How to pick a motor oil....

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Guess you can look at the advertisement strengths and determine if it fits your OCI and driving needs. If you say I want it all then… Well you get what you deserve.
 
I have a question, if you look at the oil I'm using, the Noack percentage is 9.5 if you look at Castrol Edge it is 8.8 if you look at Mobil 1 it's 8.1, which is even lower which is better what I understand.. why is the Noack so high.. the viscosity we are talking about is 5W20..
 
Castrol HTHS??? Noack 8.8 TBN 8.6

Mobil 1 advanced full synthetic HTHS 2.6 Noack 8.1 TBN 9.0

Kirkland synthetic HTHS 2.75 Noack 9.5 TBN 7.9

Quaker State synthetic HTHS 2.64 Noack 7.1 TBN 9.16

Out of these four oils.. I have the HTHS listed, except on Castrol how come Quaker State came out number one? Above Mobil and Castrol?
 
I have a question, if you look at the oil I'm using, the Noack percentage is 9.5 if you look at Castrol Edge it is 8.8 if you look at Mobil 1 it's 8.1, which is even lower which is better what I understand.. why is the Noack so high.. the viscosity we are talking about is 5W20..
Noack can show you how equal the base molecule size is for a given viscosity. But there is a band for that viscosity class and that can be wide. Generally hydrocracked crude oil is higher. PAO has to be mixed with other base oil and can include hydrocracked base with POE for it to work correctly. The TBN is the starting basic number of the detergent portion of the add package. Kirkland shows 2.75 HTHS
 
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Noack can show you how equal the base molecule size is for a given viscosity. But there is a band for that viscosity class. Generally hydrocracked crude oil is higher. PAO has to be mixed with other base oil and can include hydrocracked base with POE for it to work correctly. The TBN is the starting basic number of the detergent portion of the add package. Kirkland shows 2.75 HTHS
So if it's lower is that a better thing, yes correct? POE is better I guess?
 
I have a question, if you look at the oil I'm using, the Noack percentage is 9.5 if you look at Castrol Edge it is 8.8 if you look at Mobil 1 it's 8.1, which is even lower which is better what I understand.. why is the Noack so high.. the viscosity we are talking about is 5W20..
Given the reproducibility of the test method, all three of these results are considered equal. Throw in batch-to-batch variations and you are splitting hairs.
 
So Mobil, Castrol and QS are Equal?
No.
Yes.
Maybe.

It all depends in what way you are saying equal.

You could use any of them and see no difference in engine life. So in that sense they are equal.
They are not the same oil, different base stocks, different additives. This is how they are different.

As several have said many times in this thread, your being very ambiguous in your request.
There is no best motor oil. There really is no way to make that determination.
Noack, TBN, HTHS, base oil, POE content, additives, etc., etc., etc., are all part of an oils formulation, and are determined by research of the oil maker as to what they think is "best".
Motor oils of today are so much better than those that were around when this forum started, at that time, there were oils that even though were API rated, were really bad oils to use. There were "better" oils that were easy to point out at that time.
Today that just is not the case.
Choosing oils today is a nitpicking fallacy.

As I (and others) said before, for general automotive use, go to the store, find an oil with the correct viscosity and API rating for your vehicle, and buy whatever you want. Change it on a normal schedule and you will never have an issue related to oil.
 
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Basically what Tom NJ said. Noack values within 1.5-2 of each other aren't remarkable. Some oils do stand out such as Amsoil Signature 5W-20 at 5.8%. Then there's the other end of the spectrum with oils like Lucas 5W-20 at 12.4%.

He's not saying the oils are equal but that the values aren't remarkably different from one another due to a lot of factors. The Noack test doesn't have very good repeatability in results with a rather wide margin of error. It will vary from one batch to another, no matter how controlled the blending is, simply due to variation in base oil batches, additive batches, etc... Then variation in blending equipment accuracy. It's nearly impossible to blend every batch exactly the same which is why you'll see that disclaimer on a PDS/TDS that says "Values are typical and may vary." So given all of the factors involved, it's hard to separate two oils with Noack values within 1.5% of each other as being remarkably different. The Mobil 1 may be superior to the other two by just a tad bit, but you can't for certain say that based on a snapshot of one batch on one machine, especially when the data is posted by the manufacturer of the product. We don't know if they're running it 3-4 times and taking the lowest result.
 
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When Mobil 1 came out it was the rage. Everyone wanted it, very expensive. Seals leaked but it was bragging rights. They got better. But so did everyone else. Still got market share of oil today but changed a lot from the beginning. Every oil has a plus and minus to the point it is just this simple. Follow the Operator’s Manual. But the competitive market makes expensive base oil question if someone has built a better mousetrap. Your car will live or die on car manufacturer engineering alone but not from modern oil.
 
I've already done that.. I'm running the oil.. but what I'm trying to do is, I know there is a better oil out there, and I'm trying to figure out how to find out what that better oil is. All the oils, on the shelves for the most part, is going to have, GF-6A SP Rating.. and as long as it has the licenses for my particular vehicle I know I'm good to go.. I was just looking for a better oil.. and I was trying to figure out how to find that?
If superior base oils and additives are what you are looking for, AND the oil needs to be easily attainable I'd be looking into extended drain oils. For the manufacturer to say their oil is good for 20K / 1 year over many different applications they are likely using higher quality base oils, better / more additives or both. M1 EP comes to mind.
 
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