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15000 mile oil change.

I sent two samples of the Spectro 20/50 SYN in only because that is the oil I use others are just as good .
I sent them to the same place that test our CATS . The reports came back not recommending oil changes at 5,000.
Both my bikes currently have over 50K on them. The EVO is changed at 2500 because that is what HD calls for on that bike. The TC calls for 5K.
Oil samples:
They are done on most equipment to track trends of key metals in the oil for planed Maintenance.
They Look for things that do not belong in the oil like coolant, Dirt or other Material.
If found a call is made right away depending on how serious it is.
In our case the oil is also tested for serviceability. At 250 hours based on oil condition they either recommend a change , a re-sample or run it another 250.
Along with the sample a report in filled out listing how much add oil was used sense last sample.
Once a track record has been established on an engine or drive component they can spot problems long before failure.
One oil sample will not tell you your engine is good to go it may or may not tell you it is headed for trouable.
It can tell you weather the oil is within standards for service.

Motorcycles are no different than cars and other equipment when it come to this.
If you start it up drive a few miles shut it off and never really get it up to operating temps and keep it there awhile the oil will need to be changed more often.
If you operate it under extremely dusty or wet condition it very well may need to be changed more often.
If you have a engine that is pumping a lot of extra fuel into it you will need to change it more often.
If you are running wide open intake (NO air Cleaner) you will need to change it often.
Modern filters on some engines filter the oil to a standard higher than when it was new.
Many (NOT ALL) oils come filtered to 30 Micron once in your TC it is filtered to 5 microns.

Very well said!

You just boiled my entire job down to a single post!

Also, I feel the need to point out a couple of critical things.

TRENDS. It is all about TRENDS. Excellent point there.

Labs, pick one and stick with them. Variations in equipment mean 2 labs will report varying results on identical properties. That isn't a bad thing, just reality.

Samples. Be consistent. A vampire pump is not ideal for me at work, but probably ideal for our bikes. These use (new every time) tubing and create a vacuum to pull a sample into a clean bottle (lab clean, not dishwasher clean).

The lab can help there.

Filtration. Good point about them. I sample new oils and send them to the labs for baselining. It is important for I know what the beginning is for my trends.

Most of those oils are not ideally as far as cleanliness goes. So I run them through a 3 Micron Beta 200 filter first. (99.5% efficiency) {I run some at Beta 2,000, 99.99% efficient IIRC siince I'm at home, my chart is on my office wall}



Again, thank you for your insights.

Now, if you can condense the grease needs of a nuclear plant down that quickly, we need to talk!
 
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