Hi all, my current understanding is that TBN is a measurement of the alkaline additives in an oil which in the case of a UOA seems to be one factor used to determine how much longer the oil can remain in service. In almost every VOA or UOA I've seen TBN is always mentioned in reference to the oils useful life. I've seen the phrase "TBN is still strong at x.xx, re-sample in 3000 miles." in several Blackstone reports.
What I'm wondering is can the TBN of a new oil be used to gauge how many miles it should go before being sampled and tested to determine if it's still serviceable oil?
My situation is that I have an extensively modified bi-turbo Audi V6. It's a new build, never installed in a vehicle. Engine bearing clearances are intentionally looser than stock to the point that it's spec'd for a 50w oil per the engine builder. I can go into greater detail if need be but I figured for now lets keep it simple. So that's one part of the equation, I need a 50w oil. The other part is the turbocharger manufacturer has a specified list of oils that they recommend be used or else they will not uphold their warranty on the turbos. Plenty of options to choose from on their list so that isn't really a problem. It seems like they're just wanting an oil at or above 1300 ppm phosphorous to be used.
I looked up UOA's and VOA's for every oil on their list and the one I keep going back to is Mobil 1 Racing 0w-50. I like the add pack and the TBN comes in at 7.9, at least on the VOA I found.
From my limited knowledge a TBN of 7.9 doesn't seem catastrophically low like some of the VOA's I've seen for lets say, engine break in oils, which are obviously intended to be used on a very short term basis. So I'm wondering, would it be reasonable to run the oil for 3000 miles and then do a sample? Or should I be conservative and test sooner? Thanks for thoughts and opinions.
What I'm wondering is can the TBN of a new oil be used to gauge how many miles it should go before being sampled and tested to determine if it's still serviceable oil?
My situation is that I have an extensively modified bi-turbo Audi V6. It's a new build, never installed in a vehicle. Engine bearing clearances are intentionally looser than stock to the point that it's spec'd for a 50w oil per the engine builder. I can go into greater detail if need be but I figured for now lets keep it simple. So that's one part of the equation, I need a 50w oil. The other part is the turbocharger manufacturer has a specified list of oils that they recommend be used or else they will not uphold their warranty on the turbos. Plenty of options to choose from on their list so that isn't really a problem. It seems like they're just wanting an oil at or above 1300 ppm phosphorous to be used.
I looked up UOA's and VOA's for every oil on their list and the one I keep going back to is Mobil 1 Racing 0w-50. I like the add pack and the TBN comes in at 7.9, at least on the VOA I found.
From my limited knowledge a TBN of 7.9 doesn't seem catastrophically low like some of the VOA's I've seen for lets say, engine break in oils, which are obviously intended to be used on a very short term basis. So I'm wondering, would it be reasonable to run the oil for 3000 miles and then do a sample? Or should I be conservative and test sooner? Thanks for thoughts and opinions.