"Worth it" is a very subjective and multi-part query. If you are looking to mitigate dry-starts, there's no UOA, testing, breakaways, wear inspections etc. that I've seen Baxter or anyone else produce that would tell us the answer to it. My intuition is the dry-start may add some extra days to the life of the engine, but it may be so insignificant that the cost outweighs the claimed benefits.
Something to note is that (as an example), if an oil filter is rated 99.9% efficient at 20 microns, it means that 99.9 % of 20 micron particles are captured on a single pass.
| Particle Size (Microns) | Example Efficiency (%) | Beta Ratio (β) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 µm | 100 % | ∞ | Virtually all particles ≥ 40 µm are caught |
| 30 µm | 99.99 % | 10,000 | Near total capture |
| 25 µm | 99.9 % | 1,000 | Rated efficiency point |
| 20 µm | 99.0 % | 100 | Industry “absolute” rating |
| 15 µm | 90 % | 10 | High efficiency but some passage |
| 10 µm | 60 % | 2.5 | Moderate filtration |
| 5 µm | 25 % | 1.3 | Some very fine particles pass |
| < 5 µm | < 10 % | ≈ 1 | Essentially unfiltered (still possible for microglass media) |
I won't know until I see it through which costs me very little to go through the experiment. The downside is like anything detrimental to health, once you've had a diagnosis it's too late to undo it. I previously got new cars every year so I did the minimum to them. Now, with inflation, recalls, quality, used values, and unwanted tech I'm setting up to keep what I've got long term.
I was more interested in it in the way of medical records or VIN checks. You see what happened along the way to a very specific vehicle. In the general anonymized aggregate sense, like Fuelly does for MPG, you would be able to sample longevity of a specific vehicle and oil combo.
UOAs give a "version" of the story, but it is not all-inclusive, and there are plenty of things that a UOA cannot do--namely, be used as a wear measurement tool. Now, if you are suggesting using them to see something "catastrophic" that is within the realm of reason, such as a blown head gasket or a cracked block showing a coolant leak, or a massive spike in wear metals, but it will not typically show you the quality of the maintenance--ergo the absence of something "obvious" does not mean the vehicle was well maintained--primarily if the UOAs are randomly performed or in insufficient quantities to perform trending.
Out of curiosity, have you done a UOA, compression test, or bore scope on that rig to glean any insights?
This reminded me of the screens in the oil supply lines of the turbos. I have not pulled mine to see if there is anything in them. That was one additional benefit of the bypass filter to help prevent those mesh screens from clogging up causing collateral damage to the turbos.
I had oil analysis done on it in its younger years to determine when to change oil. That ended up being 20K miles. That is the point when the viscosity of the oil began to increase. I have not done compression tests because there is no indication it needs it. After building my own engines and racing them in SCCA for 32 years, I can tell the health of an engine by the sound of it.
Not AI generated and it is for a filter that is capable of 20 microns @ 99.9% efficiency like a FRAM Endurance that has full synthetic media. A Motorcraft filter is cellulose based and not capable of 20 microns at 99.9% efficiency.
