Oils aint oils

[Fire Truck]

Interesting reading in Issue 108 Street Commodores, check out the oil testing results, will make for some interesting posts I'm sure!!
Royal Purple gets a rap, other rated oils fail the test miserably.
Over to you forum members..................
streetcommodores.com

PS dont think the site has any info just yet, get the mag:headbang:

I like to watch.....................

[pah]

Interesting reading in Issue 108 Street Commodores, check out the oil testing results . . .Royal Purple gets a rap, other rated oils fail the test miserably.


Hi Fire Truck,

Haven't seen the mag.

Um . . . would there be much in the way of Royal Purple adverts in Issue 108??

Not that I'm a cynic mind you. My interest is purely an academic! :rolleyes:




PAH

[showoff]

Picking the rite oil does my head in, ur meant to run mobil1, but i want to run agip as its standard spec on ferrari, they use shell in f1 cars, and now this test is saying penrite is the best with higher load strength and ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i just want to pick the rite crap... but at $75 for 5 litres id be inclined to purchase the penrite as apposed to the mobil1 at $90 for 5 litres that i do atm..... so i dunno i dont wanna pay $200 for oil each time i service it, so i just want the best $100 can get me which i thought was mobil1... soo my head hurts....

p.s. with royal purple in at second and $30 a litre (penrite 1st at $75 for 5 litres) what other ways would support the royal purple to justify the cost.

[bambam]

Im gonna try the penrite next week, looks like good stuff. Will let ya know what i think.

[VX2VESS]

which penrite is that?

someone post the results up ?





no i don't want to buy it just for those results.

[spiv]

To really know you would need to drive it for a sustained period and undertake an oil analysis to test for wear, contaminants, oil stability etc.

I noticed that the test was conducted with cold oil, would the results have been different at operating tempreture?:eek:

[HRT 8]

To really know you would need to drive it for a sustained period and undertake an oil analysis to test for wear, contaminants, oil stability etc.

I noticed that the test was conducted with cold oil, would the results have been different at operating tempreture?:eek:
Yep your right Spiv. I would suspect different results for hot oil also.

Just a note that was published at the end of the test. The testing wasnt an exhaustive or conclusive test. There is more to come.

In brief the oils that appeared to be good in this test.

Penrite Synthetic 5 5w-60 $75 5 litres
Royal Purple R51 $30 bux per litre
Royal Purple 10w40 Multigrade $80 5 litres
Valvoline Durablend 10w-40 $42 5 litres.
Best at the top.

Its not a bad read.

[IIV8II]

Cold oil? Wow what a great test that is, then...:rofl:

[RedVYIISS]

:hmmm: most of the wear on an engine occurs during startup and while it's still cold:rofl:

I'd be waiting to see the rest of the story though. It's a good read so far.

[smoke]

I noticed that MOBIL SYNTH S out performed the "good ol' cant be beat!" MOBIL 1 :errr: Its not the best oil in the test, but at $35 compared to $90 i'm glad i dont run mobil one!!!!!!!

[BLACK 346]

I noticed that MOBIL SYNTH S out performed the "good ol' cant be beat!" MOBIL 1 :errr: Its not the best oil in the test, but at $35 compared to $90 i'm glad i dont run mobil one!!!!!!!

So now Mobil 1 is a shit oil because a crud mag
like SC says it doesn't rate :hmmm:

[smoke]

I read the results of part1 of the tests, and mobil synth s performs better than mobil one! So why buy the more expensive of the two????

[Thunder]

The tests are a good comparo, but it is hard to compare a 0w-40 to 5w-40 to 10w-40 to 15w-50 to 5w-60 etc as they are all different weights of oil. The 0w oils are too thin for Australian climates and the thicker the oil the better the barrier it will have against wear.

The different brands all have different thickness oils so they should have standardised on one grade ie 10w-40 or 10w-50 and compared them.

I have heard a few of the Companies that were in the test are unhappy about the testing proceedures and are thinking about a class action against SC.

I heard Motul have faxed copies to Japan and France where their oils are made and they have spoken to Redline and a few other Companies about the article.

It will be interesting to see the next phase of testing.

[rocks-crewman]

Read the article, I think Street Commodores deserve some kudos for finding a way to test oil, doing it and publishing the results. Oil companies make all sorts of claims, especially for their high performance (and price) synthetic oils with no independant testing available. I have written to Motor and Wheels in the past suggesting oil tests (and also petrol additives) and they put it in the too hard basket. I was very surprised by the results, especially for Mobil 1 (I use the 5W-50 stuff) which I have used for 10 years in 3 different Commodores and it is imho great stuff. I wonder if they will do the same test with the oil at normal operating temperature - I think most oils when cold would be less effective and the engine more vunerable to wear as oils (you would think) are designed to do the job when hot......aren't they?

[SV99]

Meh I will stick with Delo400 seems to be working for me. :nopity: 15w-40. im sure lots of people do tests but the best thing to do is find a good oil and stick with it. Chopping and changing can do more harm then good.

[Lucky]

Why are 0w oils to thin for Australia.
This is one of the great misconceptions about synthetic multigrade oils.
At 100 deg c(approx oil temp at normal engine operating temp)your 0w-40 or 10w-40 or 10w-30 oil is still thinner than it is at say 20 deg c.
So when your engine is on the road,track or dyno punching out 300rwkw at 6500rpm its 0w-40 or 5w-40 or 10w-30 oil is actually thinner than it is at 20 deg c.
so why all of a sudden is it to thin to do the job.At operating temp a 0w-40 is the same viscosity as a 10w-40 or thicker than a 10w-30 all things being equal and taking into account the margin for rating viscosities at 100 deg c.A 0w-40 or 10w-40 can be near as damit to a 50 weight oil at 100 deg c if the 50 weight is at the bottom end of the viscosity range and the 0w-40 is at the top end of the 100 deg c range.
In other words FOR SYNTHETIC OILS in Australian conditions the xW number is almost irrelevant.What you are interested in is the Viscosity at 100 deg c.
Remember at operating temp the engine is capable of operating at full noise on an oil that is thinner(less viscous) than a 0w rated oil at room temp.
So what you want is an oil that has low viscosity at start and adequate viscosity and film strength at operating temp.
People running these 15w-60 oils in a gen 3 or just about any other modern engine are kidding themselves.At start up the engine is trying to pump around a thick soupy oil most of which will bypass the the oil filter,so the engine is getting unfiltered oil and when it is at operating temp will just cause unnessary drag and power loss.
The reality is that what is printed on the container you buy your oil in is generally information that is so inadequate its almost useless.A rough guide at best.
Its the equivalent of asking what engine a particular car has and being told it's a 4 cylinder.Doesn't really tell you a lot.
The real info is on the spec sheets and is stuff like the oils VI,cst at 100 deg c,its hths rating,its tbn etc.
ciao

[smoken2]

Why are 0w oils to thin for Australia.
This is one of the great misconceptions about synthetic multigrade oils.
At 100 deg c(approx oil temp at normal engine operating temp)your 0w-40 or 10w-40 or 10w-30 oil is still thinner than it is at say 20 deg c.
So when your engine is on the road,track or dyno punching out 300rwkw at 6500rpm its 0w-40 or 5w-40 or 10w-30 oil is actually thinner than it is at 20 deg c.
so why all of a sudden is it to thin to do the job.At operating temp a 0w-40 is the same viscosity as a 10w-40 or thicker than a 10w-30 all things being equal and taking into account the margin for rating viscosities at 100 deg c.A 0w-40 or 10w-40 can be near as damit to a 50 weight oil at 100 deg c if the 50 weight is at the bottom end of the viscosity range and the 0w-40 is at the top end of the 100 deg c range.
In other words FOR SYNTHETIC OILS in Australian conditions the xW number is almost irrelevant.What you are interested in is the Viscosity at 100 deg c.
Remember at operating temp the engine is capable of operating at full noise on an oil that is thinner(less viscous) than a 0w rated oil at room temp.
So what you want is an oil that has low viscosity at start and adequate viscosity and film strength at operating temp.
People running these 15w-60 oils in a gen 3 or just about any other modern engine are kidding themselves.At start up the engine is trying to pump around a thick soupy oil most of which will bypass the the oil filter,so the engine is getting unfiltered oil and when it is at operating temp will just cause unnessary drag and power loss.
The reality is that what is printed on the container you buy your oil in is generally information that is so inadequate its almost useless.A rough guide at best.
Its the equivalent of asking what engine a particular car has and being told it's a 4 cylinder.Doesn't really tell you a lot.
The real info is on the spec sheets and is stuff like the oils VI,cst at 100 deg c,its hths rating,its tbn etc.
ciao

Hi,

Thanks for the good oil, great info.

Cheers.

[alto]

so what oils do you recommend Lucky?................for the LS1......for Australian conditions

[Lucky]

My Personell opinion.(and i stress personell)
#1 Amsoil 0w-30 #2 mobil1 0w-40.
I read very good thing about German Castrol 0w-30 but i havent seen the spec sheet.
Oil filter,Mobil 1(which i sourced from the states) or a purolator or Wix.
I must stress that i haven't used any of the above in my present VZ gen 3and don't have any real world info to pass on but have spent a lot of time in reaserch for my cars 10,000klm oil change when i will switch over to the Mobil1 filter and Mobil1 0w-40.
In my Vx gen 3 i tried Magnateck,Castrol 1 10w-30,and Pensoil 20w-50.
The Amsoil looks the best but is inconvenient to source and very expensive.Although the Amsoil has quite extended drain intervals.
The Mobil 1 0w-40 is $11.20/litre in 20 litre drum size.
When i do the changeover i will give some feedback.
The surprising thing i found during my reaserch was how little emphasis is placed on the oil filter.
I have an engineering background that goes back 30 years and i must admit i have given scant regard to oil filters over that time.
When you look at whats out there you find the quality variation is enormous and some big names don't seem to shape up.Which leads me to question whether some of the issues we have with our engines from time to time is more to do with the filter than the oil.
My car had the oil and filter changed at 600klms(Magnateck and Gm filter) and again at 2200klms(Pensoil 10w-30 and GM filter).I detected no difference in these two oils when it came to engine operation,noise or economy.
Will pass on any info when i do the 10,000k oil change.