Originally Posted By: sammy
Originally Posted By: msmoke00
The acid test proves absolutely nothing. Try doing that with used oil and you'll get the same effect. Acids are polar compounds (water is polar also), while oil is non polar. Try mixing oil and water and you'll never be able to do it. As long as there is a film of non polar oil blocking the path to your hand the acid will never touch the skin.
The BG rep did this at our shop and I kind of laughed at him. We still use some BG products, but I don't take them all as gospel and their marketing like some of their videos is comical.
According to blackstone TBN is motor oil starts usually between 6 and 14, and goes down with use, especially in the beginning. A higher TBN leads to less acid in your oil. The only thing in your oil that combats acid is your additive package, just as you say oil and acid don't mix so nothing in oil itself can combat acid, right? Now if your oil's TBN which is helpful in combating acid is between 6 and 14, and you add a product that TBN is 33, then wouldn't it stand to reason your oil's TBN will go up thus helping to fight acids better then straight oil? Is there a problem with having more TBN in fighting acids in your car, especially considering TBN always go's down as you use your oil?
A strong base is just as bad as a strong acid; think alkaline batteries.
That said, adding 1qt of a TBN 33 additive to 3qt of oil with a TBN of 1 should yield something pretty [censored] close to a TBN of 18, which I wouldn't consider too high. I'd add the stuff to a cold engine, to reduce the likelihood that the strong base content would react with my the metal in the engine, and run the engine immediately after adding the stuff to get it mixed into the oil, for the same reason.
