Q: How do I get my oil analyzed?
A: There are a number of labs that will analyze your new or used motor oil. Prices for a single used oil analysis (UOA) range from $20 to $50. The different labs offer different services in their analysis packages including analyzing different elemental or chemical properties of the sample as well as spending more or less time looking over your results and explaining them to you. Some labs appear to spit out results based on computer algorithms, others will call you up to advise you of problems with your analysis and spend substantial time discussing the matter with you.
If you would like to support the board, you can order from a vendor that sponsors the board and make sure to mention that, “I’m using you because you are a sponsor on the BOBISTHEOILGUY site.” There are good labs that don’t sponsor the site, but I’m only covering UOA sponsors in this part of the FAQ.
Sponsors in alphabetical order:
Blackstone Labs:
www.blackstone-labs.com
Dyson Analysis:
www.dysonanalysis.com
Oil Analyzers Inc: Purchase their services through your area’s BITOG Amsoil dealer. As we have multiple sales areas for our sponsoring Amsoil dealers, I suggest checking the Support Our Sponsors forum to find out your local sponsoring Amsoil dealer.
Specialized Lubricants, our resident Schaeffer’s Oil dealer, sells UOA by the 6-pack (or larger orders) only:
http://specializedlubricants.net/
Q: Should I get my oil analyzed?
A: For any new car, most of us would agree you should get at least one UOA before the end of the warranty period, allowing you to catch detectable problems prior to your warranty expiring. Doing so has saved several members a substantial amount of money. If you are doing seriously extended drains (past about 8000 miles) against the recommendation of your automaker, most of us would probably suggest you get at least occasional UOAs.
As to getting UOAs done after warranty and while running, opinions are mixed. Some of us get a UOA every oil change, some once a year, while some of us don’t think it’s worth the money. Some of us get UOAs done for fun and not because we really think we need a sample done every 3-5K.
My personal take is that you should get at least one sample done per year.
Q: What oil is manufacturer recommended for my car?
A: If you don’t have your owner’s manual handy, your other options are to consult the oil blender web sites or your local dealer’s service department. Several sites will provide you with recommendations, and these are by and large pretty accurate.
Sites:
www.castrol.com Products What & Where to Buy Castrol Country Site Locator United States Which Oil to Buy
www.mobiloil.com Which Oil Is Right for My Car?
And others.
Q: What oil should I use?
A: This is another topic where responses from reasonable men may vary. During your vehicle’s warranty period it will be much easier to get warranty service performed on your engine if you use oils conforming to what your car’s manual says to use. Any oil that meets your manual’s minimum specifications for oil certifications, licenses and testing qualifications will perform quite nicely if you follow the automaker’s recommendations on oil change intervals and avoid mechanical problems that could contaminate the motor oil with antifreeze, gasoline or dirt.
Q: Why do some automakers spec 5W20?
A: This is a highly contentious issue. Going to 5W20 from 5W30 results in a small amount of fuel saved on a per-vehicle annual basis but does result in a substantial fuel savings across a large population of vehicles. Reasonable minds reach different conclusions as to the percent of fuel savings that can be achieved by going to 5W20 from 5W30, but range between 0.3% and 3.0%.
Some automakers specifying 5W20 do so in whole or in part because they can prevent paying some funds out to the US federal government by coming into closer compliance with the government’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. Ford falls in this category.
On the other hand, Honda now specs 5W20 for its vehicles but has never needed to improve the fuel economy of those vehicles it sells in the USA to meet any government standard. Honda’s stated reason for using 5W20 is conservation and protecting the environment.
Good 5W20 links:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/dearmfr/ccd0006.pdf
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/article_detail.asp?articleid=518
Q: I’ve done 3,000 mile oil changes my whole life. The manual in my new car says I can go 5,000 miles with my driving conditions. Is that really safe?
A: Because automakers hate to pay out more in warranty claims than they have to, you can be pretty certain that their recommendations as far as motor oil go will be on the conservative side. Tests of motor oils run out to the automaker’s specified interval frequently show a substantial amount of life left in the oil. If your automaker says 5,000 miles, you should be fine changing at 5,000 miles.
Q: How do I interpret the results of my used oil analysis?
A: The answer to this could fill a book. In fact, someone has actually written a book on just that topic. This FAQ will provide a link or two to get you started. I suggest posting your UOA in the UOA Forum on this board.
Cites:
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/gasoline_diesel_report_expl.html
Q: What is the best motor oil?
A: If you ask 25 of us, you’ll likely get 27 answers, and the answers will depend in part on what you drive. For any given car there are a number of oils that will provide very good results. If you’d like suggestions as to the best oil for your car, post a message on the board describing
Q: What is the most expensive motor oil?
A: As of the time of this writing, the most expensive oil recommended for usage in a vehicle crankcase is the SynLube ™ Company’s Lube-4-Life ® ...for Engines product, available in 0W40 and 5W50 varieties for $32 a liter, or about $33.82 per quart, plus shipping. It is advertised that, “It can be therefore used, without oil changes, for up to 10 Years / 150,000 Miles or for up to 3,000 Hours of Engine operation in Gasoline Engines, or up to 2,000 Hours in Diesel Engines.”
Q: Is that stuff any good?
A: We have had a member or two use it, and they haven’t shared any major complaints about it with the board. Some of the board experts have had direct communications with the Synlube guys, and those board members have mixed opinions of the product. The rough consensus is that the product is not snake oil, but opinions diverge if you ask whether or not you can actually make it to 10 years/150K or whether or not it is worth the price.
Q: What do these numbers like 5W30 and 10W40 mean?
Q: What do these letters on my oil containers like API SL or API SM mean?
Q: Are Group III oils real synthetics?
A: This question has sparked dozens if not hundreds of arguments on BITOG and is unlikely to ever be settled; some would argue it is actually a matter of semantics. We can agree on some things, however. In Europe you can’t legally call a Group III motor oil synthetic. In the US you can. A number of widely respected major oil makers doing business in the US seem to have no problem referring to some of their Group III products as synthetics, including Shell, Castrol and other oil makers.
Q: What is the difference between POA, type 1, type 2, type 3, type 4 oils?
Q: Does oil ever "expire"?
A: The board's opinions on this vary, but we do know that Castrol recommends using both their conventional and synthetic oils within 5 years of bottling. Some Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) written by oil blenders state that sealed motor oil is stable indefinitely. FWIW, we do not commonly see posts by members who have suffered engine damage due to excessively old motor oil.
A: Cites:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=51;t=001015
Q: I have some Potassium and/or Sodium showing in my UOA. I’d like to know if that might come from my anti-freeze. What is the PPM of these elements in my anti-freeze?
A: Check out this table.
Brand Type/Color NA K
BMW OEM ethylene glycol/blue 9,800 19
Equilon (Diluted 50/50)Prestone Conv./yel-grn 5,280 16
Havoline DexCool/orange 50 11,100
Honda Type II ethylene glycol/green 760 7,280
Honda OEM 50/50 ethylene glycol/blue 610 7,480
John Deere Yellow-Green 9,710 40
Motorcraft TY16034 SCA/Blue 17,500 76,700
NEO propylene glycol/purple 4,740 2
NEO KEEP COOL /pink 14,700 16
NEO AF Additive /clear 45,400 24
Peak Conventional/green 1,940 5,640
Subaru Factory/dark green 4,480 5,200
SuperTech Conventional/green 4,830 40
Texaco FW-16 AF Coolant Conc. Conv./green 2,100 5,810
Texaco Extended Life HD w/SCA/Orange 550 5,040
Toyota OEM ethylene glycol/pink-red 4,160 4,540
Zerex G-05/pale yellow 4,780 10
VW G12 Longlife EG/pink 10,900 45
Ford Motorcraft Premium Gold G-05/pale yellow 11,480 8
Ford Motorcraft Low Silicate conventional/green 8950 1330
Fleetgaurd Low Silicate 50/50 w/DCA4/blue 1200 3250
Prestone HD Diesel w/DCA2/purple 3210 14
Cite:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002968
Q: My Chevy has this General Motors Oil Life Monitor (OLM) thing. Is it safe to wait to change my motor oil until the computer says to change it?
A: Tests of motor oils changed out when recommended by the OLM frequently show a substantial amount of life left in the oil. The system bases its decisions on a number of factors and can be expected to tell you to change your oil well in advance of the oil actually needing changed out.
The system has told one driver that idled her van a lot to change out her oil around 2000 miles, while drivers who drive easy highway miles have been instructed to run substantial intervals.
Please remember to read your manual, as there are a couple of situations where GM doesn’t want you to follow the computer.
If you drive on dirt roads or in other dusty conditions most of the time then an early change may be specified by the manual.
If your computer gets reset, maybe by the battery getting discharged, the OLM timer is reset. The manual directs you how to handle this, but basically you need to change the oil at 3K or the time of the OLM reset and then use the computer going forward.
It should be noted that the BITOG community does NOT universally trust the GM OLM. For various reasons, some of us are not comfortable following the computer’s advice.
We had an interesting thread on this topic here:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=010523
GM discusses the system here:
http://www.gm.com/company/gmability...es/news/simplified_maintenance_qa_040104.html
