Yeah but in this case both labs had a series of identical samples and they show an opposite trend. This is very worrying. I would not rule out that some of these oil labs are actually scams. I don’t see a lot of options to explain the above.
I was going to send the third sample to a firm here in the UK – an offshoot of the former Ministry of Defence. I would hope they have good equipment. They changed hands in 2011 so I will email them re prices. They used to be £25.
The “interesting” thing about this is that if the equipment readings are accurate and predictable only to within a factor of 2x to 3x, it would explain why one might do several consecutive samples, say every 25hrs, and get a big spike on just one of them, which never re-occurs. I’ve seen those and they are worrying at the time.
Do you keep some of the oil? It might be interesting to send some more of it to the same lab and see if they get the same results.
Obviously they should because it’s from the same batch…..but if it was significantly different…..
Blackstone wrote back saying they mixed up my sample with the one before, and here is the new data
Maybe they just tweaked the numbers to give you a plausible answer? How would they mix up samples, isn’t the only thing this company is supposed to do take samples, run them through a chromatograph and record the data? I presume the data collection is full automated.
I am not sure these companies are to be trusted with results like this.
I asked them how they could be sure. They sent me back a long email describing how they established that the correct sample had the correct stuff in it for my use of Camguard and 50/50 15W50/W80 which is obviously a rare thing to be doing.
So I believe them. Blackstone have a good reputation in the USA.
I still want to send the 3rd sample to somebody but the obvious UK firm is nonresponsive so I will phone them up tomorrow.
I still have about 5 of the prepaid Avlab kits so that many of the next samples will go to both companies.
The actual numbers are all perfectly fine, for the engine type. I have seen manu fluctuations with Avlab since 2005.
“I asked them how they could be sure. They sent me back a long email describing how they established that the correct sample had the correct stuff in it for my use of Camguard and 50/50 15W50/W80 which is obviously a rare thing to be doing.
So I believe them. Blackstone have a good reputation in the USA.
I still want to send the 3rd sample to somebody but the obvious UK firm is nonresponsive so I will phone them up tomorrow.
I still have about 5 of the prepaid Avlab kits so that many of the next samples will go to both companies.
The actual numbers are all perfectly fine, for the engine type. I have seen manu fluctuations with Avlab since 2005".
.
The original Blackstone sample marked 1-2-14 is obviously incorrect because it contains no Camguard (no calcium tracer). I do not know if the second one is the correct one but it seems to be and it shows Camguard in it.
Do you add additional Camguard with makeup oil? I recommend adding 2 ounces with each quart. I preblend 2 ounces into new quarts of oil, mark the and keep them in the plane for future use.
Ed
The original Blackstone sample marked 1-2-14 is obviously incorrect because it contains no Camguard (no calcium tracer).
Very good to have your input, Ed.
The UK company which some UK pilots used, formerly the Ministry of Defence / Qinetiq, is now here and they have a £100 minimum order charge (they may supply a number of prepaid kits for that) so I am not in a hurry to test the 3rd sample…
Do you add additional Camguard with makeup oil? I recommend adding 2 ounces with each quart. I preblend 2 ounces into new quarts of oil, mark the and keep them in the plane for future use.
Yes I do.
At each oil change I put 10 quarts in (5qt of each of 15W50 and W80), plus about 80% of the Camguard bottle.
Then I use the remaining 20% of the Camguard bottle to pre-mix about 4 of the 1-qt oil bottles and keep those for topups.
So basically one whole bottle of Camguard gets used up between engine services, over 13-14 quarts of oil.
Update:
Intertek UK will sell you five prepaid kits for £100 (plus 20% VAT I assume) and they report on
Nickel
Vanadium
Silver
Titanium
Zinc
Magnesium
Calcium
Phosphorus
Iron
Lead
Silicon
Chromium
Aluminium
Copper
Tin
Sodium
Molybdenum
Beryllium
Tungsten
Barium
Cadmium
Considering the postage to the USA, and the frequent very long airmail delays (up to 8 weeks), this is fairly good value.
It’s been a number of years since a UK aviation disti was selling the Avlab.com prepaid kits for £6.50!
At each oil change I put 10 quarts in (5qt of each of 15W50 and W80), plus about 80% of the Camguard bottle.
Peter in the summer do you mix 5qt of each of 15W50 and W100. Rather than w80
