oil's service life. I do not see any benefit to the cost and bother of doing an analysis to say allow me to drive one of my cars say to 6K miles vs. the 5K miles at which I have the oil/filter service done. One favored way to get the oil sample for an analysis requires removing the the filter housing and dumping some of this oil into a sample bottle. Then the analysis is done. If it comes back ok then the filter is replaced, the oil topped up. But in the meantime the car is unusable with the filter housing removed awaiting the results of the oil analysis. There is a risk of using oil filter housing oil. This is dirty oil. The filter catches a lot of trash and that trash that doesn't remain embedded/caught in the filter remains in the oil in the filter housing. An analysis of this oil could have you tearing into the engine on a false alarm. A better way to get an oil sample is to capture some oil as it streams out of the drain hole. One doesn't want a sample taken at the start of the stream nor at the end, but from the middle. However, if I'm going to the trouble of draining the oil to capture a sample for an analysis I'm just going to drain it all and replace it. I do not want to use wear metal as a "gage" to tell me it is time to change the engine oil. I want to change the oil *before* any wear metal shows up in it. The oil is the sacrificial item here, not the engine bearings. I prefer to discard oil with some service life in it vs. running the oil to the end of its service life to the point it shortens the service life of the engine. I prefer the oil have enough service life left that I can without a second thought drive the car the same way at 4999 miles after an oil/filter service as I do at 1 mile after an oil/filter service.

Thanks for the info... As always tons of info at at time some varying opinions. I'm with you on oil change frequency. Even though BMW only does them around 15k I still pay to have them done every 5k. So BMW only pays for about every 3rd one.

+1 on checking oil and filter now I bought my car from a Porsche dealer, only to find out 2 months later that the timing chain was disintegrating... Might pull the sump that will tell you everyting....

I bought a 99 with 86K miles and no PPI / no history. I had the IMS replaced and it turned out the original was in great shape. After my first oil change showed no particles in the filter, nothing in the original sump what so ever when I put a deep sump on and a good oil analysis I was feeling a lot better about the purchase! I'll have 4 track days on the car when it hits 3000 miles on the current oil so I'm changing it then. I think Macster's post is right on, there is no reason to stretch oil changes out on these cars.