Bypass Oil Filtration - Any Hard Data Available?

[Toobuilder]

Send a brand new oil sample straight from the bottle, and see what was there to start with....

Not required according to Blackstone. They say they have the TBN's on all the known oils out there. That's one of the reasons they ask for the oil type on the submittal form.

 

[Toobuilder]

I was curioius what TBN meant. Internet says....

In short, a TBN (Total Base Number) measures how much base (as in base vs. acid) additive is in the oil to offset the effects of acids coming into the oil from combustion and other sources. Scientifically speaking, the TBN is one of two “neutralization number” tests run on oils.

Or more in context of knuckle dragging pilots - how much of the additive package remains in the oil... How much "life" is left in the oil.

 

[moosepileit]

PMFJI, Saw a good YT on this for a diesel application, liquid cooled engine, but bypass results. YMWV..

First 9 minutes, TBN vs TAN numbers.

 

[Freemasm]

PMFJI, Saw a good YT on this for a diesel application, liquid cooled engine, but bypass results. YMWV..

First 9 minutes, TBN vs TAN numbers.

Gave it a half-hearted watch. To be consistent/fair here, the video maker's problem was with the crap hardware; not with the approach.

 

[KMMUflyer]

I was chatting with a CFI at a local school that has 75 aircraft at one location. He said that a surprising percentage were routinely in the hangar or out of service, in the que, for their oil change and 100 hour inspections.

This made me think of 2 things.

1) The Benefit for a busy operation like that to keep their planes flying with increased oil change intervals, could be significant. They might be able to reduce the number of planes, which is significant cost.

2) One way to accelerate the testing in calendar time would be to test it in a flight school environment where the planes are flown many hours a day.

 

[ve0kog]

The Benefit for a busy operation like that to keep their planes flying with increased oil change intervals, could be significant.

If they could increase from 50 to 100 hours oil change interval to co-inside with the 100 hr inspections it may save them on labor and a small amount of the materials cost. Would Lycoming need to bless the polishing filter first which seems like a long shot?

 

[Toobuilder]

If they could increase from 50 to 100 hours oil change interval to co-inside with the 100 hr inspections

Lycoming already has an increased oil change interval for unleaded fuel. I was hoping to show that the bypass filter was going to have a significant reduction on the lead content for use with 100LL, but the jury is still out on that. In addition, the TBN values show that my 50 hour interval is too long even with with the bypass filter.

 

[Freemasm]

One would think TBN values could be rebalanced with an additive vs. bulk oil replacement. Anything is better than short cycling the oil's usable life. Still hope.

 

[Toobuilder]

It's my understanding that the big rig fleet managers do just that. Would be nice to find the appropriate concoction of additives for our lead burners and dump in a can every 25 hours or so and see how long the base load of oil can live

 

[Freemasm]

@Toobuilder

Updates?
New oil analysis?

 

[Toobuilder]

About 45 hours on the oil, so close to another sample. One slight correction to my prior stated plan is that this load is also still under bypass filtration…. I did not deactivate it at last oil change. Hopefully, THIS will be the time I deactivate it.

 

[Freemasm]

About 45 hours on the oil, so close to another sample. One slight correction to my prior stated plan is that this load is also still under bypass filtration…. I did not deactivate it at last oil change. Hopefully, THIS will be the time I deactivate it.

If the analysis numbers keep trending positively, would the polishing filter stay on for another cycle?

 

[Toobuilder]

“If” the numbers are again better after this 3rd (150 hours) of operation, then shutting it off will tell a tale, I think. If the numbers stabilize or get better on the next 50 hours then it’s fair to say the bypass is not the contributor to the improved performance. However, If they dramatically turn back toward the very first oil sample, then we should be able to point to a positive influence with some certainty.

 

[Toobuilder]

New oil sample with the bypass active. I have closed off the bypass now and next oil sample will be just the standard filter.

Of note on this sample is the significant change in TBN and lead. This 50 hours had a lot of formation flying so keep that in mind compared to the almost exclusive cross country time of the previous sample.