Engine Oils Put To The Test

[cmathieu]

Hi All,

The article below is a very good (and surprising) test on some of the popular engine oils and whether they stand up to the the manufacturer's claims:

http://www.carandimage.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4394

Rgds,
Charles

[touringcamry]

Wow. Some of those results are very surprising.

I wonder how the formulations compare to those available in the USA though.

[TRD VVTi]

Interesting.

It's so hard to get a good answer about oils.

I'm not a real big fan of the Timken bearing test but it's interesting regardless.

Cams, cranks, rods, bearings, etc. all have flat surfaces and not round surfaces that allow the oil to be squeazed off the sides like that test does. It's not really a real world environment.

[geoff5093]

Hmmm... the website isn't working for me.

[TRD VVTi]

I forgot to mention. The Timken Bearing Test can easily be defeated by simply adding a little bit of bleach to the mixture. We all know that bleach isn't a good thing to have in the engine, but it works great to cheat in this "test". Back in the old days, that's how alot of products made theirs look superior. That's a fact.

[y_one2000]

One big factor has been overlook in this test.
the temperature. It seems to me that this test is runing at room temp.
We know that oil inside the engine can reach from 80C to couple hundreds C.
And oil's viscosity changes based on the temperature.
Some engine oils are rated 0W-40, while others are 15W-40 in this test.
the 0W-40 is less viscous (thinner oil layer) than 15W-40 at low temperature.
To me this test is not comparing apple to apple. It does tell something I should look into, but not a reliable test result.

note: this test only compares wear resistance. but other considerations such as contamination absorption and oil break down should not be overlook.

[cmathieu]

All valid points...there are definitely other factors that have not been taken into account for during this test...still I found it rather interesting

[Epsilon]

Shucks, no Amsoil testing.

[CamNub]

They say Mobil 1 is no longer a true synthetic.

If you want the best, you need this German Castrol stuff.

[marc780]

Im with the guy who posted this on that forum

Very interesting but I wonder how that test relates to an oils "real world" performance? A good oil has to do alot of things well under a wide range of conditions.

He's got a point, they only did a cursory test of one part of the oil's performance. I think a really accurate test would mean running a bunch of cars with these engines for 50,000 miles at least, and then tearing apart the engines and miking all the parts for wear. The test they did was too basic to really show anything about the oils...too many unanswered questions. How do these oils stand up to heat? How do the oils stand up at 3,000 miles? 5,000 miles? how effective is the additive package at preventing sludging, wear, foaming, etc.? None of these questions are answered by their quick tests.