Recent content by Blue99

My experience with the GM 5.3L truck engine is that some oil in a fully primed oil pump system will drain down from above the filter when the filter is removed. If the filter is not removed, I would have dumped in only 5 quarts and then added whatever fractional portion of a quart to meet the...

Contrary to the good Dr. Haas's opinions, freezing does not render a motor oil useless. My local Mobil oil jobber stores skids of cased motor oil in an unheated metal building which is visible when the overhead door is open. I really doubt that Walmart suspends transport of motor oil from...

The molding logo on the bottom of the bottle belongs to either the contract packager of the blended oil or the supplier of the molded bottles. It may or may not be traced to the blender of the motor oil. The "box G" of Graham is very common, along with the "triple C" of Consolidated Container...

Most Grp II and up base oils are water white in color. What you are seeing is the additives plus dye!

This explanation, using 10W-30, always falls apart when 0W-30 is substituted as the viscosity grade. Example; 0w-30= "The viscosity of SAE 0 when cold." (What is a SAE 0???) "The viscosity of SAE 30 when hot." And, substituting 0W-30 for 10W-30 in this statement: "A 0W-30 will start out...

A shot in the Bulls-Eye! From a 42 gallon barrel of crude oil, only 1/2 a gallon is used for lubricant production (includes greases). Other major uses: 19.5 gals - Gasoline 9.2 gals - Diesel/Home Heating Oil 4.1 gals - Jet Fuel/Kerosene Distillates...

My best guess is the 3.2 HTHS mark, such as Citgo 10W-30 synthetic, which is GF-4 & 3.2 HTHS. The newer M1 10W-30 High Mileage synthetic is 3.66, but it meets only the GF-3 cert.

For DIYer's, the gallon & 5 quart jugs are a real convenience for taking the waste oil to the re-cycle center! But for topping off during the OCI, I'd much rather have a quart bottle on the shelf for ease of pouring a couple of ounces down the fill tube!

Checkout the UOA forum to view the phos & zinc as listed in PPM. Used oil has some ZDDP depletion, but it is a good ballpark number. Also, some of the major oil brands will list a phos number on the product data sheet. Keep in mind that GF-4 oils are limited to 800 ppm max. for phosphorus, a...

Keep in mind that 40C is 104F degrees and probably more accurately reflects an oil sump temperature obtained during the first 5 minutes of drive time than an actual start-up oil temperature. Most late model vehicles spec'd for 5W-20 or 5W-30 are seeing cold start-up viscosities of around 100...

I've been busy beyond belief this summer, but I'll toss my opinion into this thread: As Buster commented, many users have a "least favorite" motor oil, but any PCMO with the API donut will provide acceptable performance in any engine that does not see severe service type OCI's. And if anyone...

Actually, I'm 180 degrees in the oposite direction - VI Index Improvers are your engine's friend! Sure, I can understand some of the bad rap is deserved for 10W-40 in a VW turbo engine that beats the snot out of whatever oil is poured down the fill tube. But in a engine that spec's GF-4 5W-30...

Before those guns get reloaded for more potshots - there's actually quite a few car owners with mid nineties & older engine designs and/or users of aftermarket cams that have legitimate concerns about SM oils. Remember this New Oil is Killing Our Cars article that we discussed a couple of...

My comments on these 4 year old test results for Pennzoil 10W-30 Thin-Film Oxygen Uptake - Actually an impressive show of the ability of this 10W-30 to resist oxidative breakdown. Hi Temp, Hi Shear - Exactly the number listed on the GF-3 data sheet . A very common HTHS for a GF-3 dino. Noack...

Saturns can have oil burning problems and the mechanic may be aware of this issue. 10W-40 is a simple fix to obtain better ring seal to control the consumption. 10W-40 can produce some gas mileage penalties during short trip situations in the colder winter months in Maryland, but the offset may...