Ray, not trying to pick an argument with you bc I know you have way more experience here:

For what he is doing, does he need to do a base test if what he is really concerned about is particulates? Base yes would make sense if he was trying to judge oil life expectancy using lubricity/soot/acids.

When my engines get back in the boat (if nobody buys it, hint, hint), I plan to do base +2/6/12 hours and see how much degradation is really occurring. Especially the way I drive (grandma slow) I think I would have a tendency to overchange.

Randy

thanks for the advice Brick!

i will def loo into an analysis!

side note:

im running an open engine bay with over the transom water injected headers (like on a jet boat) . i know i know everybody hates em...but i feel that if they are set up right they can work very well. i havnt had any problems with reversion yet...no milkshake in the oil.....

im running the system with the water coming out of the intake from the port under the thermostat...it "t's" off to a normally closed 1/4" NPT water solenoid valve on each header inlet.

the water solenoids are controlled by a digital adjustable RPM window switch that i have programmed to shut off water supply by cutting power to the solenoids under 2000 rpm.

ive kept close watch on my oil....it seems to be fine so far.

any more thoughts please feel free to comment.

Bustedbrick:

I understand your concern and question but for an oil analysis to be complete and accurate it is usually considered to be the correct thing to do to test the base unused oil because so many brands, blends and types of oil have a lot of different compounds in the oil that it is kind of a good idea to identify these, then when the same exact oil from the engine is tested it will show only the added increases in many elements in the oil as well as indicate any increased numbers in metals, salts, silicon, antifreeze, fuel etc. that have shown up in the oil in increased levels that would be identifiable to wear, wear points in the engine as well as other issues that could lead to problems.
Obviously with limited use there is not going to be a big decrease in TBN numbers , anti-wear packages and items like that.
Usually most boaters who do their oil changes themselves keep some of their same unused oil for adds when needed so its very simple to turn in both samples at the time of testing.

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

R @ G laboratories in Tampa did mine. Reasonable and they did a nice report. I'll use them again. Best of luck! Randy