Can anyone comment (logically) about wether blenders do/should think about additive packages differently depending on oil viscosity. Do thinner oils require more additives? Is the ideal ratio of different EP additives different depending on viscosity? Ect, ect, ect....
additive package and viscosity
- Thread starter GMorg
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No one knowns? Or, no one wants to share? Or maybe the answer is obvious and I'm not bright enough to find it...
Custom/specialty blenders like SF? Or knuckleheads like me mixing in a little VSOT to the 0W20 M1? Seasonally-adjusted, I would normally run 5W20 or 5W30, but that's as thick as my car specs in hot weather. I know for a fact that VSOT thickens the oil, so I use 0W20, and add my 1.5oz./qt of VSOT. This add is to 4 quarts with the oversize SDF36 Amsoil filter. I'm imagining (it's all gut-level, simple math based on proportions) that I'm somewhere between 0W20 and 5W30, give or take, but hopefully within spec. It seems "loose" enough on the stick, cold or hot, it flows off the stick onto the towel.
If you're playing with adds, viscosity is going to change, I guess you think about it some, but at this level? I'm as mindful as one person can be, I guess. My add is as simple as it gets, after all. Some folks are adding two and three things at every OCI, and more stuff along the way to boot, I dunno how an individual gauges what they're doing without UOA every step of the way.
If you're playing with adds, viscosity is going to change, I guess you think about it some, but at this level? I'm as mindful as one person can be, I guess. My add is as simple as it gets, after all. Some folks are adding two and three things at every OCI, and more stuff along the way to boot, I dunno how an individual gauges what they're doing without UOA every step of the way.
5/20 requires a little more add pak and yes additive vis does enter into the total formula as in a thick additve will reduce the amount of heavier base stock or even VII needed to get on grade.
bruce
bruce
Bruce381,
I think that you have answered my question. I wanted to know if the add pack was different due to the viscosity of the final formulation. As in - do oils with a final "thin" viscosity require more boundary lubricants for example than oils with a final "thick" viscosity. (I had assumed that the viscosity of each component affected the final viscostity.) On the other hand, I had no idea as two wether the add pack strategy had to be different for thicker vs thinner final formulations.
It sounds like 5W20 may require a little more something than the more viscous grades. I had guessed that the ends of the grades may be different 20wt vs 50 wt, but that the intermediate grades would be somewhere between the ends. From your post, I think I hear that most oils are supplemented similarly and that 20wts may have crossed some threshold that requires more additives. I'm still not clear about that though.
I think that you have answered my question. I wanted to know if the add pack was different due to the viscosity of the final formulation. As in - do oils with a final "thin" viscosity require more boundary lubricants for example than oils with a final "thick" viscosity. (I had assumed that the viscosity of each component affected the final viscostity.) On the other hand, I had no idea as two wether the add pack strategy had to be different for thicker vs thinner final formulations.
It sounds like 5W20 may require a little more something than the more viscous grades. I had guessed that the ends of the grades may be different 20wt vs 50 wt, but that the intermediate grades would be somewhere between the ends. From your post, I think I hear that most oils are supplemented similarly and that 20wts may have crossed some threshold that requires more additives. I'm still not clear about that though.
Well, Morg, as the gospel goes, ya can't go wrong with a little of our beloved VSOT, right? It's going to thicken whatever you put it into, so start with a thinner oil to begin with.
Dunno if that's a valid stratagy, but until someone tells me it's all wrong, it's my story and I'm sticking with it!
Dunno if that's a valid stratagy, but until someone tells me it's all wrong, it's my story and I'm sticking with it!
It seems like the 20 wts show more adds in VOAs/UOAs so I would assume that they need more for safety under high load/heat conditions. They're probably not needed under normal conditions in new vehicles that are extremely well temperature controlled and run cooler in general. The Visc is less different than a 30w was a few years ago in use that we may think. Of course sometimes conditions can overwhelm a system and thin the boundry layer so a bit more protection in the form of adds may be called for.
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