Interesting video. The creator reviews an SAE paper (link here) showing that engine wear is inversely related to the temperature of the engine. He points out that all of these "million mile" engines are from people who put a ton of miles on them per cold start, so the vast majority of the miles are when the engine is at operating temperature, usually at highway speeds. So the fact that he reviews a technical paper puts him in the 99th percentile for most oil-related content on Youtube to start. Specifically in this study, they use radioactive piston rings and then measure that radioactivity in the oil as a marker of piston ring wear.
He then does a nice experiment where he runs his car normally and does a UOA. Then he uses a block heater and oil pan heater 100% of the time, has zero cold starts (even minimizes time at the grocery store, etc. so he doesn't have a cold start), runs another UOA, and then goes back to normal use and runs a third UOA. He cuts his wear metals in half with the block heater, and they go back up when he returns to normal use without a block heater. Obviously, we don't need to rehash the discussion about UOAs not a perfect surrogate for wear and only running a few samples etc etc etc for the millionth time here (although I suspect we will hear about it regardless). (LSJ has addressed this and said he can show that UOA wear particles correlates directly with measured engine wear, FWIW. But I don't think we're going to settle that debate here.) So to be clear, it's an anecdote, but it is interesting.
He points out in the paper that the oil brand did not make any difference.
He then does a nice experiment where he runs his car normally and does a UOA. Then he uses a block heater and oil pan heater 100% of the time, has zero cold starts (even minimizes time at the grocery store, etc. so he doesn't have a cold start), runs another UOA, and then goes back to normal use and runs a third UOA. He cuts his wear metals in half with the block heater, and they go back up when he returns to normal use without a block heater. Obviously, we don't need to rehash the discussion about UOAs not a perfect surrogate for wear and only running a few samples etc etc etc for the millionth time here (although I suspect we will hear about it regardless). (LSJ has addressed this and said he can show that UOA wear particles correlates directly with measured engine wear, FWIW. But I don't think we're going to settle that debate here.) So to be clear, it's an anecdote, but it is interesting.
He points out in the paper that the oil brand did not make any difference.
Last edited by a moderator: