How long does new oil need to be used to provide data for oil analysis

[dhs-9]

I have a boat with twin Cummins diesel BTA 5.9L engines each with about 800 hours on them. The engines had about 15 hours on each after the oil sample was taken for analysis. Sent the samples to Blackstone everything was pretty much within specs however Iron in Port engine was 62 and 37 in the starboard. The normal was 50. Blackstone could not give a conclusive reason they said a couple of oil changes should clear this up or it could be accelerated wear. They also said these readings would be more consistent with oil with 100 hours on it not 15-20 and could be due to the way the engine was run,

I do not take the boat out or run it. It pretty much stays at the dock as we live on it on the weekends. I want to re do the oil test and was wondering how long do the engines need to run at a minimum time to provide enough use to give reliable data

The boat can be idled or run up to any RPM you want without engaging the propellers (warm up mode). This is what I was planning to do to put time on the oil before testing. Will idling for the time needed to produce a useful oil test harm the engine. Should I idle at 700 RPM minimum idle or at some higher RPM.

Thanks very much for all you help

 

[JoelB]

I imagine idling will not give you a real world case of engine wear. The longer the better really as far as sampling. Up to the interval you will actually run the oil going forward.

 

[Kira]

I can't comment on idling an engine at 700 rpm to attain a "minimum use threshold" at which oil analyses become more accurate.
What I do "know" is that disuse is hard on machines and oil and batteries and likely other things.
Don't engines have to actually work to break in properly?

Do you change your own oil? Are multiple oil changes cost prohibitive to you?
Are you assured that the oil in each engine was changed? Lotsa grumbling on this board about the quality of today's workforce.
...changed the same way? Could one engine have been "carelessly suction pumped" while the other was thoughtfully sump drained?
...that the samples were even handled and labeled correctly?

What might develop is a situation where you just rely on more frequent oil changes.
It'd be cheaper than repetitive oil analyses.
Actually, leaning towards doing more oil changes than absolutely necessary is where most of us are.

 

[fantastic]

Do you know how many hours you put on in 1 year? Start there if it's more than 15.

 

[jeffy876]

0 seconds. Everything is data. It's all useful.

But for your case I'd say several hours at least, but if not then just keep going longer