1. Run the engine (don't just idle) before you take the sample to get the oil at operating temperature — about 20 minutes should do it. Getting the oil up to operating temperature should help cook out any normal moisture or fuel build-up.
    
2. If you're taking your sample while changing the oil, let some oil drain before you fill up the bottle. Try not to get either the first or the last oil out of the pan.
    
3. If you can't access the pan and need to use a pump, thread the tube down the dipstick and pump a sample up into the sampling bottle.
    
4. We need 3 oz to complete all our tests. But even if you only have 1 oz, we can still do at least two, if not three, of our tests. If you have questions about whether we'll be able to work with your sample, call us.
    
5. Complete the oil sample information slip.
    
   1. For the Unit Number field, please identify what you'd like to call this engine (e.g., Port, Starboard, Generator).
       
   2. For the Make-Up Oil field, please put the number of quarts added between oil changes.
       
   3. Wrap the oil sample in the gray material and put both in the plastic bag. Roll together the sample, information slip, and a check or credit card number. Put it all in the black mailer tube and send it to us.

Some post offices mistake oil samples for hazardous material. Oil is not hazardous material. Blackstone Laboratories' oil sample kit meets all postal requirements. To see a letter you can give the post office to help reassure them, please click here.