Favorite Oil Analysis Provider ?

The Wix kit on Amazon is usually $13 or less so you just need to pay around $4 for postage (first class parcel service under 13oz) to get a UOA for under $20. You'll get results within about 3 weeks via email or you can log onto their Webtrieve site to pull them yourself. The Wix kit includes TBN.

Blackstone is expensive in comparison and even MORE expensive when you pay them for TBN.
 
Blackstone - simply because they share a database of prior results from other examples.
This gives me a baseline from which to look at what my rig is showing.
 
I sent my Napa kit off to ALS a week ago and it still hasn’t showed as arrived which apparently is not uncommon from what I’ve read. Imthsi is the first time I’ve used the Napa kit. In the past I used Blackstone but it has gotten too expensive for me as I’m only really doing this for curiosity’s sake.
 
I have used Blackstone, Polaris, Wearcheck, and WIX (ALS).

Polaris is my lab, but you can get WIX kits at Rock Auto for $9.60. Search for part number 24077 on RA's site.
 
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Is Polaris the only one seems to offer the most data for the price, assuming you bought it in bulk? It appears that NAPA/WIX only has TBN included but is there other alternatives that include TBN + TAN as well without paying $50/test?
 
ALS Labs currently have these following locations you can send your samples to:

Atlanta, Georgia
Valley View, Ohio
Portland, Oregon

Burlington, Ontario
Edmonton, Alberta

I've been using Blackstone for years but they are a little pricy. The $12 for the Wix kits is hard to pass on.

I noticed the different locations on the Wix kits. Is there any advantage to sending it to one place over another? I was thinking send it to the closest lab if for no other reason. For me that looks like Oregon.
 
Is Polaris the only one seems to offer the most data for the price, assuming you bought it in bulk? It appears that NAPA/WIX only has TBN included but is there other alternatives that include TBN + TAN as well without paying $50/test?
For me, I researched and the reason I chose Polaris is:

1. The amount of certifications they have and publicly post.
2. The documented AND current ATSM processes they use.
3. The price versus feature sets given.
4. Market reputation.
 
I've been using Blackstone for years but they are a little pricy. The $12 for the Wix kits is hard to pass on.

I noticed the different locations on the Wix kits. Is there any advantage to sending it to one place over another? I was thinking send it to the closest lab if for no other reason. For me that looks like Oregon.

I did try to look into the locations a little more and I think a few years ago some BITOG members mentioned that the Ohio location is the fastest. I sent it there and it arrived last Friday and now it's still being processed. I'll let you guys know how long it takes but the account set up process took a lot of work since it required someone to manually review your package to see if it arrived and I had to follow up on that a coupe of times to get anything set up.
 
So I just received my results back online from the Ohio location.

Turnaround time:
9/25 (Friday):
Received
10/2 (Friday): Results Posted
 
This seems like a good thread to post these questions/observations.

One question YOU must answer yourself is what do you hope to get out of the analysis.

If you want fuel dilution number, is it directly measured by gas chroma..., “inferred” from flashpoint, or ignored altogether?
Polaris/Amsoil appears to directly measure (however....), Dyson did as well. Not sure who else does. Blackstone “infers.” WIX ignores.

If you want nitration / oxidation, same two labs measure it (however...), Blackstone & WIX ignore.

If you want TBN, of the 4 labs I just mentioned, all provide it...except Blackstone charges extra.

If you are concerned about antifreeze or water in your oil, someone else finish this sentence, because they could be different, and I don’t know who does well with this. Dyson appears to do good job on this. (He was critical of some labs who show percent instead of ppm, but percent is better than nothing). Maybe Dyson 1st, Blackstone #2nd, other two behind.

Warm fuzzy explanations? Dyson audio is very complete. Blackstone is usually a “don’t worry, all is well” (don’t alarm the patient) message. I’ve found Amsoil (Polaris) to be...of minimal use, though they (and Dyson, and Blackstone) will flag problem readings. No experience with WIX.

Cost? Dyson? 3x-9x the others. Amsoil gets expensive if you buy only 1, by the time you add 2-way shipping and tax, but still cheaper than Terry. Blackstone middle of the road, unless you add the TBN. WIX is cheap at NAPA, but, missing some key ingredients.

“However...” Amsoil didn’t know how to handle high oxidation reading of an oil with a high VOA reading (in their defense, I don’t know how to interpret it either...but then I’m not charging for my comments). Amsoil seemed to “wobble” on a fuel reading I sent to 2 labs, that they retested, and decided to “go with” the low reading. Amsoil provided 2.6 then 1.5% on a retest (stood behind the 1.5), but the same sample sent to Dyson read 5.3%. So obviously, I was disturbed by this.

A light bulb just went off: maybe try a “hybrid approach:” use WIX and Dyson’s “Tuner” option, which would add fuel, water, glycol, plus oxidation/nitration/sulfation, and an “antiwear” reading I don’t completely understand, to WIX’s wear metals, additives, and contaminants results. Both these together might still be under $100.

Pardon the “thinking out loud”

If you are not already Terry’s customer, I don’t know if it’s possible to become one. He is “retiring.” That said, I don’t know how much longer I (or his other customers) can count on him providing the service.
 
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This seems like a good thread to post these questions/observations. One question YOU must answer yourself is what do you hope to get out of the analysis. [...]
For the vast majority here (myself included) UOAs are more of a "hobby" versus any real utilization of data to develop a maintenance plan and so (at least from my perspective) Dyson should not even be a consideration simply due to cost. If the UOA data were truly being used, we would have more long OCI UOAs being posted here than we could read.

With that said, with how the vast majority use UOA data, ALS/WIX is more than sufficient and contains nearly every attribute needed for gasoline engines, but diesels lack soot readings. When you consider that WIX kits are typically less than $10 each at Rock Auto, it is hard to dispute using them and even I waffle at times, but I have a trend going with Polaris for my Jeep, so I will stay with them for it, but my C300 and Explorer use ALS/WIX.

I use UOAs for a few things:
  • Jeep - (engine); viscosity, TBN, silicon
  • Jeep - (axles); FE, viscosity, TAN
  • C300 - records of OC (lease car), viscosity, TBN
  • Explorer - coolant; 3.5L Ford engines have water pumps inside the engine. I want to know if it starts leaking.
Below is a screenshot taken from my ALS account which shows what they test.

30bfI9.jpg
 
For the vast majority here (myself included) UOAs are more of a "hobby" versus any real utilization of data to develop a maintenance plan and so (at least from my perspective) Dyson should not even be a consideration simply due to cost. If the UOA data were truly being used, we would have more long OCI UOAs being posted here than we could read.

With that said, with how the vast majority use UOA data, ALS/WIX is more than sufficient and contains nearly every attribute needed for gasoline engines, but diesels lack soot readings. When you consider that WIX kits are typically less than $10 each at Rock Auto, it is hard to dispute using them and even I waffle at times, but I have a trend going with Polaris for my Jeep, so I will stay with them for it, but my C300 and Explorer use ALS/WIX.

I use UOAs for a few things:
  • Jeep - (engine); viscosity, TBN, silicon
  • Jeep - (axles); FE, viscosity, TAN
  • C300 - records of OC (lease car), viscosity, TBN
  • Explorer - coolant; 3.5L Ford engines have water pumps inside the engine. I want to know if it starts leaking.
Below is a screenshot taken from my ALS account which shows what they test.

30bfI9.jpg
Yeah, it would have been more useful if I had built a spreadsheet or table showing what each lab offers. So, your “table” would be right up against one from Blackstone, and right up against Dyson's, etc, aligned so people could easily compare. Maybe when I get around to it....

I agree, Dyson pricing makes it hard for the hobbyist/casual user, but maybe the point is moot now, since he is retiring. That said, if someone has a fuel dilution problem, or some wear metal is seriously out of whack, it can become more than a hobby. If you have significant fuel dilution, and it appears that is becoming more common as DI engines become more common, then it becomes more compelling that your UOa’s include that test.

I too was leaning toward Polaris, because of this, but with round trip shipping, and tax, they are over $47 now (for me in TX). So, WIX becomes more palpable for the hobbyist. Interesting that an older WIX VOA I saw included 40c viscosity, but a recent UOA I saw did not. Similarly, someone thought they included fuel, but I haven’t seen one with that (not saying that they didn’t used to).

Full disclosure, here were the prices I “estimated” for my next UOA...correct me if I am misleading, but assuming $9 for shipping...and shipping is 2x round trip for Amsoil, and 8.25% tax, where applicable:

Dyson: $160. Dyson Tuner (gas chroma only: oxidation/nitration/sulfation: no wear metals, no contaminants, no viscosity) $70 (estimate). He will also “interpret” someone else’s lab report for $100. Possibly all past tense...though I just ordered a complete test...it’s possible he is willing to accept orders from me out of pity.
Amsoil/Polaris: $47 for one, ($84 for 2, $111 for 3) incl tax.
Blackstone estimate: $39 (assuming $9 to ship sample to them. That would be ~$49 if you wanted a TBN. Fuel Dilution they provide is an estimate, inferred from the flashpoint...which they DO measure.
WIX estimate: $23-$25 from NAPA (including shipping at est $9). No fuel, no oxidation/nitration/sulfation, but does include TBN.
 
Yeah, it would have been more useful if I had built a spreadsheet or table showing what each lab offers. So, your “table” would be right up against one from Blackstone, and right up against Dyson's, etc, aligned so people could easily compare. Maybe when I get around to it....

I agree, Dyson pricing makes it hard for the hobbyist/casual user, but maybe the point is moot now, since he is retiring. That said, if someone has a fuel dilution problem, or some wear metal is seriously out of whack, it can become more than a hobby. If you have significant fuel dilution, and it appears that is becoming more common as DI engines become more common, then it becomes more compelling that your UOa’s include that test.

I too was leaning toward Polaris, because of this, but with round trip shipping, and tax, they are over $47 now (for me in TX). So, WIX becomes more palpable for the hobbyist. Interesting that an older WIX VOA I saw included 40c viscosity, but a recent UOA I saw did not. Similarly, someone thought they included fuel, but I haven’t seen one with that (not saying that they didn’t used to).

Full disclosure, here were the prices I “estimated” for my next UOA...correct me if I am misleading, but assuming $9 for shipping...and shipping is 2x round trip for Amsoil, and 8.25% tax, where applicable:

Dyson: $160. Dyson Tuner (gas chroma only: oxidation/nitration/sulfation: no wear metals, no contaminants, no viscosity) $70 (estimate). He will also “interpret” someone else’s lab report for $100. Possibly all past tense...though I just ordered a complete test...it’s possible he is willing to accept orders from me out of pity.
Amsoil/Polaris: $47 for one, ($84 for 2, $111 for 3) incl tax.
Blackstone estimate: $39 (assuming $9 to ship sample to them. That would be ~$49 if you wanted a TBN. Fuel Dilution they provide is an estimate, inferred from the flashpoint...which they DO measure.
WIX estimate: $23-$25 from NAPA (including shipping at est $9). No fuel, no oxidation/nitration/sulfation, but does include TBN.
Not sure where you are getting the price for Amsoil/Polaris, but they are $20.50 from Amsoil (preferred pricing) and I typically wait until there is a free shipping promotion and buy several. As for dilution, there is only one cure, short OCIs, so once you establish the baseline, the UOAs can stop and move to periodic testing, thereby saving the cost of the UOA which can be applied to a shorter OCI.

WIX is less than $10 from Rock Auto and shipping is variable depending on where you are, but 10 of these would be about the same shipping cost since there is no weight to them.

Hope this helps clarify.
 
Open to discussion, but:

I don’t have a “preferred account” with Amsoil, but if you want to sell me an analysis kit at your preferred price, let’s do it.

Non-preferred is $33.90 for UPS (or $34 for USPS) return shipping included. But, shipping the kit to me in the first place is $8.99. Then add tax (8.75%) = $33.90 + $8.99 ship + $3.43 tax = $46.32. OK, I should have rounded down to $46 instead of rounding up to $47. I stand corrected. However, I tried to show that buying 2 kits incurs only single $8.99 inbound shipping, same as 1 kit, but the return shipping is baked in...per sample. Buying 3 kits gets you “free (inbound) shipping.” I won’t recalculate all the prices given my $0.68 error, but I think you’ll agree my math is close to correct.

I tried to factor tax and shipping in to all options. Dyson charged shipping to me but ( I think) return shipping of used sample is included in price...and no tax. I don’t recall Blackstone charging tax, but I added same $8.99-$9.00 shipping for returning a sample to them...which I think they don’t cover in their $30 fee. Similar for wix: tax when buying at NAPA, used same $9 shipping charge, but tax only on the initial purchase amount (no shipping of the clean kit to me).
 

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Open to discussion, but:

I don’t have a “preferred account” with Amsoil, but if you want to sell me an analysis kit at your preferred price, let’s do it.

Non-preferred is $33.90 for UPS (or $34 for USPS) return shipping included. But, shipping the kit to me in the first place is $8.99. Then add tax (8.75%) = $33.90 + $8.99 ship + $3.43 tax = $46.32. OK, I should have rounded down to $46 instead of rounding up to $47. I stand corrected. However, I tried to show that buying 2 kits incurs only single $8.99 inbound shipping, same as 1 kit, but the return shipping is baked in...per sample. Buying 3 kits gets you “free (inbound) shipping.” I won’t recalculate all the prices given my $0.68 error, but I think you’ll agree my math is close to correct.

I tried to factor tax and shipping in to all options. Dyson charged shipping to me but ( I think) return shipping of used sample is included in price...and no tax. I don’t recall Blackstone charging tax, but I added same $8.99-$9.00 shipping for returning a sample to them...which I think they don’t cover in their $30 fee. Similar for wix: tax when buying at NAPA, used same $9 shipping charge, but tax only on the initial purchase amount (no shipping of the clean kit to me).
I buy the KIT-06 kits from Amsoil (no pre-paid shipping) and do it during a free shipping promo. I then ship at least two at a time via USPS to Polaris which also saves as opposed to paying shipping on each one.

Buy WIX at Rock Auto at less than $10 each and do it in bulk so the shipping is spread across multiple kits.

Not saying you are doing it wrong, but I am saying there are other ways to achieve the same goal with less cost.
 
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It may not have come through on my previous posts, but I have a”soft spot” for Polaris (Amsoil), 2nd Place to Dyson, at considerably lower cost. So thanks for tip on how to minimize cost. Still, if you are willing to spend more, and don’t need Terry to tell you if your AL / CU / FE numbers are okay, a WIX / Dyson Tuner combo might be better than a straight Amsoil offering, though at twice the cost (better than 3x-4x cost).
 
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thanks CarbonSteel. Ordered 2. But, given some issues I’ve had with the USPS, I did the UPS prepaid instead. If I ship to OAI in Houston, it will get there in a day (or 2). However, this time I am not in a hurry so may send to the main lab in Indiana...unless prepaid dictates which lab is available to me.
 
Same/similar question as original, but with a twist: I would like a report on some Mercon LV ATF out of a Ford 6r80 transmission with 60k miles. What are most important aspects of a report for ATF? All providers will do the wear metals and visc, but oxidation, nitration, acid / TAN might be too important to ignore.

By the way, I have not found a VOA for Motorcraft Mercon LV...or any other licensed LV product for that matter. Anyone else seen one?
 
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