I thought you fellow LSlovers might be interested in my experiment. I started reading posts on "BOBISTHEOILGUY" site about oil use in cars. I get it that a late model LS is no car to experiment upon and this really is just posting results, not a potentially damaging experiment.

I sent an oil sample to Blackstone Labs for testing about about 5000 miles on the oil, 30,000 miles on the car (my 2009 LS460 AWD bot new in August 2009). This was on Mobil1 Synthetic 0W-20.

As you can see from the results, the oil did not hold up too well for what's supposed to be the cream of the crop, so to speak. I did not follow the suggestion to run another 2000 miles, and had the oil changed shortly thereafter with Toyota 0W-20 Synthetic. The BOBISTHEOILGUY folks seem to think that this TOYOTA oil is better, and I was able to buy it for under $6/qt by buying a 12 qt case from a Toyota dealer. I plan to sample this oil, too, at 5000 miles and see. I guess because the car is still under warranty I'll keep doing the 5000 mile changes, but it would be interesting to see if the oil holds up well enough to go longer. For what it's worth, I've been sampling on my wife's 2006 RX330 AWD and the Mobil1 results were even worse. That engine has a history of sludge...although not so much in the RX330-RX350 configuration as much as the prior body-style RX300. Nevertheless I am experimenting with different oils on that car too. The testing costs close to $50 with overnight shipping (I did regular mail the first time and it took 3 weeks to get from Pittsburgh to Indiana, literally), so it's really not cost effective as an oil change isn't that much more. Nevertheless I figure for a few hundred dollars this is interesting to know etc. Maybe some of you are doing oil sampling and can share your results too.

 

I am personally suspicious of oil testing by independent labs.

Why? First, I have seen more than one article where samples of the same oil were sent to various labs and the results that came back were greatly varied.

Second, I think testing oil is a highly intensive process that requires a larger quantity of sample oil than most labs will receive.

I think the big guys - Mobil, Chevron, etc. have the ability (facility, time,money) to really test oil. The other guys I'm not so sure about.

 

I was thinking along the same lines Greg. Recently some TV network tested some testing labs by sending them a product that they knew the exact contents. Most of the testing labs sent back erroneous reports of the contents of the product. Some were so bad that they clearly never even tested the product. That's not to say Blackstone doesn't test properly. They may be totally reputable.

Thanks for posting that Daryl. I didn't even know about that site and I will be reading more on it soon. And I admire your pursuit of knowledge!

 

I saw the TV show, they were testing vitamins and supplements, but I'm sure the same thing can happen with oil testing as well...

 

No doubt many "tests" are not. But Blackstone has a good reputation...lots of BOB folks use them and sometimes send placebo (fresh oil) or oils that were tested elsewhere. I admit I wouldn't sign a sworn affidavit for their accuracy, but I guess I would be more suspicious if you guys questioned them and my sample was "fabulous". It's harder to come up with "you have too much of this" than "you don't have much of this".