What Oil Are You Using?

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June 20, 2013

MOTOR OIL ENGINEERING TEST DATA
This Blog now has over 90,000 “views” worldwide!!

Its view count increases by about 5,000 views per month on average. Of course simply listing the number of views by itself, is not intended to indicate validation of the test data (validation is shown throughout the Blog). But, indicating the number of views does show that an enormous number of people worldwide recognize the value, understand the importance, and make use of the motor oil test data FACTS included here, that cannot be found anywhere else. And as a result, they are posting and sharing links to this Blog, all over the world.

The independent and unbiased Engineering testing I perform at a representative OPERATING OIL TEMPERATURE to establish motor oil wear protection capability, is a dynamic friction test under load, similar to how an engine dyno test is a dynamic HP/Torque test under load. Both tests show how their subjects truly perform in the real world, no matter what Brand names are involved, no matter what outrageous claims may have been made, and no matter what their spec sheets say.

The resulting data used in the Wear Protection Ranking List is NOT my opinion, and it is NOT my theory. The data is the result of the Physics and Chemistry involved in the testing. I am only the messenger. The Science is what tells us how these oils perform. And no one can argue with Physics and Chemistry.

You can see my entire 150+ motor oil “Wear Protection Ranking List”, which EXACTLY matches real world Track experience, real world flat tappet break-in experience, and real world High Performance Street experience (test data validation doesn’t get any better than this), along with additional motor oil tech FACTS, by reading below.

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!!!!THE INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG WAS LAST UPDATED ON April 19, 2015 !!!!

Article 10, titled “Break-In Oils – Do we Really need them?”, was updated.
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TYPICAL GEAR HEAD MINDSET vs ENGINEER MINDSET

A typical Gear Head’s mindset regarding new flat tappet engine Break-In is, “What I’ve been doing works, so I don’t want to change anything”. An Engineer’s mindset is, “No matter what you’ve been doing, let’s see if we can move forward and improve things, making them “better” than they were before”.

An example of this regarding motor oil is, a typical Gear Head has been using some high zinc oil, or some oil with an aftermarket zinc additive also poured in. And with that, he “thinks” he has made a good oil selection. But, using oil like that, knowing nothing more than the zinc level, requires a careful and elaborate break-in procedure, if there is any hope of not wiping any lobes in a flat tappet engine. He’s managed to get by with this, so he thinks he has it all figured out.

But, when his motor oil concoction is put through Engineering Wear Protection Testing, the results often show it to be a low performer regarding film strength load carrying capability, no matter how much zinc is present. As a result, that oil ranks rather low on my Wear Protection Ranking List, and means that it provided only a very low Margin of Safety. With this being the case, the engine was at significant risk of failure. So, he has essentially been playing Russian Roulette with his engine, without even knowing it.

For those not familiar with the term, Margin of Safety refers to how much capability your motor oil provides, vs how much capability you actually need to prevent wear and/or damage/failure. The higher the Margin of Safety, the more reserve wear protection capability you have available, and the safer your engine is.

The careful and elaborate flat tappet break-in procedures that Gear Heads typically use, is nothing more than a crutch to try and prevent wiped lobes with low performing motor oils. A fair number of people have been lucky enough to get away with this, while some others have been wiping lobes. And wiped flat tappet lobes have been all too common over the past few years, even though name brand, highly respected parts are being used. It can be a hit or miss situation, regarding wiping lobes or not wiping lobes. But, it doesn’t have to be this way, if better performing oils are chosen.

And keep in mind that so-called Break-Oils with their typical low wear protection capability are absolutely NOT required for proper break-in and ring sealing. That has been proven over the past couple of decades by numerous Factories using highly ranked 5W30 Mobil 1 synthetic oil in their brand new performance vehicles. They break-in and seal their rings just fine, and of course come with a warranty.

Being an Engineer with clear improvement in mind to solve the iffy situation of wiping lobes or not wiping lobes, I recommend switching to different motor oils that rank far higher on my Wear Protection Ranking List, no matter how much zinc they have. The only thing that truly matters is an oil’s film strength load carrying capability, NOT merely how much zinc it has. Using much higher ranking motor oils with their much higher wear protection capability, means that special break-in procedures ARE NOT REQUIRED. And an engine will be far safer due to the better motor oils providing a much higher Margin of Safety.

The Engineering mindset that resulted in the Wear Protection Ranking List, is the whole point of this Blog. So now, we no longer have to guess which oil is best. We have the data available at our finger tips to show us how various motor oils compare head to head, regarding wear protection capability.

And since you have to buy motor oil anyway, why not use this Engineering Wear Protection Test Data to help you select a high performing motor oil with excellent wear protection? The engine you save may be your own.

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BLOG CONTENTS:

Section 1 – Motor Oil “Wear Protection” Ranking List

Section 2 – Motor Oil Viscosity Selection

Section 3 – Motor Oil Thermal Breakdown Test Data

Section 4 – Motor Oil component quantity Lab Test results

Section 5 – Reserved for future Motor Oil Test Data

Section 6 – Detailed Motor Oil and Mechanical Tech Articles
NOTE: Some of the motor oil Articles were written before the most recently tested motor oils were added to the Wear Protection Ranking List in Section 1. The articles included are:

1. I-Beam vs H-Beam – which Connecting Rod is Best?

2. Rod Bolt Strength – what do we Really need?

3. Solid Roller Lifters – Bushings vs Needles, which is Best?

4. Camshaft Overlap vs LSA

5. Leak Down Tester

6. Can you really suck the Oil Pan dry?

7. Dynamic Compression Ratio (DCR) vs Static Compression Ratio (SCR)

8. 0W40 vs 5W30 vs 0W30

9. Aftermarket Zinc Additives – Do they Work?

10. Break-In Oils – Do we Really need them?

11. Can you always count on high zinc motor oil?

12. Diesel Oil – Is it the right choice for High Performance gasoline engines?

13. Do comparable zinc levels provide comparable wear protection?

14. Does Prolong Engine Treatment actually work?

15. Test Data on the newest Pennzoils made from Natural Gas

16. High Temp Motor Oil Wear Testing – Myth vs Reality

17. Do HTHS (High-Temperature/High-Shear) values provide any useful information about wear protection capability?

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SECTION 1- MOTOR OIL “WEAR PROTECTION” RANKING LIST.

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Before we get into motor oil tech, let’s briefly touch on a little background info. I’m a working Professional Degreed Mechanical Engineer, as well as a U.S. Patent holder. Mechanical Design Engineering is what I do for a living. A Mechanical Engineer is clearly the most qualified Engineer to test motor oil that was formulated by Chemical Engineers, for wear protection capability between mechanical components under load. But, as you will see below, the following write-up is not intended to be a chapter out of an Engineering textbook. And the intended audience is not other Engineers. There are no formulas, equations, charts or graphs. The intended audience includes Automotive Enthusiasts, Gear Heads, Hotrodders, Racers and Engine builders. So, it is written in normal everyday spoken language, rather than overly technical jargon. That way, it will be the easiest to follow and understand by the widest possible audience. And some key points will be “intentionally” reiterated from time to time as the information presented her progresses, to emphasize those points.

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THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT thing a motor oil does for your engine, is prevent wear. Everything else it does for your engine, comes AFTER that. But, I have found that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and misunderstanding about motor oil. The worst of all is that a lot of people, even those at Cam Companies, blindly accept the MYTH about needing high levels of zinc in motor oil in order to have sufficient wear protection. But, that line of thinking is NOT based on technical fact, and is simply FALSE. So, at the beginning of 2012, I began Tribology Research using motor oil “Wear Testing” equipment, to explore the facts regarding the wear prevention capabilities of motor oil. For those not familiar with the terminology, Tribology means the study of friction, lubrication, and wear between moving surfaces.
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I’m a total perfectionist when it comes to technical issues. And those who know me personally, know that I would never jeopardize my reputation or my integrity, by posting test data that would turn the Hobby/Industry on its ear, unless I was absolutely sure about the data I put out there. Of course I’ve always known my carefully generated data is completely accurate. And to make that clear to the world, you will see below that my test data EXACTLY aligns with real world race track experience, real world flat tappet break-in experience, and real world High Performance street experience.

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OIL TEST DATA AND RACE TRACK EXPERIENCE ARE IDENTICAL

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An oval track dirt racer (his class is extremely competitive, so he asked that his name be left out) on the SpeedTalk Forum runs a 7200 rpm, solid flat tappet, 358ci Small Block Chevy motor, with valve spring pressures of about 160 on the seat and 400 open, that are shimmed to .060” from coil bind. The rules and the combination of parts, were causing him to experience repeated cam failures while using high zinc, semi-synthetic 10W30 Brad Penn, Penn Grade 1 motor oil. Lab Report Data from testing performed by Professional Lab, “ALS Tribology” in Sparks, Nevada, showed that this oil contains 1557 ppm zinc, 1651 ppm phosphorus, and 3 ppm moly. In spite of this being a high zinc oil, that most folks would “assume” provides excellent wear protection, he experienced wiped lobe cam failure about every 22 to 25 races.

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A race consists of one 8 lap (a lap is typically 3/8 mile) heat race and one 20 lap feature race, plus any caution laps. If you add it all up, 25 races only total about 281 miles at the point of cam failure. So, that is a perfect example of what I’ve been saying all along about high zinc levels being absolutely NO GUARANTEE of adequate wear protection. And my test data on this 10W30 Brad Penn, Penn Grade 1 motor oil, shows that it produces a wear protection capability of only 71,206 psi, which puts it in the MODEST wear protection category, and it ranks a very disappointing 110th out of 153 oils tested so far. That means of course that there are 109 different oils I’ve tested that provide better wear protection.