I pump the oil into the empty oil back into used containers I have on hand. Autozone takes used oil/transmission fluid, coolant, brake fluid etc. That's where I drop it off when I get around to it. Usually gab some windshield washer when I'm there too to say thanks.

On the vacuum v drain method question. I like many others do it this way as it is so simple. A one beer task. Clean and quick. Also I bought the pump so I gots to get my money's worth. The vacuum gets it all out. No worries whatsoever.

Only benefit to removing the plug as far as I can see would be to remove any metal particulate from the magnetic plug. I know from other threads on here and PowerfulUK videos that some plugs are magnetic, some are not. But mostly it's because I'm a lazy POS and love the simplicity this method confers. YMMV I have no doubt other more knowledgeable folks would have a more robust argument in favor of one method or the other.

 

5-10 hours. The first time I did mine it maybe took 20 some mins to remove as I had to figure things out. Putting the panels all back on could't have taken more than 5 mins.

 

Third oil change at 35000 miles.

Blackstone Labs Oil Report

• P400
• 35,000miles on the odometer.
• This was the third oil change. 15,000 miles, 25,000 miles, 35,000 miles
• The oil sample is 10,000 miles old.

Still showing raised silicone, iron, copper and manganese suggestive of dust ingress.
Dust gets in, raising Silicon levels and acting as an abrasive on the metal of the engine.
A bit worrisome for longterm ownership. I'd be very interested to learn if anyone else is seeing anything similar.

"This report does show some nice decreases at aluminum and copper. What gives us pause is that iron and silicon barely decreased. We were thinking the excess silicon in the first sample was just sealer left from break-in, but check for air intake leaks just in case the silicon that's left is from dirt. That could be the reason iron (steel wear) didn't really improve. Or, maybe a little more steel wear than average is just normal for your engine after 10K-mile oil changes. If the air intake checks out, follow up at your next regular oil change to continue building trends."

 

I wonder what the flashpoint becomes after the recommended change interval of 21K miles. P400 engine generates a lot of heat...after parking in my garage it actually heats the inside of my garage to about 50 degrees on a 30 degree day.

 

I wish I would have done this at my first oil change at 11k miles. The service center I went to said it looked like diesel oil it was so dirty

 

@gavin - have you ever sent Blackstone a sample of new oil for baseline comparison?

 

No I have not done that but I'm sure the specs could be got from the manufacturer. It's a good idea to know where you start with. Silicon is either sealants or dirt. The latter is rather worrisome. Air-box seemed clean last time I changed he filter but I'll need to look again.

 

Racking up the miles Feargus/. This is indeed interesting.

Curious to know - Did you do a bunch of summer trips on the dusty ORBDR or WABDR (Oregon/Washington backcountry discovery routes for those of you not in the area who may be unfamiliar)?

I did in summers past couple years & wondered about all the dust (ie RAI etc etc). It was like a fine grained sandstorm every day I was on certain trails. Was not expecting it. (inside the car, in my mouth, on my tongue, left a mist on the headliner, still finding it under the seats or under components, etc)

 

No BDR routes although they’re on my list. I did do quite a bit of dusty tracks in summer. There’s usually a low level of dirt/dust in the cabin surfaces. Nothing very extreme though. I’ve driven much dustier in other places where you’d feel it/see it everywhere. The air filter wasn’t very dusty at last swap. Internals of the box looked spotless.

engine bay is dirty and dusty of course. An air leak proximal to the filter is what I need to look for. I have no other way to account for the silicon.

 

I have to do oil analysis on my turbine engines. The difference is, we actually have a reference. There are certain markers in various bearings, so an elevated level of antimony points to the #3 bearing and so forth. Without a reference, it is just a table of numbers. You can do trend analysis, but to what effect, what are you trending? At what point do you throw away the engine, get it overhauled and so forth. We have actual numbers that let us know these points, what the problem cause is and so on. Just change the oil and hope for the best.

Silicone, I get elevated levels in aircraft in certain parts of the world. It is very fine, goes right through the filter and there is little you can do about it. We don't have filters on the turbine engines, but being up a couple of miles does isolate you from dust. So it is just stuff that is so fine it stays in suspension in the atmosphere. We also have a reference point we just change the oil, which is stupid expensive and derived from Castor Beans. Big plus, your skin gets a bad reaction to it and certain brands stain your paint, even though it appears clear (Mobil Jet Oil).

My point; do it if you like tables of numbers. Unless JLR publishes a reference for you to compare it to, your the entire data set.