List of 0W-20 oils by base-oil-quality index (BOQI): 2018

[Gokhan]

Code:

Rank	BOQI	DV-35	NOACK	Date purchased	Oil

1	84.3	4,110	10.10	2014/02/16	Mobil1 Synthetic API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
2	83.3	3,928	10.70	2015/12/28	Mobil 1 Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
3	81.9	4,316	9.90	2018/01/25	Genuine Nissan Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 Motor Oil
4	80.4	5,122	8.50	Amsoil PDS	AMSOIL Signature Series Synthetic Motor Oil 0W-20 (ASM)
5	78.2	4,182	10.70	2017/03/06	Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
6	66.1	4,102	12.90	2018/01/24	Genuine Toyota Synthetic SAE 0W-20
7	59.0	5,929	10.00	2018/03/12	SuperTech High Mileage Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 Motor Oil
8	57.8	5,884	10.30	2017/03/06	Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic with PurePlus™ Technology SAE 0W-20 dexos1
9	57.1	6,068	10.10	2015/12/28	Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
10	54.9	5,958	10.70	2014/02/06	Quaker State Synthetic API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
11	54.0	5,448	11.90	2015/04/01	Beck/Arnley Premium OE Fully Synthetic SAE 0W-20
12	54.0	5,949	10.90	2018/03/12	Royal Purple Synthetic Oil SAE 0W-20 High Performance Motor Oil
13	53.2	5,721	11.50	2015/12/28	Valvoline Full Synthetic SYNPower SAE 0W-20
14	53.0	5,006	13.20	2015/12/28	SuperS SuperSyn Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20
15	51.9	5,819	11.60	2017/03/06	Valvoline Full Synthetic SYNPower SAE 0W-20 dexos1
16	51.7	5,642	12.00	2018/01/24	ACDelco Synthetic SAE 0W-20
17	51.2	5,342	12.80	2017/12/09	Honda Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 Motor Oil
18	49.8	5,537	12.70	2015/12/28	Castrol Edge Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
19	49.5	5,996	11.80	2017/03/07	O'Reilly SAE 0W-20 Full Synthetic dexos1 Motor Oil
20	48.6	5,451	13.20	2014/08/14	Castrol Edge Synthetic Motor Oil API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
21	47.6	5,658	13.00	2015/07/27	STARFIRE SAE 0W-20 Full Synthetic dexos1
22	47.2	5,657	13.10	2014/02/07	Pronto Supreme API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
23	47.2	4,981	14.90	2014/08/25	Starfire Motor Oil API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
24	46.2	5,786	13.10	2015/12/28	ProLine Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
25	45.6	5,113	15.00	2014/12/01	i-Sint XL 4AM Synthetic SAE 0W-20, API SN, ILSAC GF-5
26	44.9	5,647	13.80	2017/12/09	i-Sint XL 4AM Synthetic Engine Oil SAE 0W-20
27	43.5	6,138	13.10	2017/03/06	STP SYN Full Synthetic SAE 0W-20 dexos1
28	43.1	5,723	14.20	2016/01/25	AMSOIL Synthetic OE SAE 0W-20 Motor Oil
29	41.8	5,814	14.40	2014/02/07	MAG1 API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil
30	39.7	6,163	14.30	2014/08/11	Federated Motor Oil API SN, ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20 motor oil

If there are any questions regarding BOQI, see the previous threads (original and follow-up).

 

[FCD]

So M1 0W-20 will protect my door hinges in my car best?

 

[rollinpete]

Nice list , I'm still gonna buy the yellow bottle Pennzoil, I like the color,

 

[ZZman]

How do we know BOQ when it is proprietary? Also formulations change and many of these are old.

 

[OilUzer]

Wal-Mart oil has a nice noack %10

 

[2015Corolla]

The current champion is less than 4 bucks a quart?

 

[Eddie]

DV-35?

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Eddie

DV-35?

CCS (Cold Cranking Simulator)...is dynamic viscosity...and for 0W, is at -35C If considering the number, and the interaction of both base oils and additives, including polymeric viscosity improvers, I would have choses MRV, as it's artificially thickened over the base oil viscosity by the VM components.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: Shannow

Originally Posted By: Eddie

DV-35?

CCS (Cold Cranking Simulator)...is dynamic viscosity...and for 0W, is at -35C If considering the number, and the interaction of both base oils and additives, including polymeric viscosity improvers, I would have choses MRV, as it's artificially thickened over the base oil viscosity by the VM components.

Since the PQIA doesn't share MRV test results, this would be a pretty short list using that instead of CCS. Shannow, didn't you tell us a while ago that a MRV/CCS ratio of over 2 was an indication of the use of a lot of PPD or other additives?

 

[Shannow]

Yep, I did. And the value/quality of a list shouldn't be on how many data points it contains, especially if the premise is incorrect.

 

[jayjr1105]

Can someone explain to an oil noob what the numbers mean?

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: FordCapriDriver

So M1 0W-20 will protect my door hinges in my car best?

Amsoil will last up to 25,000 miles !!!

 

[PimTac]

The list is the latest one yet some dates on those oils are from 2014 and 2015. A lot has changed since then.

 

[wdn]

Nice list but inventing your own metric based on just 2 (of your own choosing) out of the many standard ASTM tests cannot be used to rank motor oils. And it sure can't be used to infer 'base oil quality' which is what you called it. The whole premise of your metric is flawed in my opinion. Hats off to you for putting the time into it though. The formula itself is pretty arbitrary too, the computation you used. The two tests are in completely different units. You can't take an arbitrary constant 2,000,000 and divide it by the product of two quantities that are measured in units (but different units) and the result is a dimensionless quanity used to 'rank' oils. I also dispute how those measurements can be named "base oil quality" since a) you can't prove or demonstrate that either CCS or NOACK values are determined by base oils -- they are the measurements of the complete motor oil (base oil + additive package); b) both the base oil mixture and the additive package are proprietary, and oil companies do not list ingredients out of the bottle.

 

[CarbonSteel]

What 0W-20 M1 oil is rated #1 and #2? AFE and EP are the only two oils I frequently see and AFE is listed. AP recently came out with a 0W-20 so which witch is which?

 

[Gokhan]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD

What 0W-20 M1 oil is rated #1 and #2? AFE and EP are the only two oils I frequently see and AFE is listed. AP recently came out with a 0W-20 so which witch is which?

PQIA has only tested the vanilla M1 0W-20. Unfortunately, there is no data on EP or AP. I would expect these to have better base oils and have higher BOQI indexes than the vanilla M1 but we can't know without actual data. Also, the latest data (2017) for the vanilla M1 is the #5-ranked one.

 

[Gokhan]

Originally Posted By: 2015Corolla

The current champion is less than 4 bucks a quart?

Ha! You're indeed right that Genuine Nissan Motor Oil (GNMO) 0W-20 SN by ExxonMobil is the current BOQI champion! I didn't realize that. The MSDS (link) is claiming that it's mostly GTL. It's interesting that many oils made by ExxonMobil recently are using GTL. Good for ExxonMobil oils, as GTL is a great base oil! It's also interesting that these are scoring higher than the Pennzoil PurePlus GTL-based oils. Some caveats (PQIA link): There is no moly but there is some titanium. There is no magnesium but there is some sodium, not sure if it's a detergent. It's amazing that you can get arguably the oil with the world's best base oil tested by PQIA for $3.83 a quart with free shipping and no tax. Good catch!

 

[HKPolice]

Originally Posted By: Gokhan

Originally Posted By: 2015Corolla

The current champion is less than 4 bucks a quart?

Ha! You're indeed right that Genuine Nissan Motor Oil (GNMO) 0W-20 SN by ExxonMobil is the current BOQI champion! I didn't realize that. The MSDS (link) is claiming that it's mostly GTL. It's interesting that many oils made by ExxonMobil recently are using GTL. Good for ExxonMobil oils, as GTL is a great base oil! It's also interesting that these are scoring higher than the Pennzoil PurePlus GTL-based oils. Some caveats (PQIA link): There is no moly but there is some titanium. There is no magnesium but there is some sodium, not sure if it's a detergent. It's amazing that you can get arguably the oil with the world's best base oil tested by PQIA for $3.83 a quart with free shipping and no tax. Good catch!

Virgin TBN of 7.71 is very low. This oil is probably only good for ~7K miles max. You get what you pay for in this case.

 

[Gokhan]

Originally Posted By: HKPolice

Virgin TBN of 7.71 is very low. This oil is probably only good for ~7K miles max. You get what you pay for in this case.

Perhaps in theory but not necessarily at all in real practice. I ran the original formulation of TGMO 0W-20 SN by ExxonMobil, which had a virgin TBN of only 6.20, several times. I never had issues with neither TBN nor TAN in my UOA's, TBN always staying above TAN, despite running it in a very old engine. Needless to say, Toyota recommends a 10,000-mile OCI on it. You can Google my TGMO 0W-20 SN VOA and UOA's. I don't know anyone who had TBN issues with it either. Regarding the price, it's merely a bargain catch on eBay. I bet the Nissan dealer charges you $10 - 12 a quart. Once the guy on eBay sells out his stock, you will never be able to get this extremely low price of $3.83 a quart with free shipping and no tax.

 

[HKPolice]

Originally Posted By: Gokhan

Originally Posted By: HKPolice

Virgin TBN of 7.71 is very low. This oil is probably only good for ~7K miles max. You get what you pay for in this case.

Perhaps in theory but not necessarily at all in real practice. I ran the original formulation of TGMO 0W-20 SN by ExxonMobil, which had a virgin TBN of only 6.20, several times. I never had issues with neither TBN nor TAN in my UOA's, TBN always staying above TAN, despite running it in a very old engine. Needless to say, Toyota recommends a 10,000-mile OCI on it. You can Google my TGMO 0W-20 SN VOA and UOA's. I don't know anyone who had TBN issues with it either. Regarding the price, it's merely a bargain catch on eBay. I bet the Nissan dealer charges you $10 - 12 a quart. Once the guy on eBay sells out his stock, you will never be able to get this extremely low price of $3.83 a quart with free shipping and no tax.

I don't trust wear check for their virgin TBN analysis. 6.2 is way too low and other VOAs have revealed the old TGMO formula at around 8 TBN new: http://www.oil-club.ru/forum/topic/8410-toyota-genuine-0w-20-kanistra-plastik/ The newest TGMO has a virgin TBN of 10 confirmed by both oil club & PQIA: http://www.oil-club.ru/forum/topic/31986...ka-new-svezhee/ http://pqiadata.org/Toyota_0W20.html This indicates that Toyota knew that a TBN of 8 was borderline for their 10K mile interval so they increased it to 10. They wouldn't have changed the formula otherwise. Your UOA on the old Toyota 4A isn't representative of modern engines that run much hotter & leaner for fuel economy reasons, so it's much lighter on oil than a short tripped modern TGDI for example. A 7.71 TBN in the Nissan oil may hit 10K miles if the car was never short tripped especially in an older less stressful engine. But throw in 50% city traffic short tripping into the mix and things don't look good beyond 5K miles, especially since the add pack is all calcium (magnesium add backs are better at TBN retention).