Determining the Proper Oil for Your Engine - Email from Lake Speed Jr

I call em like I see em.

If LSJR produces a vid with great info I praise it and post it, if it’s misleading or not sound I call it out.

If LSJR has something to say about oil, I'll listen. I might not agree, but I'll make up my own mind. If a gazillion other youtubers have something to say, I'm likely not interested.
 
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The Cu always trends down so I don't think it's mechanical wear but more of a chemical reaction. There are many that have well over 150k on HEMIs that used RL and never had a problem.
Yes, it's definitely chemical. The assumption was that it was from the oil cooler, but it could also be from a copper-based sealant or some other copper-containing component or compound.
 
LSJr's approach to wear metal accumulations are, well, misinformed at the very least.
He is, IMO, making good money off giving average-at-best advice.
He makes three very important mistakes in his approach:
- he combines wear metals to get a "total" per 1k miles; as if those metals can be lumped together to understand wear traits ... (SMH)
- he completely ignores the topics of macro and micro statistical analysis
- he completely ignores the topics of understanding process variation

UOAs are great tools, but they have to be understood as to what they are and are not good at. And more importantly, once you have the data, how to accurately and properly process that information.
A retired cop knows more about motor oil than LSjr????
 
If LSJR has something to say about oil, I'll listen. I might not agree, but I'll make up my own mind. If a gazillion other youtubers have something to say, I'm likely not interested.
Exactly. His latest video on surface texture and GM's recent issues is a great piece. I am sure there are "experts" here on this forum that will find something wrong with his analysis but it makes a lot of sense to my small mind.
 
Exactly. His latest video on surface texture and GM's recent issues is a great piece. I am sure there are "experts" here on this forum that will find something wrong with his analysis but it makes a lot of sense to my small mind.
It's just OK

That was my world for 30+ years. Pretty light.

Did he actually mention the actual SB and IS condition of the GM cranks? I may have missed that.
 
Lake has to make the information understandable for us newbies to oil and it's many layers of complexity. I appreciate his drumming down the process so I can understand these layers. If somehow that makes me enlightened, so be it. I just hate to see people spreading knowledge by people claiming even greater knowledge. Ironic, actually. I hate it when people play "see, I'm smarter.". I do agree criticism is part of good science but I see a lot of piling on, similar to my experiences in grade school. Live and let live. Take what one finds informative and let the rest go. Everyone is in a different place of understanding on every topic.
f1jim
Do you mean you appreciate his "dumbing" down the process so you can understand it?
 
Did he actually mention the actual SB and IS condition of the GM cranks? I may have missed that.
No, you didn't miss it. He only referenced the GM recall and possible issue with the crank finish long enough to use it as clickbait in his title.

I thought the video was interesting. The PhD did most of the talking (assuming he has a PhD since he was referred to as "doctor". It could just be his nickname).
 
A retired cop knows more about motor oil than LSjr????
To be fair, I understand that you don't have knowledge of my background. So allow me to enlighten you.

Like most who work in LE and similar (firefighters, etc), we often hold several jobs to supplement our income, develop secondary career paths, etc.

I worked in manufacturing for 32 years alongside my 25 years in LE. Right out of engineering school, I worked at the Ford steering-systems facility in Indy for 16 years (before they closed the plant), where I held several jobs including running maintenance programs for the building, powerhouse and waste treatment plant. I used oil analysis for many applications when it came to gearbox drives, conveyor systems, etc. I earned my boiler operation certification there, as well as my Class III universal refrigeration certification.

Further, after Ford, I worked at Carrier for 16 years. There, I ran the quality lab where I was in charge of all equipment validation and annual certifications. I ran statistical process quality control programs for some of the production lines. I wrote DFMEAs, PFMEAs and DOEs. I was trained and qualified in SixSigma and Shainin Red X root cause analysis.

And I also authored this:
https://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/30383/engines-oil-analysis


So, yes, this cop knows plenty about statistical analysis and I have a sound footing from which I criticize LSJr's approach to data analysis. He may know more about oil, but I assure you he is not displaying good knowledge of proper data analysis.
 
No, you didn't miss it. He only referenced the GM recall and possible issue with the crank finish long enough to use it as clickbait in his title.

I thought the video was interesting. The PhD did most of the talking (assuming he has a PhD since he was referred to as "doctor". It could just be his nickname).
See? Another sorta irritating thing, albeit minor, about the guy. He didn't have to do that, but he did for clicks. It's a money show. Speed doesn't know the drawing requirement, I bet.

It was interesting but the doc did not say all that much. I mean how about brushing Ra and Rrms? They just kept holding up those somewhat meaningless topo models.

But I guess this is all too negatory.
 
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Let’s say I do a number of UOAs that show I pretty consistently have 1.5ppm/1,000 miles of wear metals. Then I get a sample that’s much higher, say 4ppm, with one or two metals that stand out. This could indicate that something is amiss at the very least, if all other variables are equal.
2.5ppm is not “much higher” unless you have a loooooong service history and your standard deviation is much lower than 2.5ppm. That’s how statistics work.
 
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