Loud vs Quiet Oils

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by MPosey
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.


I feel the same way, in my mind friction = noise, so less noise means less friction so the engine is working less hard and is getting less wear. Probably has zero real world data or issues but in my mind that is how I think about it. It could literally be one thing in the oil that makes it less noisy to my ear that does nothing to protect the engine any more than any other slightly noisier engine but I just feel slightly better when it isn't quite a metallic-y noise I hear...

True, noise can also mean metal hitting metal, not good either.

 

[Onetor]

Loud: Mobil 0W40
Quiet: Redline 5W30

Anecdotal opinion! I must admit that I haven't tried all oil. Has anyone ever counted ALL oil brands for sale worldwide?

 

[FCD]

Noise isn't a death sentence.
My '88 Escort needs new hydraulic lifters, the valvetrain noise is sometimes shockingly loud ( to the point of a mechanic telling me it had at most 600 miles left before blowing up ) yet it has just done 6000 completely trouble free miles since i bought it in January, and drives extremely well and doesn't lack any power and runs smooth., it sounds like a diesel cold or warm, yet it keeps going and going with no signs of trouble.

 

[littleant]

Mobil 15w30 was noisy for me. Ran it for 100 miles. Switched to QSUD 5w30 absolutely quite. Still using. Maybe some engines are particular. The noise was not one component like a lifter it was though you could hear every part in the engine moving

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted by MParr
What? No Valvoline?


Switch from Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5W-20 to Valvoline Advanced 5W-30 on a Coyote and it sounds quieter in the valve train. Of course bumping up the viscosity might be part of that.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Originally Posted by MPosey
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.


I feel the same way, in my mind friction = noise, so less noise means less friction so the engine is working less hard and is getting less wear. Probably has zero real world data or issues but in my mind that is how I think about it. It could literally be one thing in the oil that makes it less noisy to my ear that does nothing to protect the engine any more than any other slightly noisier engine but I just feel slightly better when it isn't quite a metallic-y noise I hear...


Keep in mind that more friction doesn't always mean more wear. ZDDP, for example, when it forms a tribofilm between parts actually increases friction, but decreases wear.

Our 2002 Tahoe has 236k miles and has had piston slap since it was new. At 200k miles, I did compression and leakdown tests on it that came back excellent. It doesn't seem to care what oil I put in it, it still does it, so I just stopped trying to make it go away. Aside from a critical sound like an obvious rod knock, collapsed hydraulic lifter, or broken valve spring, I don't pay much attention to engine noise.

Another way I look at this is ticks or pings usually come from the valvetrain, which operates in mostly boundary area lubrication. If this is true, then oil grade would have little impact which is what my experience has been. I went from 5w-30 to 10w-40 in my wife's Nissan trying to quieten a lifter tick, and it made no difference. Then I switched back to a 10w-30 that's high in ZDDP and MoDTC and the tick went away almost immediately.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

LS engines have always had some piston slap, just like the early Ford 5.4s. It's because they have such a short skirt on the piston. It doesn't sound nice, but it certainly doesn't hamper the lifespan of those engines.

 

[RyanY]

Originally Posted by Warstud
Castrol Magnatec is the quietest I've used l lately.

^This.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that magnatec 5w30 syn was even quieter than PPHM 5W30.

 

[user52165]

Does anyone still use the scientific mehod before posting?

sci·en·tif·ic meth·od
noun
a method of procedure that has characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

 

[Oildudeny]

Imagination oil

 

[AZjeff]

Most people don't own a sound level meter so ranking most to least noisy is subjective. While not scientific it's hard to call it anecdotal or subjective when an audible tick exists with one brand of oil and disappears with another brand.

Some people are much more sensitive to noises and vibrations than others. I was acutely aware of the smallest noises or variations when I was really into bicycle racing and had a friend who was oblivious to ticks and clicks and loose bearings and crooked handlebars and such on his.

 

[caprice_2nv]

This is the opposite of what I expected but my 76 Olds 350 is quieter on 5w30 than anything else despite having low oil pressure (less than 10lbs at idle in gear when completely warmed up). Usually I suck it up and ignore the slight extra valve train noise and use a 10w40 or 5w50 etc because the oil pressure increases quite a bit and it likely has a ton of miles on it.

I imagine eventually I will have to replace the rocker arm bridges to fix the noise (I put some junkyard ones in a 307 olds I had a while back to fix a loud tick that it had. So far it hasn't gotten noticeably worse in 100k miles over the past 11 years.

I haven't noticed a difference in brands, just weight. No it's not a scientific test but I've switched grades a lot of times the past 11 years and always get the same result. The thicker the oil the noisier it is. If it was placebo than I should get the opposite result as I expected the thicker oil with better oil pressure to be quieter.

The 305 in my caprice however has about the same amount of valve train noise but it doesn't matter what oil I put in. I also don't have a pressure gauge so no idea on the pressure. Plus it has loud piston slap in cold weather for the first few minutes that is also not affected by oil choice.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Most people don't own a sound level meter so ranking most to least noisy is subjective. While not scientific it's hard to call it anecdotal or subjective when an audible tick exists with one brand of oil and disappears with another brand.

This is true. I am happy to report I have no unusual engine noises with my oil choice. I also haven't noticed any difference between Mobil 1 and Pennzoil products that can remember. This topic pops up here often though. Given a choice w/o going through scientific measures I'd prefer an oil that makes my engine quieter w/o bumping up a grade.

 

[HorseThief]

Science be darned - Just earlier today, I dumped M1 HM 5w20 and M1-210A filter at 4000 miles because of the valve train noise. Replaced with PP 5w20 and FL-820S and now much quieter at cold startup. It's not as buttery smooth as Magnatec synblend, but noticably quieter than the M1 oil and filter combo.

 

[Shannow]

You can find posts I made decades ago on M1 0W40 (what I consider one of the benchmark oils) in my 3VZE 4Runner making it sound like a bunch of ball bearings in a metal pail...it genuinely was noisy, and other people reported similarly...

As to snarky comments about the scientific method... (and in other threads "placebo effect" - indicating absolute lack of understanding of THAT too)…

There can be differences, and the can be measured.

 

[irv]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.


Originally Posted by MPosey
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Here's how I see it. If I'm using a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand x and a 20, 30, or 40 grade oil from brand y is quieter, why would I use brand x oils? If an oil of the same viscosity is quieter in my engine than a competitors product of the same viscosity that is the oil I'm running with. And I do believe a quieter engine is better protected, especially if all that it took was changing brands of oil, and not moving up a grade.


I feel the same way, in my mind friction = noise, so less noise means less friction so the engine is working less hard and is getting less wear. Probably has zero real world data or issues but in my mind that is how I think about it. It could literally be one thing in the oil that makes it less noisy to my ear that does nothing to protect the engine any more than any other slightly noisier engine but I just feel slightly better when it isn't quite a metallic-y noise I hear...


I'm in the same camp, less noise=less friction.

I recently changed the oil in my son's car with Pennzoil Ultra 5W-30. This was the second, although short OCI we did since the purchase of this car back in August.
I am unsure what the previous owner used for oil but I would guess cheap bulk type dino oil?
When we did the first oil change, my 17 yr old son, who just got this car, commented on how much quieter it seemed to run after the oil change.
After our current oil change with only 2,500-3,000 kms on it (It got dirty quick and I wanted fresh oil in it for the winter) he commented again, how much more quieter it seemed to run this time around even compared to the first.

I ran Mobil before (I was a fanboi) in some previous vehicles and had commented about this finding myself more than a few times but most said it was all in my head.

With so many people finding similar results, I respectfully disagree with them now.

(Check out the Mobil Toque. I believed the Mobil hype until I joined this site)

 

[StevieC]

I flushed the factory fill out of my new Caravan when it had very few miles on it. Most likely PYB was in it. It was pretty quiet when I got it. On the first refill I put Mobil Super 1000 in it and the noise increased a bit. Then I swapped it out again this time for Valvoline Conventional and it was quiet again like the PYB. Then I swapped that out after some miles and put in the Amsoil SSO 0w20 and I can't feel or hear the engine running. Albeit this is the first synthetic that has been in this engine so it could be that's why but just observations this far. Maybe it's because it has a good dose of Moly?

Anyway I intend on running different weights and brands to compare.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Nick1994
In all of the cars I've changed oil on, with all the different brands and weights of oil, synthetic or conventional, I've NEVER heard a difference in how an engine ran switching oils.



That because ya need hearing aides Nick1994.

 

[bbhero]

Great picture irv.

 

[john_pifer]

I couldn't say, because, when I buy a vehicle, I pick an oil and stick to it. M1 5W-30 for the Tacoma since its first change, and PPPP 10W-30 in the WRX since its first change. Over 200K on the Tacoma and over 40K on the Subaru.