Blackstone Labs is our trusted partner in maintaining our customers’ engines in top condition, identifying trends before they become problems, and helping us deliver service for our customers’ aircraft to remain SAFE, AIRWORTHY, LEGAL, and RIGHT!
We first thought the high temp on the oil was due to a couple of small exhaust leaks at the cylinder flange blowing on the push rod tubes. The AI was in the process of replacing the gaskets when he asked if I had cut the filter open. He too was worried about the source of aluminum that you alerted us to. There was nothing in the filter material but the bottom of the filter looked like glitter.
He stopped the reinstall and we both decided to pull a cylinder to inspect. We did, and found that the wrist pin had abnormal wear,(to say the least first pix). Not what I wanted to see. Unanimous decision was to pull all 6. Not good, it appears that the overhaul was better on paper than reality. Four of the six wrist pins are the same.
I am fortunate in that the AI’s father owns an aircraft engine shop. He stopped by and within 10 minutes found that the connecting rod bushings were worn more than 371 hours could do. Long story short, we are going to pull the engine for a complete tear down and hopefully it can be overhauled right. Thank you and Blackstone for possibly saving our lives. The next time you get an oil sample it will either be a newly overhauled or a new engine.
Lucy is part of a magnificent herd of children who all inherited the family tendency to be jacks of all trades (even if masters of none).
This might mean she’s had less of a career and more of a Series of Interesting Events, but it translates pretty well into fulfilling her designated role in almost every group as The Mom Friend. Formally, she’s been trained in English and history; informally, she knows a little bit about everything from construction (and destruction) to lutherie. When she’s not writing oil reports, Lucy can usually be found reading or writing a new book, turning curtains into costumes, chasing chickens, or eating bread.
Born and raised in Fort Wayne, Katie would love to tell you that she used to live in San Francisco. She is working on not mentioning it so often. She’s been a professional gift wrapper, a college instructor, a digital marketing copywriter, and a project manager, and now she is happy to be able to say she’s a full-time writer, aka her dream job. Katie has been a writer since she knew what words were, and stories and storytelling have always had her attention. Luckily, the other things she likes—cats, goat cheese, and fancy lattes—are good companions to settling down with a story, whether that’s a soap opera or a novel. Other than her two cats, Rupert and Ned, the other love of Katie’s life is her 1870s gablefront Craftsman/bungalow-style house in West Central.
Olivia earned her degree in video production and screenwriting from Ball State University. While there, she founded and served as president for the Cardinal Aces, BSU’s very first drone club, and studied abroad in Korea for advanced video production. She holds her own commercial drone pilot’s license. She also pursued a minor in Japanese, which she has been studying for nearly a decade. This took her to Japan in 2019. Aside from traveling, Olivia also loves film – probably more than anyone she knows. Particularly horror. In fact, she just finished acting as assistant director and producer for her very first feature-length slasher film. When not on set (or looking for a set job) Olivia chips away at her dark fantasy novel or playing D&D.
I absolutely love how simple you make this process for us non-professionals!
Thanks for the great summary and the care that is taken to compare results against run hours. This report is invaluable to me. I’m a 60- something female that never even changed the oil in her car. Bought a boat so I could cruise to Canada and back and decided I needed to know how to do all the maintenance, winterizing, etc. by myself. This report gives me peace of mind that I’m maintaining the engine properly. I won’t talk about the quart of oil that ended up in my lap and bilge this year!
Thanks for the great service. Very much appreciated!!
Before coming to work answering phones and setting up samples at Blackstone, Jason C spent 5 years remodeling spaces for his dad’s company. Jason didn’t give us a lot to work with for his bio, besides the fact that he speaks Spanish, he’s a dog guy, and he’s into Anime and Manga. So let’s play two lies and a truth, shall we? Only one of these things is an actual name of a dog Jason has: Tobby, Dobby, Knobby. (You’ll have to call him here at Blackstone to find out if your guess is correct!).
Sweet, thank you very much for the detailed analysis. I appreciate your personal attention and notes, thank you for the congratulations on the new truck.
It certainly is a fun zippy truck!
I expect y’all don’t hear back often from folks, but I wanted to say thank you for giving that personal touch to the report. You make the world more connected, more human. :)
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Blackstone Laboratories
416 E Pettit Ave
Fort Wayne, IN 46806
Talk to a human:
(260) 744-2380
A Newsletter With Oil the News That's Fit to Print!
© Copyright 2025 | Blackstone Laboratories, Inc. | All Rights reserved
Send samples to:
Blackstone Laboratories
416 E Pettit Ave
Fort Wayne, IN 46806
Talk to a human:
(260) 744-2380
© Copyright 2025 | Blackstone Laboratories, Inc. | All rights reserved
