The value of using base oils that run clean

Joined
Nov 27, 2017
Messages
842
Location
Manteno, IL USA
This customer lives in Canada. He has spent a significant amount of money in freight to get our oil in his 383 Stroker. The engine has 200,000 miles on it. The last 180,000 of those miles is on HPL. The oil filter is NAPA gold. I just received the pictures. I have requested the drain frequency and will post that when I get the info from the customer. The engine is in a Boss Hoss and this guy is a riding animal. He will hop on his bike and ride from Eastern Canada to Arizona or Vegas or Florida on a whim. The oil is our 5W40HD CI4plus/SL. This formula has ester but not AN. It is fair to say that the addition of AN in the current 5W40 will help but its hard to imagine an engine running much cleaner than this. The valve cover was removed and set on the bench and photographed untouched.

David

IMG_5181.JPG
IMG_5182.JPG
IMG_5183.JPG
IMG_5184.JPG
 
If the engine metal is clean Yay… but if the oil is clean then….
 
Last edited:
Makes me curious, I wonder if the stresses put on an engine are related to its cleanliness. This engine would seemingly see very little stress at all. Will probably do a burnout at 1200 rpm's. 😁
That opens the door to a question I have: Is there any correlation between an engine's cleanliness and the wear the engine shows? IOW, can an engine be clean and yet show a lot of wear?
 
That opens the door to a question I have: Is there any correlation between an engine's cleanliness and the wear the engine shows? IOW, can an engine be clean and yet show a lot of wear?
Cleanliness has a relation to health. If an engine is full of varnish, you know that the ring lands and other areas negatively impacted by varnish accumulation are going to be even less pretty. This means more blowby, more oil contamination and poorer performance.
 
Cleanliness has a relation to health. If an engine is full of varnish, you know that the ring lands and other areas negatively impacted by varnish accumulation are going to be even less pretty. This means more blowby, more oil contamination and poorer performance.
But, do poorer performance, nasty-looking ring lands, and a less pretty engine mean more actual wear?
 
But, do poorer performance, nasty-looking ring lands, and a less pretty engine mean more actual wear?
Well, if your oil is getting full of contaminants to the point they are plating out, clearly its performance is going to be compromised. As we know, gas is not a lubricant, so more of it in the oil is going to increase wear, same with combustion byproduct abrasives, particularly if they can't be held in suspension.

Looked at from the other side, an engine that wears quickly is going to go the same direction. Wear on the rings and bores is going to lead to increased blowby and oil contamination, which is going to prematurely degrade the lubricant, overwhelm the additive package and then lead to varnish and then ring sticking, even worse performance...etc.

So yes, the two are related. You can't have excessive wear and cleanliness coexist for long as the wear will eventually impact the cleanliness.
 
But, do poorer performance, nasty-looking ring lands, and a less pretty engine mean more actual wear?
Exactly... maybe varnish builds up on non-contact areas and something like a ring stays cleaner due to movement. Maybe varnish protect some things. I mean I doubt it but... heh... I have no idea.
 
Exactly... maybe varnish builds up on non-contact areas and something like a ring stays cleaner due to movement. Maybe varnish protect some things. I mean I doubt it but... heh... I have no idea.
The ring land area is one of the most difficult to keep clean because of the temperature, lack of pressurized lubrication, and low oil turnover/flow-through. If you have oil plating out varnish deposits in low flow areas, the rings, particularly oil control, are going to be some of, if not the worst in the engine.
 
Makes me curious, I wonder if the stresses put on an engine are related to its cleanliness. This engine would seemingly see very little stress at all. Will probably do a burnout at 1200 rpm's. 😁
I would think that this engine has an easy life for sure. At the end of the day the deposits come from the interface combustion byproducts. It takes a lot of fuel to get to 180,000 miles even mounted in a Boss Hoss.
 
You know that with just a fresh oil change there is plenty of dirty oil to mix with the new oil. We are talking physics. The oil is clean…
 
This customer lives in Canada. He has spent a significant amount of money in freight to get our oil in his 383 Stroker. The engine has 200,000 miles on it. The last 180,000 of those miles is on HPL. The oil filter is NAPA gold. I just received the pictures. I have requested the drain frequency and will post that when I get the info from the customer. The engine is in a Boss Hoss and this guy is a riding animal. He will hop on his bike and ride from Eastern Canada to Arizona or Vegas or Florida on a whim. The oil is our 5W40HD CI4plus/SL. This formula has ester but not AN. It is fair to say that the addition of AN in the current 5W40 will help but its hard to imagine an engine running much cleaner than this. The valve cover was removed and set on the bench and photographed untouched.

David

View attachment 98748View attachment 98749View attachment 98750View attachment 98751

Thanks for posting these pictures. I'm a very visual person and the results in these pictures speak for themselves,awesome 👍
 
Back
Top