Oil Drain Flow Rates

[stepside]

I have a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan, 3.8 engine and have used Motorcraft, Havoline and Exxon Superflow, 5W-20 at 4-5k mile OCI's with NAPA Pro Select filters over the past 2 years.

Always fully warm the engine and ambient air temperatures are consistent. This particular vehicle has a crossmember about 4-5 inches away and on a plane with the rear-facing drainplug.

I've noticed something interesting: The Motorcraft and Exxon always spurt out and hit onto the crossmember, but the Havoline never does. The Havoline stream falls a good inch short of the crossmember. I've observed this over several oil changes and it doesn't vary. All conditions are consistent so it appears that it must be something to do with the flow rates under unpressureized conditions.

I don't think this is particularly significant; just interesting. Any thoughts?

 

[Gary Allan]

Well, it's up there with "hang time" on punts ..but why not see if the membership has the observational skills to differentiate such distinctions.

I've never taken notice, myself.

 

[stepside]

Yeah, I've always ( 45+ years of oil changes ) been cursed with noticing trivial stuff like this. Now that I think about it though, I don't have to clean off the crossmember when I'm draining the Havoline; that might qualify as significant.

 

[Gary Allan]

Hey, pal, I'm as into trivial things as the next guy. I'm always critical of my environment.

(from Airplane when John accepted the offer from the flight attendant for a 2nd cup of coffee ..and later vomited from food poisoning)

His Wife (imagine thought cloud with accompanying "strange" music):

That's funny, John never asks for a second cup of coffee at home

..and later..

That's funny, John never vomits at home

So, yeah, if I did 30 changes that gurgled the same way ..and one didn't ..it would bug the heck out of me until I figured out why. I don't necessarily know what it is (its origin) ..but I do know when something is "unright".

did anyone say

??

 

[02zx9r]

 

[stepside]

Thanks for the welcome(s). I've actually been hanging around for some time; just don't sign in often.

When I noticed the flow difference in the oils it just occured to me to wonder if the Havoline's shorter "hang time" , as Gary Allan put it, indicates that the Havoline is "heavier", "thicker", or is more resistant to flow for some other reason in its makeup.

I'd been an exclusively Havoline user for over 40 years and never experienced any engine problems while putting 100k-200+k on a variety of vehicles and engines, so I don't have any negative feelings about that brand. I strayed away from them 4 or 5 years ago when they switched from the small neck bottle ( which fit into the filler hole as opposed to their new "fast flow" wide mouth bottle which forced me to hold on to each bottle until it emptied. That may seem an odd reason to switch, but I object to improvements which don't help me. I sent Havoline an e-mail and asked why they didn't try these things out before they changed the design. They told me to use a funnel. So much for the supposed faster fill using the wide mouth. Anyway, many other brands have also switched and the current Havoline bottle mouth is actually reduced somewhat in size, so the whole point is acedemic.

I'm comfortable using most of the current brands, but just wondered about what I observed. Probably wouldn't even have noticed if the crossmember wasn't just where it is.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
That may seem an odd reason to switch, but I object to improvements which don't help me.


Me too. I like how sometimes things get fixed that were not broken for me. I'm plagued with "advances" that appear to be solutions looking for problems. The list is very long in the automotive sector.

Quote:
so the whole point is acedemic.


Whether they changed it or not, the whole point is academic. I keep looking for that survey data that said that consumers DEMAND velvety smooth shifts and realize that whomever makes these decisions isn't really attached all that firmly at the neck ..or their feet haven't walked too many miles in other's shoes.

It's an interesting observation. One would reason that viscosity would dictate pouring properties ..so the drain temp would have a decent impact on it ..but it can surely be due to other influences that I'm not aware of or haven't considered.

 

[severach]

I can think of two possibilities. Hot 20 weight is different. Could an OCI determine that? The oil temperature with the Havoline is substantially lower. For that you could stick a thermometer in the stream.

Oh no! Yet another OCD technique for changing oil. Isn't BITOG great?