Brainstorm on Testing Oil

[TomJones76]

The whole fund-raising thing going on in the "Those interested in the composition of German Castrol..." thread has made me think of something?
What if we pooled some resources, rented a car with unlimited mileage, changed its oil to a test oil, and ran it on a properly ventilated dyno for a given OCI, returned the car, then ran a used oil analysis?
It would be silly to do this on a broad basis, but it could give us an interesting way to compare two different oils... or validate OCI claims made by oil makers.
I'm sitting here at my mother-in-laws for Christmas, so I worked up a spreadsheet on costs.
I assumed testing my current car (for ease of remembering stats, no other reason) at 55 MPH for 3,000 miles.
I figured Priceline rentals would work good for this. They're unlimited mileage, and as far as I can tell there's no disclaimer on that mileage.
Excepting the dyno, it looks like costs would be under $300 for 3,000 miles.
I'm envisioning variations where we test at higher speeds or OCIs, too, but this is mainly just brain food, like a big salmon patty.

Car Costs
Daily Rental 22
Days 2.272727273
Car Sum 50

Oil Costs
Qt Price 5
Qts 5
Oil Cost Sum 25

Fuel Costs
Gallons 115.3846154
Price Per Gallon 1.75
Fuel Cost Sum 201.9230769

Miles Tested 3000
MPH Testing 55
Hours 54.54545455
Days 2.272727273
MPG 26

used oil analysis Cost 20

Sum Costs
296.9230769

 

[2005tundra2002yz250f]

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomJones76:
The whole fund-raising thing going on in the "Those interested in the composition of German Castrol..." thread has made me think of something?
What if we pooled some resources, rented a car with unlimited mileage, changed its oil to a test oil, and ran it on a properly ventilated dyno for a given OCI, returned the car, then ran a used oil analysis?
It would be silly to do this on a broad basis, but it could give us an interesting way to compare two different oils... or validate OCI claims made by oil makers.
I'm sitting here at my mother-in-laws for Christmas, so I worked up a spreadsheet on costs.
I assumed testing my current car (for ease of remembering stats, no other reason) at 55 MPH for 3,000 miles.
I figured Priceline rentals would work good for this. They're unlimited mileage, and as far as I can tell there's no disclaimer on that mileage.
Excepting the dyno, it looks like costs would be under $300 for 3,000 miles.
I'm envisioning variations where we test at higher speeds or OCIs, too, but this is mainly just brain food, like a big salmon patty.

Car Costs
Daily Rental 22
Days 2.272727273
Car Sum 50

Oil Costs
Qt Price 5
Qts 5
Oil Cost Sum 25

Fuel Costs
Gallons 115.3846154
Price Per Gallon 1.75
Fuel Cost Sum 201.9230769

Miles Tested 3000
MPH Testing 55
Hours 54.54545455
Days 2.272727273
MPG 26

used oil analysis Cost 20

Sum Costs
296.9230769

---

I dont think you would be able to validate any claims by a manufacturer in this test. The conditions are not real world, and while it may be a cool comparison, I dont see it being actual fact.
I would think any oil would come back with great ratings. No load, no short trips, no cold starts, etc, etc, etc. Jusy my opinion.
Joe

 

[TomJones76]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 2005tundra2002yz250f:
I dont think you would be able to validate any claims by a manufacturer in this test. The conditions are not real world, and while it may be a cool comparison, I dont see it being actual fact.
I would think any oil would come back with great ratings. No load, no short trips, no cold starts, etc, etc, etc. Jusy my opinion.
Joe

---

At 3,000 miles, you are undoubtedly correct. If there's an oil on the market that would fail in that usage, the FTC should tear that blender a new earhole.
However, there are some other options.
What if we ran the test with the cruise set at the vehicle's governed top speed? I know fuel costs would go through the roof, but it might tell us more about simulated race performance for the oil. It'd be real neato to try that with Redline, I think.
Either way, the idea keeps me busy while I'm stuck here at my mother-in-law's.

 

[The_Jeff]

If you restrict the dyno's fan (I understand they all have them) so the car runs warmer things could get interesting. (Improperly vented

)

Most GM FWD stuff won't run their electric fans if their speed is over 40mph unless the coolant gets REALLY hot. Think of the options.

I imagine the dyno brake could be set so the car would be near redline in 1st or second... with the cruise on.

Most cruise computers won't go over 90-ish.

If you wind up with a rental with GPS, they might wonder when the car gets back why it has more mileage than they expected.

An OBDII datalogger would be a must-have for repeatability.