Interesting Observation

[jstutz]

I have a 2.0L Overhead cam engine in a 99 mercury mystique. My brother has a 2.0 in a escort ZX2. I noticed that when we put PP in the ZX2, you could see the oil splashing all around when you look into the oil fill hole. On the mercury, that i just bought one oil change ago, the engine looks the same, but the oil was not splashing around. you could see it coat the cam and stuff but it was not splashing around. I had Advance brand 10w30 in it. I ran it for 6k miles and just changed the oil yesterday and put 1qt PP 5w30 and three qt of some old QSTP 10w30. After changing the oil i opened the oil fill hole and now the oil was splashing around. I thought it was maybe that the oil was really hot. Got up this morning and started the car up and sure enough the oil was splashing around. Im not sure why but with the Advance brand it was not being thrown off the cam but with the PP/QS blend it was being thrown off. Its not a viscosity thing because the advance brand didn't do it when it was hot.

 

[SAJEFFC]

My 2000 ZX2 with the same engine does the splashing around thing also. It was spec'd for 5W30 (before the 5W20 backspec foolishness) and I run M1 5W30 in mine. Tried a run of M1 10W30 high mileage and it splashed around off the cams also. I think it's because the motors run 70-80 psi oil pressure all the time. Not sure why yours wasn't doing it but doesn't sound like anything to worry about.

 

[jstutz]

Yea, i can see why it would splash around, i think it is very weird that the advance brand didn't do it. Im not worried at all, the car ran fine. I just thought it was very interesting. Does anyone else have this engine and run anything else that dont splash around. So this engine is back speced to 5w20? You mentioned that they run high oil pressure all the time, are they electronically controlled oil pumps? Im used to my older chevys that just run off the speed of the engine and the oil pressure fluctuates based on temp and engine speed.

 

[rclint]

Splashing oil may not be such a good thing depending on how the OEM designed the engine. Splashing can introduce air into the oil causing it to foam etc, some engines are deigned so some part sling the oil around... this would be seen in the bottom end for sure, however I'm not sure about the top end around cam etc.

 

[SAJEFFC]

Yes it was back spec'd to 5W20 but was spec'd for 5W30 when it was new. I've tried both in mine and it is a little quieter on 5W30. The oil pump is driven off the front of the crank and it not elect. controlled. I guess Ford just spec'd the engine for that high a pressure. I read somewhere on a Ford site once that its around 30-40 psi at idle and 70-80 psi at higher speeds. Everything I've read says they are one tough little engine though so you'll be fine on 20 or 30 weight oil.

 

[Herz]

My ford focus 01 with the 2.0l Zetec motor I have Chevron supreme 5-30 in it and I can see it splash around. I actually never had a car that I could view the oil doing its job so I found it really cool.

But then again my 5-30 is really close to a 20 weight compaired to your 10-30.

 

[jstutz]

i have seen three of these engines other than mine and they all would sling the oil off the cam as it spun at idle. Not sure what property the advance brand has that would make it not sling off. You could see the oil on there but it stuck to it as apposed to being slung off. Reminds me of a Lucas commercial or something. Just for fun, i may try the advance brand next summer and see if it still has that same characteristic. This is the first time that i have seen a real life difference from oil to oil in an engine.

 

[SAJEFFC]

Well now the M1 does stick to the cam at idle but you do have a little "slingege"

I just don't see how you couldn't. Maybe that Advance brand is just extra sticky! We should add a stickiness category to UOA's!

 

[JAG]

This does give me thoughts of tackifiers put in some oils (non-engine type). There could be some differences in the engines such as oil pump wear, deposits partially clogging passages, oil filter flow and bypass characteristics, etc. So to do a better apples to apples comparison, your brother needs to use the same PP/viscosity grade you used or vice versa. If it really is the oil, that would be interesting.

 

[jstutz]

Originally Posted By: JAG
This does give me thoughts of tackifiers put in some oils (non-engine type). There could be some differences in the engines such as oil pump wear, deposits partially clogging passages, oil filter flow and bypass characteristics, etc. So to do a better apples to apples comparison, your brother needs to use the same PP/viscosity grade you used or vice versa. If it really is the oil, that would be interesting.


Jag, this was my car both times. First filled with advanced brand 10w30 and purilator classic, then i changed my oil (not the filter) and then it changed. This is about as apples to apples as it gets.

This filter is a bugger to get to and it makes a mess so i plan on changing it every other oil change. This engine is easy on oil and we run it pretty much hwy so 10 or 12 k miles will be no problem on the filter.

 

[JAG]

Oops, my bad. That's interesting. I wonder if the difference is due to the base oils or the additive package.

 

[jstutz]

Not sure but it is very interesting to me.

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: SAJEFFC
Well now the M1 does stick to the cam at idle but you do have a little "slingege"

I just don't see how you couldn't. Maybe that Advance brand is just extra sticky! We should add a stickiness category to UOA's!


Yes ...this could be a new property/characteristic with which one might use to rank oil.

Slinger Quotient

"I was really anxious about using this new oil. The first thing I noticed was that OHC slingage was up at least 50% over my old oil at idle.


All kidding aside, this would bug the heck out of me too. Not that it (may) means anything one way or the other, just that something was different and I couldn't determine why.


It's along the lines of that wife in Airplane "That's funny. John never vomits at home

"

 

[jstutz]

OHC slingage was up at least 50% over my old oil at idle.[/b]


LOL!

 

[jorton]

This might sound crazy but I'm going to go check my 99 mercury Tracer 2.0sohc cold, right now in the dark with a flashlight.



Originally Posted By: jstutz
you could see it coat the cam and stuff but it was not splashing around.


That's just how mine looked. Oil is mobil 5000 10w-30. I don't think these oils Advance 10w-30 and my Mobil 10w-30 have good flow cold, so tomorrow I'll check it again, hot.

 

[jstutz]

Looks like it may be a dino 10w30 thing. The synthetic i changed to was slinging when it was cold about 75 degrees.

 

[mechtech2]

The Contour and ZX2 Zetec engines are different.
The cams in the ZX2 are 'hotter', and there is a variable cam phaser on the ZX2's exhaust.

 

[jorton]

Originally Posted By: jorton
This might sound crazy but I'm going to go check my 99 mercury Tracer 2.0sohc cold, right now in the dark with a flashlight.



Originally Posted By: jstutz
you could see it coat the cam and stuff but it was not splashing around.


That's just how mine looked. Oil is mobil 5000 10w-30. I don't think these oils Advance 10w-30 and my Mobil 10w-30 have good flow cold, so tomorrow I'll check it again, hot.


I checked again when I got home today. Hot oil splashes around some but not a lot.

Puzzling observation jstutz.