Motor Oil 104

First read:
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=134538546&posted=1#post134538546


Motor Oil 104
Part Four. It is not what we thought.

Now let us finish talking about the differences of mineral verses synthetic oils. I will compare the same weigh or grade of oils showing that the operating viscosities are the same whereas the startup viscosities vary:

Mineral oil:

Oil type...Thickness at 75 F... at 212 F...at 302 F

Straight 30..........250....................10..........3
10W-30..............100.....................10..........3
0W-30..........There are none in this range......



Synthetic oil:

Oil type...Thickness at 75 F... at 212 F...at 302 F

Straight 30...........100...................10...........3
10W-30................75...................10...........3
0W-30.................40...................10...........3

Since the synthetic oil thickens less on shutdown your startup will be easier and so will the stress on your engine. This is perhaps the best thing the synthetic class has over the mineral based oils.

People sometimes use a thicker oil to minimize gasket leaks. This seems obvious to me. Repair the gasket. Do not destroy your engine with an oil that is too thick for proper function.

Some people have said they use thicker oils because they only use their cars every 2, 3 or 4 weeks. They are afraid that thin oils will fall off the engine parts and result in a lack of lubrication at startup. Think about your lawn mower over the winter. I gets gummed up solid. The oil and fuel thicken over time resulting in engine failure. Anyway, oil on the surface of parts does not lubricate. It is the FLOW of oil between parts that lubricates. Thick, old, waxy oil can only be bad.

I have seen several car owner manuals that are now stating that oils do not need to be changed but every 7,500 miles or more. The same manual also states OR every 12 months, whichever occurs first. My feeling is that you can probably go 5,000 miles on the average (in a sports car) but you must change your oil in the spring time at a minimum, particularly up north. Oils form waxes in icy cold weather. There is a permanent thickening of the oil.

Some automotive manufacturers are backing down on oil change intervals to 5,000 miles or less and some advocate changing the oil at least every 6 months as well. I think this is because of the tendency for oils to thicken in very hot engines (not ambient conditions, just hot engines). Also because of thickening from the cold of winter and from sludge build up that cannot be filtered out.

I truly believe that oil is much better being too thin than too thick. Over the years we have been going to thinner and thinner oils despite hotter engines with turbos and the like. The tendency is that people figure they need a 40 weight oils but then use a 50 instead. Better thinking is that if you think you need a 40, use a 30 weight oil instead. I firmly believe this based on all I know about oils.

As it turns out synthetic oils do cling to parts better as they have higher film strength than mineral oils. Synthetics are thinner overall. They have greater slipperiness. Yet they stick better to engine parts. Again, this concept is the opposite of normal thinking.

The thickness of moving oil is measured in centiStokes or cS. Most engines want the oil viscosity to be around 10 cS at normal operating temperature. The really thick multigrade oils have a viscosity of 20 cS at operating temperature. One is not twice as thick as the other, it is only 10 cS thicker.

As we increase the heat from 212 F to 302 F the most commonly recommended oil thins from 10 cS to 3 cS. The thicker oil drops from 20 cS to 4 cS. Note that in a very hot engine the difference between the two oils is now only 1 - 2 cS. In other words they have about the same thickness. There is little advantage to a thicker based oil as a 20W-50 at very high temperatures. No, the 4 cS oil is not twice as thick as the 2 or 3 cS oil. This difference is almost insignificant.

There is a huge advantage of using the thinner, 10W-30 at startup where 90 percent of the engine wear occurs. At 75 F the thicker oil has a viscosity in the range of 250 cS while the thinner oil has a viscosity of 100 cS. The thicker stuff is 150 cS thicker. This is a very big difference. I am using the 20W-50 as my thicker oil example here.

People are always asking about adding things as Slick 50 into the oil tank. Do not do this. The oil companies and engine manufacturers work together very hard to give you the product you need. Engines are running hotter, longer with more BHP from less CID. Smaller, more efficient engines are getting us more MPG and yet better acceleration. These engines last longer and are more reliable.

Part of that reason is the nature of the lubricants. There is a lot of competition to get us the best working motor oil. Independent additives cannot make the oil better and in many cases makes things worse. There have been engine failures as a result of adding some of these aftermarket additives to motor oil.

Motor oil that is labeled for RACING ONLY is not usable for every day driving. Often these have more additives that are toxic to your catalytic converters and the environment. These oils generally do not have detergents. These are very important for your engine unless you plan on taking it apart every few weeks and cleaning every single surface. The oils do not meet the API / SAE requirements for ratings as SJ, SL or now SM.

You do not need to use the exact oil type and brand that your car manual tells you to use. Oils are pretty general. They are not that different. Ferrari is married to Shell. If you call them up and ask to use Valvoline instead they will tell you that they have not tested that brand in their cars. They only tested the engine with Shell oils. They cannot comment on the performance of other oils in their engines. This is a fair statement. The reality is that the Shell and Valvoline oils of the same specification (viscosity, API and SAE ratings, synthetic or not) are very similar. ( I do have my bullet proof vest on ).

People often say that their old 1980 car manual says to use a specific Brand-X motor oil. They keep trying to locate these older oils. First, just about any oil brand that meets the original specifications will do. Second, all oils are much, much better now. They are all much better. One could say that synthetic oils are better than mineral oils but is is hard to say that one brand is that much better than any other. Personally, I do stick to the big names. It does not mean that small motor oil companies are not as good. They could be better for all I know.

Using an oil that is less thick at startup has other benefits. Let us compare a synthetic 10W-30 to a mineral based 10W-30. Both give you a viscosity of 10 cS at normal engine operating temperatures. They both thin to 3 cS at high temperatures. At 75 F tomorrow morning the story will be different. The startup viscosity of the synthetic will be 50 whereas the mineral based 10W-30 will be 75. Again, both are too thick at startup but the synthetic will cause less startup time period wear and tear. You will get a little better gas mileage too.

The synthetic lubricated engine will turn over easier. This has the effect of using less power from your starter motor. It will last longer. Your battery has less of a current draw. This will also last longer. The battery was discharged less during the start so the alternator will rob less power from your engine to recharge. The alternator lasts longer and you get a little better gas economy. The only downside of synthetic lubricants is the cost. They cost 2 or 3 times as much as mineral based oils. Never-the-less I use plain Pennzoil multigrade mineral based 5W-20 in my Ford Expedition. This oil is thin enough at startup to have many of the attributes I just mentioned.

aehaas
For those who want all chapters now:

 

I just added this to chapter 5:
In ASTM D 4485 3.1.4: “Terminology: Engine oil- a liquid that reduces friction and wear between moving parts within an engine, and also serves as a coolant.”
aehaas

 

I start the engine and go. However, I never step on it until I get up to full operating temperature. When you are just driving to work you are only using maybe 20 - 30 BHP from your engine. The stress is minimal to the parts. Just keep the RPM down and there will be minimal wear and tear.

I have actually noticed that my engine runs a few degrees hotter in the cooler months. When I drive to work the 15-20 minute drive may warm up the engine but the grease in the wheel bearings and transmission and axle warm up slower. There is no internal heat source as in the engine. There is simply more drag.

I measured the transaxle temperature in mid summer on my Maranello after driving home from work. It was only 123 F. Obviously the oil is still think. I wonder what it will be in the winter. I will try to remember to take its temperature. After all, I am a doctor.

aehaas

 

Your manual is correct. When it was written that was all that you could pick from. If they rewrote the manual to take advantage of current advancements they would recommend a 5W-50. They may even recommend a 0W-40. Remember, that manual is 25-30 years old. They were not able to make predictions of what motor oil can do today.

A 5W-50 has the same operating properties as that older 20W-50 but is less honey-like at startup and therefore has less startup period wear and tear. Also, they did not have synthetic oils. Now we have them and they are completely different than the mineral oils of the past. Finally, the current oils are far superior in every single testable aspect in every way.

aehaas

 

From Chapter 6:

50 wt:
Castrol Syntec 5W-50
Penn Synthetic 5W-50



D 4485 defines 2 types of engines. 1-light duty-those engines generally used under less than peak output conditions. And 2-heavy duty-those engines generally used continuously at or close to peak output conditions.
Boats and airplanes, as well as a lot of industrial engines operate at heavy duty conditions. I classify hot race track conditions as heavy duty.

I equate this to using your car on the track in hot racing conditions verses all other types of driving. For these 2 situations you generally need two different oils.

In the past Ferrari seems to have recommended only a racing oil. Newer manuals differentiate the difference and recommend different oils for these 2 conditions. My 575 Maranello manual recommends 0W-40, 5W-40 and 10W-60 racing oil but only "for hot track racing conditions." Note how specific they are. Use the thick stuff only when racing and only for "hot" track conditionds.

aehaas

 

If you started with an oil having no additives at all then added a can of oil with the full concentration each month, you would slowly increase the overall concentration of additives. If you started with oil having all the additives and added a can of the same stuff every month, the concentration would slowly go down. Somewhere between these 2 points would be an equilibrium. The final concentration would depend on the rate of additive consumption. A slow rate of use would result in a higher equilibrium concentration and probably be OK. But again, there are other concerns as products of oxidation and solids not filtered would accumulate. You would still have to change the oil at some point but may be able to extend the time periods. I assume you are using a full synthetic.

What exact oil are you using? One with less evaporation, maybe of a higher flash point may last longer and require less adding of oil. For example, if you are using Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 and change to a very similar product, Mobil One 0W-40 you get 30 C higher flash point and maybe far less oil consumption.

In general, Amsoil, Mobil 1, Red Line and Valvoline fully synthetic oils have the higher flash points.
Shell Helix Ultra has the lowest flash points. Maybe they want it this way. One- it evaporates more and you have to buy more, good for them.
Another- it evaporates more so you keep adding in new oil with a little more additive, good for you !
Who knows?

aehaas

 

When I took delivery of my 575 Maranello I checked the oil. When I changed the oil for the first time at 775 miles it was one quart down. The car was delivered with 5W-30 Shell Helix Ultra. I changed to 0W-30 Mobil 1. By the second oil change at 2,250 miles there was no oil consumption. At that time I changed to 0W-20 Mobil 1. I now have 5,300 miles and there has been no oil consumption, none. I feel as though I want to change the oil again but it is just so clean. I will probably wait until springtime and change it then.

aehaas

 

Just to show some of the parameters that are tested in automotive gasoline engine oils I was able to get permission to reproduce the following from ASTM D 4485-03a. Most people do not get to see this data as the documents cost money and are of course copyrighted. With permission however:

From Table 2, S Engine Oil Categories
API SL CATEGORY (my note - most areas that give a measurement in mm = micrometers. It was difficult to transform the data into web friendly stuff.)

Engine Test Method.....Rated or Measured Parameter.....Primary Performance Criteria
Sequence IIIF.....Kinematic viscosity, % increase at 40°C, max.....275
...............Average piston skirt varnish rating, min....................9.0
...............Weighted piston deposit rating, min.........................4.0
...............Screened average cam-plus-lifter wear, mm, max.....20
...............Hot Stuck Rings....................none
...............Low temperature viscosity performance ..........report
Sequence IVA.....Cam wear average, mm, max........120
D 5302 B..........Cam wear average, mm, max...........127
(Sequence VE AD).....Cam wear max, mm, max ......380
D 6593
(Sequence VG) .....Average engine sludge rating, min.....7.8
...............Rocker arm cover sludge rating, min...............8.0
...............Average piston skirt varnish rating, min..........7.5
...............Average engine varnish rating, min.................8.9
...............Oil screen clogging, %, max...............20
...............Hot stuck Compression rings..........none
...............Cold stuck rings......................report
...............Oil screen debris, %...............report
...............Oil ring clogging, %.................report
D 6709 Bearing weight loss, mg, max..........26.4
(Sequence VIII) Shear stability..........footnote


Bench Test and Measured Parameter....................Performance Criteria

Test Method D 6557 (Ball Rust Test), average gray value, min.....100
Test Method D 5800 volatility loss, % max...................................15
Test Method D 6417 volatility loss at 371°C (700°F), % max.....10
D 6795 (EOFT), % flow reduction, max...............50
D 6794 (EOWTT), % flow reduction, max
..........With 0.6 % H2O..........50
..........With 1.0 % H2O..........50
..........With 2.0 % H2O..........50
..........With 3.0 % H2O..........50
Test Method D 4951 or D 5185, phosphorus % mass, max.....0.10
Test Method D 892 foaming tendency (Option A)
Sequence I, max, foaming/settling........10/0
Sequence II, max, foaming/settling........50/0
Sequence III, max, foaming/settling......10/0
Test Method D 6082 (optional blending required) static foam max, tendency/stability.....100/0
Test Method D 6922 homogeneity and miscibility..........footnote
High temperature deposits (TEOST MHT-4), deposit wt, mg, max.....45
Test Method D 5133 (Gelation Index), max ...............12

“Extracted, from ASTM D 4485-03 Standard Specification for Performance of Engine Oils, copyright ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, Wets Conshohocken, PA 19428, USA.”

I was going to show more but it is a pain to make it work right. Anyway you can get an idea of how many things are tested. A lot of work goes into motor oils to make sure we get the best engine performance.

aehaas

 

I went over to Pennzoil synthetic oils. They no longer list the 5W-50 oil but they do have a data sheet on it. They now have a 5W-40 instead but there is no data sheet on this oil.

I am not sure but the demand for heavy weight oils is probably less than in the past.

aehaas

 

I find this very interesting:

"Pennzoil® 10-Year/250,000 Mile Limited Warranty
Either when you purchase a Pennzoil® oil change or change your own oil with Pennzoil®, We will give you a FREE lubrication limited warranty that will protect all your engine's lubrication-related parts, such as the pistons, timing chain, valve stems and cam shafts, for 10 years or 250,000 miles.

How to get coverage.
To qualify for coverage all you have to do is get a Pennzoil® oil change or change your oil with Pennzoil®. Your engine must have less than 36,000 miles and have been manufactured within the last 48 months. It's that easy!

How to keep it.
Just get a Pennzoil® oil change at a service center or change your oil with Pennzoil® every 4,000 miles or 4 months, whichever comes first. This may not be the same as some vehicle manufacturers recommend, but neither is the length of our limited warranty. The oil filter and air cleaner elements must be replaced and the emission control system must be maintained in accordance with the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations. You have to take very good care of your engine if you want it to last for ten years. Or 250,000 miles. Our limited warranty is transferable. The Pennzoil® limited warranty offers something that could prove valuable if you sell your vehicle before it's gone 250,000 miles. The limited warranty can be transferred to the next owner.

How to Enroll.
Simply fill out and submit our on-line application. The Pennzoil® limited warranty is only available in the United States and Canada. For full details on this Limited Warranty Program, call 1-877-422-7645 and switch to Pennzoil® oils and greases to take better care of your engine!"




What I find odd is that they do not specify a synthetic. You can use their regular multigrade oil. Also, you can go 4,000 miles but the catcher is that you can only go 4 months between oils changes. Very interesting.

And "The limited warranty can be transferred to the next owner."

aehaas

 

The SL rated oil has only been out since 2001. We have only been able to test it in cars for 3 years. The oil is a significant improvement from the previous SJ rating.

Also, I seem to remember that Mobil put out a note that stated their Mobil 1 formulation has changed somewhat this summer. It may be that they already meet the SM rating with the new additives. This is my guess.

I think the SL is that good, and the synthetics have been good to start. They are improving fast. Again, I am excited about the upcoming SM and was very happy with the changes I saw in SL over SJ.

My bias is that the newer, thinner oils are actually providing better protection than thicker, older oils, contrary to popular belief. Easier startup means smaller starters and smaller batteries as somebody else already mentioned. You change the oil less and the engine lasts longer. How good is that?

aehaas