Originally Posted By: Letter_K
So multiple oils are coming from the same station? Isn't that kind of bad testing? Although, I admit I didn't scrutinize the results of this test, is there verification through a second vendor that this oil doesn't meet specs? Let's say for argument sake the owner of an establishment was loading bottles with drain oil.
Just seems like more randomness in the locations purchased would be better testing proceedure. Then again, maybe they can't find so much d-list oil anywhere else.
The retail outlets where the oils are purchased are selected randomly, with an effort to sample different regions of the country. The individual oils within a store are selected based on what is available and has not yet been analyzed. Multiple bottles of each brand are purchased and retains are kept. All bottles are sealed at the time of purchase and sent to an independent lab for analysis. There is absolutely no targeting of stores, brands, or classes of trade. PQIA is only concerned with protecting consumers by checking whether the oil in the bottle matches the label claims and is not deceptively presented.
As for this specific Shell outlet, just speculating here, but I suspect the store owner may have been the victim of a slick salesperson offering low cost oil during hard times, and had no idea that the oil quality was so inappropriate for modern engines. Store owners are business people, not oil experts, and like most average people probably wouldn't know an API Donut symbol if it stood up and bit him.
Tom NJ
Note: I am an advisor to PQIA but not an employee, and my posts on BITOG are my personal opinions as an individual.
