My shipment of Amsoil was frozen hard outside my front door!

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No just joking! It was very cold this evening- around 10 when I came home to find my order of amosoil 10w-30 outside my front door. I opened the box and opened one of the bottles and not to my suprise the oil was very fluid. Synthetics are very amazing in the cold. This is the ATM oil that is going into a v-6 saturn for at least a 6 month or more interval. I am sure regular dino would have been like jelly outside.
 
quote:

Originally posted by like a rock:
I am sure regular dino would have been like jelly outside.

If vodka is not added !
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I live in northern MN pour test my oil. All 5W and 0W pour fine until you hit -20f. Below -20f is when you separate the good from the bad.
 
Potato vodka is the only way to go. So smooth. And not all of them cost more. I forget the name of one I like that is rather reasonable.
 
While filling my partners car windshield wash up this balmy -10F morning I checked the oil. She never checks it and of course it was >1QT low. I did not want to but the curiousity got the best of me. I poured a QT of Supertech 5W30 Syn-Blend from trunk into fill and it flowed albiet slowly.

In my humble opinion it really does not matter too much (syn vs dino) unless you face these temps daily and your car has a hard time starting/turning over. Our lot is not eager very high mileage Civics but always crank (1 long one) but start in cold.
 
Reminds me of the former Flying Tiger who got a load of AMSOIL for his car. Saw him a few weeks later, and he said he had some trouble in St Louis. Was so cold there that the car wouldn't start--had to get it towed to a heated garage and thaw out the oil. I was a bit surprised, and asked him if he was sure the oil had thickened that much. He assured me that the AMSOIL still in the trunk was fine--he hadn't found time to put in in before the trip.
 
Good low temp performance or "borderline pumping temperature" is what separates the men from the boys, so to speak.

It may not matter too much at temps greater than 0 F, but every 10 F lower than that appears to have almost an exponential effect on starting performance and especially oil flow. This also directly effects wear rates.

The SAE has determined that with a yield viscosity >60,000 cP, oil cannot flow into the pickup tube and be drawn into the oil pump. Therefore, "dry start" in a big way. This is part of the SAE J300 test and the determination most oil companies used to calculate MRV BPT's (Mini Rotary Viscometer Borderline Pumping Temperature).

I have a 2000 GMC Sierra with the Vortec 5.3 that I ordered new. Something about the oiling design has me quite concerned about BPT: rear sump oil pan, oil pump mounted to the very front of the crank, and a looooooonnnng oil pickup tube.

When new, with the no-name "low bidder" factory 5W-30 oil, it went "knock knock" at a temp of only -10 F. I changed to Mobil 1 0W-30 and it never went "knock knock" again.

Where I live, -40 F winters are NOT uncommon. Heck, went to -42 F last week, though today it's a balmy 3 F. That's why I run Mobil 1 0W-30 in winter, though IMHO it's HTHS is a little thin. I run Mobil 1 10W-30 in summer.

I have seen cars around here snap the oil pump drive shaft trying to do a boosted start at -42 running a conventional 5W-30.

FWIW the Esso Oil Products Handbook has a caution on "expected ambient temperature" and suggests the following absolute minimum temperatures for the grades listed:

15W-40 -20 C (-4 F)
10W-30 -25 C (-13 F)
5W-30 -30 C (-22 F)
0W-30 -40 C
0W-40 -40 C

The "0W" oils are partial synthetic HD diesel engine oils. A full synthetic like Mobil Delvac 1 should be good at -45 C.
 
Hmmm, I though Vodka was made with taters??
Synthetic Vodka, I guess?
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I know a distillery here ships in bulk to Canada, where it is re-labeled as "Canadian."

Guess you can't believe the manufacture's on any fluid.
 
Bla, the last time I drank Vodka, I had about 3 HARD screwdrivers and passed out at my buddies house. I woke up about 4 am, and slowly made my way home, and decided I needed a big glass of icewater because I was so dehydrated. Not more than 3 minutes later, I spewed my guts all over my bedroom. Never again will I drink Vodka. Bla............just a whiff of that stuff makes my do the gag reflex
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FYI
Some time ago, the BATF raided the big vodka bottling plant in Menlo Park, CA. BATF thought someone wasn't paying the tax on alcohol. It turned out that the QC was so bad that some vodka went out the door at 20 proof and some went out the door at 180 proof. It was hard to find out which brands were involved because they only change the labels when they bottle other brands.
Three screwdrivers at 160 proof would be quite a load! Most people pour triples when they are mixing at home -- so do the math.
 
Traditionally only grain vodka is considered to be the best and to be a real vodka. Till XIX century vodka in Russia was made exclusively from rye. Later distilleries started to use wheat. In fact it's possible to make alcohol from many products (icluding oil), but the use of potato and beet was always considered in Russia as a "mauvais ton".

To purify and soften vodka it was used many different means: from milk, honey and charcoal till a very specific one like cockroachs' wings. Interesting, but "Tarakanovka", vodka purified with cockroachs' wings, was considered to be among the best vodka in Russia. I never tried it: "Tarakanovka" is not produced since 1917. By the way, actual charcoal gas-mask owes its birth to Nickolay Zelinsky experiments with vodka purification.

Nowadays vodka is produced in many countries, but its quality is not the same. It is not the same even in Eastern Europe with its over 100 different vodkas. Like in distillation of many other spirits it is not only availability of necessary equipment, raw materials, initial water quality and knowledge about product purification that make this product good.

Even if a vodka is smooth, it does not mean you will like it. It's quite often there is something artificial in it. That's why I don't like Absolut or Finlandia. To my taste Finlandia is better though it is not perfect too. This also concerns very popular Russian Standard or Russian Standard Platinum. But tastes differ.

If you can find them, I would recommend:

Russian:
- "Posolskaya" from "Cristall", Moscow
- "Moskovskaya Osobaya" (normal or signature series)
http://www.cristall.com/portfolio.shtml

- "Smirnoff" (Russian distillery which is different form the US one)

Belarus:
- "Vseslav Charodei" from "Kryshtal", Minsk
http://www.alcoholreviews.com/SPIRITS/charodei.html
http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=1341&name=CHARODEI

Ukranian:
- "Rye Honey" from "Nemiroff"
- "Honey Peper"
http://www.nemiroff.ua/main/english/product/34.html

As for my personal choice, I prefer "home-made" produced for own consumption only somewhere in a country. It has specific taste closer to grappa and burbon.

To understand vodka taste and feel the difference it should not be well chilled: good vodka must be pleasant at 15-18 C ! And no ice, please.

One of the best snaks is foods pickeled in brine: different muchrooms (except champignons), cucumbers etc. They will not substitute the main course (like a good piece of meat), but will help with the taste.

To avoid headaches, it's better not to mix spirits of different origin. I mean if you drink vodka, don't drink wine or cognac. The common rule of "compatibility": vodka - beer (grains), wine-cognac (grapes).

Good taste !
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