Is the Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) organization defunct?

[96JeepXJ]

I go to the PQIA site sometimes to look at the additive packages for different oils (www.pqia.org). I noticed that the last new oil analysis posted was back in March 2023, which is almost a year ago. If you go through the VOA reports for different oil weights, you will notice that most are out of date by several years.

A simple site updating delay would not last for almost a year. I would think there would be new oil analyses posted every 2-3 weeks or so.
Something is not right. Lots of sponsors, so money should not be an issue.

 

[kschachn]

Perhaps call and ask them. Their phone number is 732-201-4033, that might be a better resolution to your question compared to speculation here.

 

[wemay]

I called a couple times over the last few months, plus just now. On those occasion's there was no answer. I left a VM on the first two attempts but didn't receive a returned call. Didn't leave one today...

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Is Tom still writing a monthly column in Lubes'N'greases ?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Site looks like a ghost town. A lot of effort for little to no reward; most all premium brands meet and/or exceed viscometrics and min/max phos and TBN. Just looking for rogue junk lubes sold surprisingly at service station.

Replace site with banner statement - don't buy "off brand" lubricants that do not display the current API donut and or starburst.

We all know housewives and stoners and teens visit the PQIA site often

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Surprised there isn't more posting, hand wringing and general melancholy about PQIA inactivity.

They had been another great source for VOA and also just some good fun when looking at and poking at various junk brands on shelves; I found it quite surprising there was this whole illegitimate industry in the underbelly of automotivedom.

 

[Foxtrot08]

It’s still around. They’ve changed their focus from the retail side, to the distribution and blending side.

Tom was in my office last year? Or was it 2022? Either way. PQIA is more focused on doing distributor inspections and blending inspections. As others have mentioned, it’s rare to find something bad in a bottle anymore. Or at least, bad enough that PQIA would flag it. As well, it’s simply a lot of ground to cover. Going after the distributors and blenders is a better utilization of time.

With consumers, stay away from sketchy no-name brands and you’re good, essentially.

With distributors, as I posted in another thread, there’s a lot more… ability to hide things. And with blenders, even more so.

 

[dnewton3]

There are two reasons I don't find this all that surprising:

- Anything that's actually API licensed is easily found on the API EOLCS site; it's easy to pick up a bottle of lube from a recognized source and have faith that the lube meets its specs. RARE is the example of a failed lube which is API approved. All PQIA was doing for the last several years was validating an already proven system, which is kind of a waste of time and money.

- There certainly are some crappy oils out there that don't get license approval. However, there's also some great lubes out there which are not API licensed. Hence, the onus is upon the purchaser to make a determination if the lube in question is good or bad via his/her own research.


Bonus point:
Many high-end lubes use product additives which don't show up in a VOA. And the VOA tells us nothing of base stocks, either. So really the PQIA info really wasn't that revealing to the common BITOGer anyway.

 

[Toyotamike]

Out of curiosity, anyone know anything new about them? Still no updates on their webpage

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

I would say it appears that PQIA is dead this is the last test results posted on their website.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Surprised there isn't more posting, hand wringing and general melancholy about PQIA inactivity.

They had been another great source for VOA and also just some good fun when looking at and poking at various junk brands on shelves; I found it quite surprising there was this whole illegitimate industry in the underbelly of automotivedom.

I get the “oooh” factor from looking at VOAs, but we know from statistics and not emotions that certifications are what tell us what an oil can/can’t do, not VOAs. So I’m at a loss why everyone is still so hung up on elemental analyses and their actual insignificance.

The long story short is, buy name brand oils from reputable retailers, and as long as the oil meets your engine’s needs, there’s literally no difference in protection at mileages acceptable to the OEM. It’s only once you start greatly extending OCIs that oil quality becomes critical, where antioxidants and TBN can start to make a difference.

Since the vast majority of folks here (and IRL) still stay inside or just slightly over “severe service” schedules, there’s literally no reason for a site like PQIA to invest the time & money into those efforts. It appears they finally wised up to that fact.

 

[SR5]

As an outside observer, I thought back when PQIA gave Novac volatility values for every oil they tested, then it was useful to help people decide which oil to buy.

It wasn't unusual to see 4 oils tested, all with the same API rating, none with extra OEM certs, mostly similar elemental analysis, but one oil had a very high Noack, another a good low Noack, and the other two just sitting in the middle.

If I was a local consumer, it would make me avoid the high Noack oil/brand, but actively seek the low Noack oil/brand.

But unfortunately the Noack testing stopped a while ago.

 

[mr_boring]

You guys have made my Grinch heart grow 3 sizes this day. No wonder I'm not selling out the big giant warehouse full of torches and pitchforks I acquired through very non-dubious means.

Welcome to the 'oil is oil, and generally speaking it all works fine" club. It's ok OG guys, you don't have to hide in spider holes any longer!


BUT - I'll still honor the code TvsT#myoilisbetterthanyouroil until supplies run out. Free rope with most bulk orders included.