Originally Posted By: badtlc
forget TBN/TAN. If you are serious about tracking the oil condition, you need to start with virgin nitration, oxidation, sulfation, viscosity, flashpoint measurements. Those are the important ones to monitor for oil condition.
Sorry, but while those may be important for some analyses, saying TBN and TAN should be forgotten is dead wrong.
Simple examples: TBN = zero and/or TAN = 100%
Originally Posted By: btanchors
OK, let me explain what I am doing...
I agree, if the goal is to achieve the most economical use of resources, I am doing a very poor job.
My overall purpose is to document and understand the break-in process and to set myself up in the future for consistent results. Specifically:
1) Is TBN depletion really non-linear? I am curious to see how quickly it comes down, and figure out when TAN starts increasing.
2) How long does it take before break-in element levels stabilize?
3) I want to wash out any remnants of break in oil and contaminants so when I *do* start extending OCIs, I'll know these items will not be influencing my results.
My plan is to increase OCIs until I reach 10K miles (assuming UOA results indicate this is safe, which I do not anticipate being a problem).
The next UOA (and oil change) will occur at 10K miles (5K on the oil), at which time I will review the results, and if OK, I plan to take it all the way to 20K, with 10K miles on the oil. Assuming everything is OK at that point, my plan for that point on is oil changes and UOAs every 10K miles or 1 year, whichever occurs first.
+1! Keep posting to let us know how it's going!