Thinking About Oil/Filter Change

A good summary of the issues. Thank you for posting.

 

I have a sampling kit from Blackstone which I intend to use for analysis. They told me to please drive at least 1000 miles before sending it in. However the car is now of the road for the year as I will not be able to drive it before the salt and snow arrive so I think I'll send it in as is : ~800 miles.

 

I've sent oil samples to Blackstone. They are the go-to company.

I believe they really want to see oil that has been substantially used. After only 800 miles, if your engine is running well, I expect they will just report that the oil looks fine and could have been run longer. They won't provide much insight.

They also need to know what oil was in the vehicle. I made that mistake when I first bought the Ferrari and sent them a sample at my first oil change. I didn't know what oil was in the oil pan so they could not compare my oil's profile to that oil's fresh profile they would have on file. Their analysis didn't provide insight into the condition of the engine because they didn't know the oil's starting point.

 

We are beating a dead horse here. If the OP doesn't want to change the filter every oil change or if he wants to change the oil every 10,000 miles it is his choice. Time to move on.

 

Indeed, but that will be insight itself to extend the oil changes. I won't know unil I submit it.