Motor Oil Facts

Part I

Lets take a moment of time and look at the black juice that drains from your crankcase, Motor Oil. You know the stuff we are running out of because we don’t have any dinosaurs left running around. That same stuff we call Texas Tea, Black Gold and Pennsylvania Crude….

Owning a motorcycle doesn’t give us any more knowledge than the next guy about oil, tires or sparkplugs. But we use all of these things, and after time we develop a mindset about them.

• “I have always used Q oil because my daddy and grand pappy did.”
• “I use P oil because it’s on the side of my favorite Winston Cup driver’s car.”
• “I use the cheapest oil I can buy because it’s all the same anyway.”

You have heard these statements or ones very similar to this in conversations about oil. And you have also heard the claims of Oil companies about how good there dino juice is.

Before I tell you what I think is the best oil on the market and start that string of emails about how foolish you think my choice is. Lets look at how oil is made and graded.

Crude Oil Types

We are told that crude oil is the product of millions of years of heat and pressure acting on dead animals and plants of the prehistoric era. However it came to be, it's the stuff that we get out of the ground and make a great deal of useful products from. Remember the sugar water filled wax penny candy? Would you believe the wax is a crude oil byproduct? It's not only gasoline and oil we get from the "black gold", but hundreds of other byproducts that make life more comfortable than before we discovered it.

The problem for the oil companies is that not all crude's are the same. Each area of the world has a crude with its own particular chemical make-up. You may have heard the term "Pennsylvania Crude". This material has a heavy wax base and has to be refined with that in mind.

For the most part, crude oil is made up of a mixture of hydrocarbons. These are combinations of hydrogen and carbon atoms. Be aware that not all hydrocarbons are the same. How the carbon and hydrogen atoms are attached to each other determine the characteristics of the individual hydrocarbon mixtures.

The amount of sulfur contained in the crude will determine if it is to be classified as a sour or sweet crude. Sulfur is something we have to get rid of in the refining process. Some crude oils are "lite". This means that they contain more gasoline and kerosene products. "Heavy" crude's will generally have more asphalt type product. It is very important to the refiner to know which type of crude he unloads from a barge or tanker.

Crude Oil Refining

Every different type of hydrocarbon in crude oil will have a specific temperature range that it will evaporate. If we heat up crude oil, certain hydrocarbons will evaporate, leaving the rest of the crude behind. We "pull off" the evaporated hydrocarbons as a specific product, such as gasoline or kerosene.

A distillation tower is made so that each "cut" is taken off between particular temperatures. A distillation tower is also designed to distill a particular "brand" of crude. A tower designed for light crude's would not do well if the refiner put heavy crude in it.

After much chemical manipulating and massaging of the product after it leaves the crude tower, it is ready to be shipped to the blender. This oil is known as "base stock". (It should have all of its chemical and physical properties adjusted to within acceptable limits by this time). The product is slippery, but needs some additional chemicals added to make it ready to pour into your crankcase.

The Lube Oil Additive Package

The base stock isn't worth a plug nickel for your car or truck before it gets the additive package blended with it. It's the additives (making up nearly 20 percent of every quart of oil that you pour into your crankcase) that do the heavy duty work. Among the additives are:

Viscosity Modifiers. These keep the oil from becoming to thick or thin at cold and hot temperature extremes.

Foam Inhibitors keep foaming to a minimum. If you've ever seen someone whip up mirang for a pie covering, imagine what is happening to your oil when the crankshaft is spinning at engine redline. The pistons are going up and down the cylinders at blinding speed.

Friction Modifiers help minimize friction between the internal moving parts of your engine.

Rust and Corrosion Inhibitors neutralize acids. These acids come from chemical contaminates which are part of the combustion process.

Detergent Dispersants keep your engine clean inside (if you change your oil at proper intervals). They help prevent the formation of varnish and sludge.

Antiwear Agents help keep high load areas (cam and lifters) from wearing prematurely.

Oxidation Inhibitors keeps oxygen from making the oil "thicken". It's this additive that helps keep your rings from sticking.

You may have heard it said;"oil does not wear out". Well, the oil may stay slick, but the additives do not last forever. When they "go away", your engine is in for a rough time. Changing oil and filter at proper intervals will ensure that the additives are still protecting your engine.

Lube Oil Standards and Test Requirements

There is more than one way to skin a cat. Some (major) motor oil "manufacturers" only market the stuff. They buy the base stock and additive package, have the product bottled and try to convince you that they make the best oil available. The fact of the matter is, they don't make anything but money. Other oil companies are involved with the buying, refining, blending and marketing. They have "first hand" control over what is happening with their product. The more competent companies have standards that they demand be met for the base stock before it’s blended with additives. These tests include: API Gravity @ 60º F, Viscosity Tests (both SUS and cSt), Viscosity Index, Flash Point, Color, Pour Point, Sulfur Content, Carbon Residue, Refractive Index, Clay-Gel and Simulated Distillation. The test methods are spelled out by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

• Association des Constructeurs European d' Automobiles (ACEA),
• Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
• International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC)
• American Petroleum Institute (API)
• American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA).

If a batch of motor oil satisfactorily passes the required tests, then it is ready to have an approved additive package blended in. After it has the additive package added, it is subject to even more tests. These are very rigorous. The following organizations (partial list) determine the standards that a motor oil must pass:

You can rest assured that the engine manufacturers make known what specs the oil must adhere to. They (the manufacturers) are the ones whose warrantees rely on quality lubrication in many extreme situations. Did you ever witness a prim and proper elderly lady start a car an immediately rev the engine to red-line?

When you buy a container of quality motor oil, you will see the API "donut" American Petroleum Institute. An oil "blender" will have their oil tested by the API. If it passes the required tests, then the blender can display the symbols shown. Once an oil gets certified, it is continually monitored (audited) to ensure that it is keeping up to the standards specified. Please note that if the API finds that one of the oil blenders oil does not keep up with the strict standards, their licensing privileges can be revoked. I personally would not buy oil that did not meet API specs and prove it by displaying the API symbols.

With all of the organizations depending on an engine oil meeting strict quality requirements, and the API organization policing all of the companies displaying their symbols, we have to ask this question. Why should I pay more for nationally advertised oil than a cheaper generic brand if they both have the API symbols displayed on the containers? What is the extra cost going to? Advertising. Remember, it is the marketing departments job to convince you that a particular brand of product is superior to all others.

Aftermarket Oil Additive Products From the above information, does it really make any sense that you would need to pour some unknown snake oil product into your crankcase? Remember, the automobile manufactures need your engine to last quite a while. How fast do you think a car company would stay in business if their engines "blew" prematurely? Not long. They are the ones who insist that the oil companies make a product that will protect their engines

The major oil companies go to great pains to blend oil that will meet API specs and protect your engine. What do you think could happen chemically to that additive package if you pour some concoction into your crankcase? How would you like it if someone decided grandma's cookie recipe wasn't good enough and dumped a bunch of "stuff" into the batter?

Motor Oil Part II

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