Anyone using blotter tests to decide OCI?

[Curious Kid]

I was just curious if anyone has/is using the blotter test to decide to continue to use or change the oil, besides other seasonal factors such as oil viscosity relative to coming changes in ambient temperatures? And if so, over how many miles or hours has this been done, and to what degree of success does one think this has been?

Thanks for your time,
Curious Kid.

 

[flux]

I've never used the blotter test, I feel that a UOA will
best decide how your engine is handling your oil.

Just as an example. How can a blotter test determine if
your oil has sheared? That's just one example of how
a blotter test would not be a good indicator.

 

[LargeCarManX2]

I use it to determine how the OCI is going. I have determined by UOI the OCI, but the blotter is a good check along the way.

 

[Curious Kid]

Yes, I know there's areas where the blotter test has it short comings, but as far as an indication of oil shearing (loss in viscosity), I would in conjunction be observing oil pressure and oil tempuratures through the OCI. Sorry for not noting this in the origional post.

I'm still new to the "blotter way of things", so if anyone has further insights to outline it's limitations that would much be appreciated.

Thanks for replys.

 

[4esorselrahc]

Quote:

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Yes, I know there's areas where the blotter test has it short comings, but as far as an indication of oil shearing (loss in viscosity), I would in conjunction be observing oil pressure and oil tempuratures through the OCI. Sorry for not noting this in the origional post.

I'm still new to the "blotter way of things", so if anyone has further insights to outline it's limitations that would much be appreciated.

Thanks for replys.

---

I'd bet you could account for shearing by measuring the length of time it takes the blot to spread at a given temp (the lower the viscosity the faster it would spread). You'd have to keep the temp constant, though and that may be difficult. But it could be done I think.

 

[4esorselrahc]

But I don't think the blotter test is a very good way to decide oci. It is much more of a qualitative assessemnt of the oil condition.

 

[Warlord]

I do them for fun mostly. Other than checking for excessive fuel I doubt they're of much use.

 

[Curious Kid]

Thanks...just pondering the possibilities.

 

[JAG]

I'm not but I think if you do them every 500 to 1000 miles to track the trends, you may gain some insight. I THINK that if you see one that's funky and very different from the previous one, you may have found when the oil has been run too long. Perhaps I'll start doing this for fun and experimentation. But beware of false positives (looks good but isn't) and false negatives (looks bad but isn't). If it goes funky in 2k miles, the oil is likely still fine and the method has revealed a weakness. Same for if at 15k miles (as if one would run that long), the blotters still look about the same, it is likely revealing false positives.