NOACK volatility ratings

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I wasn't sure where to put this since it would cover all oils, gas, diesel, natural gas and such.

I'm just curious if anyone has researched and compiled a list of oils from lowest NOACK to highest. I did a search on here and didn't find anything. Just curious as to what brand is the lowest out there.

Because it was easy to search. What I have found so far is a NOACK of 3.1 and it is a marine oil.
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
What marine oil ?


BND Quantum Blue 28.5W-313.2

;^)

Sorry, couldn't resist...

NOACK results can be hard to find even for mass market oils, the best sources I have found are the PQIA and the Russian Oil Club (yeah, I know, interesting source there). Amsoil also published some results from a competitive evaluation that showed Redline High Performance 5W30 at 5.5%, which may be the best result I've seen for that grade...the Russian Oil Club had M1 5W30 ESP at 5.6%, and I think I saw the same oil at around 6.5% at another source but cannot find it at the moment. The old Pennzoil Ultra 5W30 was 6.6% by the PQIA, and its GTL replacements seem to have slipped a bit in that department...the PQIA also had PYB 5W30 conventional at some insanely good NOACK some time ago, and they even retested to make sure of the result, but I think it was more like 13% in recent testing.
 
I looked into this oil for my boat and the techs all talked me out if it. They steered me to the 10w-40 full syn marine with a noack of 7.5 I believe. Just thought I'd add that although it's not really on topic...they didn't think much of this oil imo.
 
Neither you nor your engine would likely ever notice any difference between an 8% and a 14% Noack oil. A low Noack may indicate a better base oil, but not necessarily, and besides the additives dominate performance. Motor oils are far too complex to judge by a single property if that's your plan.

Tom NJ/VA
 
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Neither you nor your engine would likely ever notice any difference between an 8% and a 14% Noack oil. A low Noack may indicate a better base oil, but not necessarily, and besides the additives dominate performance. Motor oils are far too complex to judge by a single property if that's your plan.

Tom NJ/VA


+1
 
I was particularly concerned about NOACK because of warnings from online posters about the high temperatures that are seen in turbos. I know that my particular turbo is water cooled, but I assumed that this just meant that both the coolant and the oil would see extreme temps, not that the oil was not going to be stressed much less than in an oil cooled unit. Maybe a poor assumption?
That said, NOACK is not the sole determinant for the oil I choose to use...I have run M1 5W30 ESP at times, but also M1 5W30 vanilla/EP and QSUD 5W30, which generally are shown as having NOACK losses in the 8-10% range. I am not very comfortable going much above that range, although I'm sure my engine wouldn't seize up with a 15% NOACK oil. I have no idea what the dealer used in the first three changes my car saw and it's still happy 40,000 miles later...
 
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Neither you nor your engine would likely ever notice any difference between an 8% and a 14% Noack oil. A low Noack may indicate a better base oil, but not necessarily, and besides the additives dominate performance. Motor oils are far too complex to judge by a single property if that's your plan.

Tom NJ/VA


What reasons do Euro specs typically limit NOACK to 10% maximum? Extended intervals? Turbo engines? Faster driving? Emissions?
 
Originally Posted By: BobFout
Originally Posted By: Tom NJ
Neither you nor your engine would likely ever notice any difference between an 8% and a 14% Noack oil. A low Noack may indicate a better base oil, but not necessarily, and besides the additives dominate performance. Motor oils are far too complex to judge by a single property if that's your plan.

Tom NJ/VA


What reasons do Euro specs typically limit NOACK to 10% maximum? Extended intervals? Turbo engines? Faster driving? Emissions?

Maybe in higher performance cars you could say all of that, plus less deposits on engine parts and specially oil thickening by loosing the lighter parts, I think. But not considerable in a grocery grabber that I daily use.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: BobFout


What reasons do Euro specs typically limit NOACK to 10% maximum? Extended intervals? Turbo engines? Faster driving? Emissions?


Emissions, turbos, oil consumption, and catalyst protection have been discussed as benefiting to some degree from lower Noacks, although I doubt any are relevant to average drivers. Some in the industry feel that the ratcheting down of Noack specifications was intended to push the oil formulators into Group II and III base oils rather than real world performance issues.
 
I'm not sure why there's any attention paid to NOACK at all, so long as it meets spec. Most people fill their engine with oil and just drive it to the next oil change. It doesn't distill away to a noticeable extent. As far as I can tell, any oil getting into the intake tract from the PCV system is entrained droplets, not vapor. I think low NOACK ratings are over-rated.

Or am I totally wrong?
 
IMO - OEM's target certain NOACK levels since John Doe and his wife will follow OEM and buy another like for like vehicle if all goes well. If you hang out on this site - you don't drink white wine with them (red, Bud, or Bass Ale) ...
So I tend to monitor this site by vehicle and try to get a feel for CBU prone mills vs non TDI motors and don't just consider what gets "my run done" ... I might be passing those wheels to a family member or just feel better a young person on a tight budget got lucky to buy one of mine off a lot ...
 
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