the 4 ball wear test

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4 ball test, if the chart shows Quaker synthetic oil has a less wear spot than mobile 1 does this mean you ll get more life from your engine
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Meaningless test for determining engine wear. A horse that has been beaten to death a number of times here over the years.
 
Originally Posted by snake123
4 ball test, if the chart shows Quaker synthetic oil has a less wear spot than mobile 1 does this mean you ll get more life from your engine
[Linked Image]


The date on the chart is 2003 dated info whether valid or fake.
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
Excellent job, this post hits multiple Bitog buttons in one stroke.

Yep, it should be good.
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Another page 1 of the topics is all there is example. Amsoil always has their product beating everyone else. Maybe a third party untethered to them would be more accurate.. Castrol does a lot of it too.
 
A test is a test. One that shows lower wear usually means lower wear in the application. However, the amount of lower wear is not known. The lower wear may be insignificant in your application. Next year, the oil formulation may be different, and then it may all change.

The simple fact is some oil is better than no oil. Newer oil is better than well used oil. With decent oil and filters, the engine will outlast the car. It really does not matter if the engine has another 250K left in it when the car is done, or only 5K All you are doing is giving the reman industry a better quality core, if they even need one.

Rod
 
Run the test with Dawn dishwashing soap--it will outperform them all and should give a good indication of how worthless this test is for an ICE using PCMO.
 
You publish the tests where you excel and forget the ones where you don't. Forget meaning you run the tests and know the results but "forget" to publish.

This has been going on since Johannes Gutenberg did his thing in 1440.
 
The 4 ball wear test is no more relevant to engine wear than the one arm bandit. It's easily manipulated to give a desired result. It's also a comparison of similar metals (steel to steel) where as engines are built around dissimilar metals (iron to steel, iron to copper, etc...). About the only place I'd see it relevant is in the guts of a ball bearing turbocharger, but even that's a stretch.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
You publish the tests where you excel and forget the ones where you don't. Forget meaning you run the tests and know the results but "forget" to publish.

This has been going on since Johannes Gutenberg did his thing in 1440.

Even if the tests aren't applicable or don't document a relevant aspect of the oil.

Where's the taste test?
 
Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by Donald
You publish the tests where you excel and forget the ones where you don't. Forget meaning you run the tests and know the results but "forget" to publish.

This has been going on since Johannes Gutenberg did his thing in 1440.

Even if the tests aren't applicable or don't document a relevant aspect of the oil.

Where's the taste test?


Finger test - put a drop of oil on index finger and rub with thumb. Does it feel just slippery or really slippery? Amsoil signature series always feels "really slippery". In fact more slippery than any other oil.
 
Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by Donald
You publish the tests where you excel and forget the ones where you don't. Forget meaning you run the tests and know the results but "forget" to publish.

This has been going on since Johannes Gutenberg did his thing in 1440.

Even if the tests aren't applicable or don't document a relevant aspect of the oil.

Where's the taste test?


Finger test - put a drop of oil on index finger and rub with thumb. Does it feel just slippery or really slippery? Amsoil signature series always feels "really slippery". In fact more slippery than any other oil.


...but it's far from having the lowest friction coefficient measured in an SRV. IIRC, the old formula was about .15. Driven LS30 is .13 and HPL BAS is .06. Most API SN oils are .16-.20 IIRC.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Meaningless test for determining engine wear. A horse that has been beaten to death a number of times here over the years.


Possibly correct; this test is designed for gear oils; it may or may not indicate engine wear protection; we have no data.
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I suppose it could be argued that an engine oil that excels in a gear oil test would have better impact protection in an engine - for example when subjected to the combustion power stroke, it would protect the wrist pins and main journal bearings better than another oil that performed poorly in the test.

Simply saying that a test has no relevance without data to back it up is just as bad if not worse than saying the same test (and lack of data) has direct correlation.
 
Originally Posted by JLTD
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Meaningless test for determining engine wear. A horse that has been beaten to death a number of times here over the years.


Possibly correct; this test is designed for gear oils; it may or may not indicate engine wear protection; we have no data.
confused2.gif


I suppose it could be argued that an engine oil that excels in a gear oil test would have better impact protection in an engine - for example when subjected to the combustion power stroke, it would protect the wrist pins and main journal bearings better than another oil that performed poorly in the test.

Simply saying that a test has no relevance without data to back it up is just as bad if not worse than saying the same test (and lack of data) has direct correlation.


The bearings and pins are not subjected to shock loading as the pressure rise from combustion is gradual. The exception to this is someone using a lot of nitrous where the pressure spikes harder and more violently. If looking at it from an EP perspective, the closest thing would probably be the contact points in a solid lifter pushrod valvetrain with high spring pressure, high lobe intensity, and at high rpm. (ie: NHRA Pro Stock) The pressure and heat generated on the contact points when lash gets taken up can chew up parts in a hurry. That's where extreme pressure additives can be really useful.
 
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