Seal Conditioners = Never "Energy Conserving"?

[glum]

A Valvoline tech just told me:

Quote:
The American Petroleum Institute (API) will not consider any oil with seal conditioners an Energy Conserving Oil.

This surprised me. Any opinions on this--true, false, or why? It doesn't make sense to me. Why would simply having seal conditioners be the basis for a prohibition on even testing for the EC certification?

 

[chubbs1]

That is a bunch of hooey, unless they use some weird chemical to condition the seals. I was under the belief it was just some Ester which tend to be good to seals...ark ark. I think it is because the oils they use like MAXLIFE are thick blends of oils to reduce consumption. That is why, not the seal conditioners...ark ark. Wow I'm stupid.

 

[Zaedock]

I guess WPP didn't get the memo.

The Supertech High Mileage 10w30 oil is energy conserving.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
That is a bunch of hooey, unless they use some weird chemical to condition the seals. I was under the belief it was just some Ester which tend to be good to seals...ark ark.



really? i never heard that one before.

 

[SuperDave456]

This stuff cracks me up.
Everything that involves cars has become so political it is nuts.

You used to have guys duke it out on the GM vs. Ford.
Now it seems like they duke it out over what party they represent via the car they purchase.

Whatever happened to good ole Football hooliganism? Or maybe fighting over a girl?

No, I will argue over how green my New car is instead of your Used car, even though the total throughput of greenhouse gas considering the overall life cycle of each vehicle is probably the same if you include manufacturing.

Effort to become "More Green" my foot. It's a sales and political thing.

 

[unixguru]

Probably not true. API/Starbust only perform engine tests and don't really care about composition. They also do seal compatibility testing for multiple seal materials. As I understand they measure seal swell and seal drying. If oil does not pass those tests it can't be certified by API/Starbust. Probably seal conditioning oils fail those tests.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
This stuff cracks me up.
Everything that involves cars has become so political it is nuts.

You used to have guys duke it out on the GM vs. Ford.
Now it seems like they duke it out over what party they represent via the car they purchase.

Whatever happened to good ole Football hooliganism? Or maybe fighting over a girl?

No, I will argue over how green my New car is instead of your Used car, even though the total throughput of greenhouse gas considering the overall life cycle of each vehicle is probably the same if you include manufacturing.

Effort to become "More Green" my foot. It's a sales and political thing.

 

[badtlc]

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
That is a bunch of hooey, unless they use some weird chemical to condition the seals. I was under the belief it was just some Ester which tend to be good to seals...ark ark. I think it is because the oils they use like MAXLIFE are thick blends of oils to reduce consumption. That is why, not the seal conditioners...ark ark. Wow I'm stupid.


Thickness doesn't cut it for an answer. Even the Maxlife 5w20 doesn't carry the energy conserving logo.

 

[chubbs1]

Well I have no idea, what are the Mobil 1 High Mileage oils rated? SL? I don't use any of the High Mileage oils.

 

[glum]

I had decided to use MaxLife syn blend for my next OC. Was surprised to find that it's not EC rated. Checked valvoline.com and saw this FAQ tidbit:

Quote:
Which Valvoline oils brands are "energy conserving"?

All brands of Valvoline motor oil with the following viscosity grades are energy conserving: SAE 0w20, 5w20, 5w30 and 10w30.

I did point out this error to them, so hopefully they will change it (I'd be surprised, though).

If you can't rely on an oil manufacturer to get simple facts like this right about its own products, it's hard to see what you can rely on.

 

[Merkava_4]

Will somebody please tell me how much of a mile per gallon improvement I'll get
going from MaxLife 10w30 to the white bottle energy conserving 10w30 ???

 

[glum]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Will somebody please tell me how much of a mile per gallon improvement I'll get
going from MaxLife 10w30 to the white bottle energy conserving 10w30 ???

I guess you're being sarcastic, but I was wondering about this type of thing. From what I gather, the benefit would probably be 1/2 an MPG for a typical vehicle, or less. Just guessing. It's not a bad question though, all joking aside.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I thought the new SN/GF-5 standard actually mandated increased seal compatibility? Perhaps that's different from "conditioners," but I'm not sure how...

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: glum

I guess you're being sarcastic, but I was wondering about this type of thing. From what I gather, the benefit would probably be 1/2 an MPG for a typical vehicle, or less. Just guessing. It's not a bad question though, all joking aside.


A whole 1/2 mile per gallon?!!? That's a lot!!

Gee ... and here I was thinking I was getting better mileage because of the better lubrication
MaxLife provides. Silly me. That MaxLife must be like pumping wet concrete.

 

[glum]

I don't get your sarcasm. I wasn't claiming that 1/2 MPG is a lot.

 

[TFB1]

Originally Posted By: glum
I don't get your sarcasm. I wasn't claiming that 1/2 MPG is a lot.

But probably more than you'll get in any oil you care to use, estimates are what, a one or two percent improvement???

When someone develops a oil that will give a 10% improvement I'll try it, otherwise I could care less about the ISLAC starburst...

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
This stuff cracks me up.
Everything that involves cars has become so political it is nuts.

You used to have guys duke it out on the GM vs. Ford.
Now it seems like they duke it out over what party they represent via the car they purchase.

Whatever happened to good ole Football hooliganism? Or maybe fighting over a girl?

No, I will argue over how green my New car is instead of your Used car, even though the total throughput of greenhouse gas considering the overall life cycle of each vehicle is probably the same if you include manufacturing.

Effort to become "More Green" my foot. It's a sales and political thing.

 

[glum]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
This stuff cracks me up.
Everything that involves cars has become so political it is nuts.

You used to have guys duke it out on the GM vs. Ford.
Now it seems like they duke it out over what party they represent via the car they purchase.

Whatever happened to good ole Football hooliganism? Or maybe fighting over a girl?

No, I will argue over how green my New car is instead of your Used car, even though the total throughput of greenhouse gas considering the overall life cycle of each vehicle is probably the same if you include manufacturing.

Effort to become "More Green" my foot. It's a sales and political thing.

Again, not sure who or what this is directed at, but I hope it's not me, because I am just trying to gain an understanding of what use EC oils actually are, and how the designation is arrived at. The Valvoline tech made a comment to me that made no sense, which is why I wanted it cleared up.

I'm a far cry from a "green nut". My interest is mostly selfish; I just want to save myself money. I wasn't sure how much a difference EC made, but I guess it's paltry.

 

[mongo161]

I have a bottle of Spectrum Plus SAE HM, 10w30, API-SM, GF-4 in front of me, with the API Starburst on the front, and it's energy conserving.

The oil states that it contains the highest quality Hydrotreated Parafffinic lubricating oils and a technologically advanced additive system that contains:

Detergents
Dispersant's
Viscosity improver's
Anti-Wear and Anti-Friction Agents
Oxidation and Corrosion inhibitors.
Helps restore Seal Condition
Protects against high Temperature Deposits and Ring sticking
Reduces Friction for improved Fuel Economy and engine wear
High Resistance to Viscosity and Thermal Breakdown
Provides excellent wide range Temperature protection- all season

Exceeds all US and Import car and light truck warranty requirements where a SAE 10w30 that meets API-SM is specified.

So even the Spectrum Plus HM 10w30 is still "Energy Conserving" and states so....right in the Donut.