Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Shannow,
It happened long before my time but at some point in history (80s maybe??) Magnesium got itself a bad reputation. I heard various stories about how it caused bore glazing on the Ford Tornado test (maybe where the hard deposits thing originated?), how it was sensitive to water, how it was useless in HDDO and how the Japanese totally banned its use in engine oil.
My involvement with Mg started when I was desperately in need of 'cheap stuff'. It became apparent that on an equal TBN in finished oil basis, 400 TBN Mg was cheaper than 300 TBN Ca so I just went for it! It probably helped that I wasn't carrying all that baggage that put so many of my old codger colleagues off from using Mg.
The thing was, the more I used it, the more it impressed me. And believe me, I did look hard for bore glazing and it's sensitivity to water but there was just nothing untoward to see. Regarding its use in HDDO, all I can say is I got some of my best ever diesel test passes with Mg. I also don't recall one single field problem arising from the billions of litres of Mg-based oil that I ushered into the world.
With LSPI upon us, it may be that Magnesium makes something of a comeback in which case, I for one will be happy...
Originally Posted By: SonofJoe
Sorry but whoever is saying Mg detergents are bad for ash and oil consumption is talking out of his or her arse!
For starters, for a given TBN, a Mg-based detergent will ALWAYS give you a LOWER Sulphated Ash than the equivalent Ca-based detergent. It's something that formulators exploit if high ash becomes a problem.
Second, for a given level of TBN in oil, a 400 TBN Mg Sulphonate (its most common form) will always yield a LOWER Noack finished oil than 300 Ca Sulphonate. Noack, not ash content is the main determinant of evaporative oil loss.
Third, if you are running say a very high Noack oil on a car that has a propensity to burn oil via evaporative oil loss, then what gets evaporated from the oil is primarily light base oil. The relatively heavy metallic detergent stays in the sump and cannot create deposits on valves or in the combustion chamber.
Finally, modern HDDOs tend not to contain excessive amounts of metallic detergent or have particulary high TBNs, so this per se should not put you off running them on a gasoline engine. I very much doubt you will find a commercial HDDO based on Magnesium but if you could, then grab it with both hands because it is good stuff!
Changing subjects, 2-stroke oils usually have very low ash content which is why they can be burnt and not leave deposits behind.
I appreciate posts that offer an education.
Thanks