50 www.turbodieselregister.com TDR 56

LUBE OIL, RELIGION, SPECIFICATIONS AND THE TDRby Robert Patton and John Martin

Let’s see if we can’t stir up some more controversy within the pages of the TDR. You would not believe the correspondence created by the “Lube Oil as a Commodity” article that industry expert John Martin authored in the last issue of the magazine. I’ve often said that “discussing lube oil is like discussing religion—you can talk until you are blue in the face, but you’re not going to change anyone’s mind.” Looks like I should have forewarned John, And I should have taken my own advice and used John’s article for my personal education.

Just so the audience is clear, the latest API lube oil specification for diesel engines is CJ-4. As Martin noted in Issue 54, unlike all previous specification revisions, the latest CJ-4 is not necessarily better than the CI+4 specification that preceded it. So, if you have an older engine, you may want to stay with CI+4. Engines manufactured after 1/1/07 require the new CJ-4 specification. Newer, yes; better, not necessarily so.

Not that my opinion would change anyone’s belief, but I now look for a lube oil that meets the specification as set forth in my Owner’s Manual. And, as much as I don’t care for Wally-world (that is Wal-Mart for those that aren’t up to date on slang), I’ve found that their in-house products meet the specification and that they do have a “low, low, everyday price.”

So, there you go. Opinions are like underarms, everyone has them; some of them stink. Don’t send in nasty-grams about my family or my mother’s attire.

The relevant article in Issue 55 promised a follow-up analysis of lube oil. The “blind sampling from the bottle” unused lube oils were purchased and evaluated. And the results are…

Whoa, partner. Before you look at the results of the oil test (or any test or article written for your consideration) one has to wonder if there is an agenda hidden behind the data. The college professor that taught the statistics class was fond of saying, “figures don’t lie, but liars figure.” Is I have a hidden agenda here?

Most assuredly, no. I have several friends in the lube oil manufacturing and retailing business. The TDR has lube oil advertisers. I cheer for race teams with lube oil sponsorship and livery emblazoned on the side of the race car. Lube oil companies sponsor many of the diesel drag race and diesel sled pull competitions in which the TDR audience participates.

So, let’s take a minute to revisit and add to the comments I made in Issue 55. “When new lube oil is analyzed you can get a good idea

of the quality of the additive package that, as learned from Martin’s experience, makes up 20–25% of the lube oil blend. Maintaining viscosity at higher temperatures, maintaining high alkalinity and protecting against wear with the right blend of molybdenum, zinc, phosphorus and boron are important lube oil attributes. Readings for calcium are a way to measure dispersion detergency.

“In the blind-sampling-from-the-bottle done by Trailer Life magazine in January 2005, I was greatly disappointed to see that Wal-Mart Super Tech 15W40 diesel oil stood toe-to-toe with other very respected brand names.

“Why disappointment? First, consider what John Martin said, ‘Consequently there is less and less difference between engine oil that barely passes the API certification test and one that is designed to pass by a significant margin. Therefore, oils meeting a given performance spec (example API CI-4+) are approaching commodity status.’

“Second, I am not a big fan of Wal-Mart. I could go into a long tirade, but I will refrain.

“Third, for all of my vehicle ownership years (let’s see, that is about 36 years) had I been duped? Had I fallen for the marketing hype? Or, as we know, the focus on lube oil base stock versus the importance of the additive package changed over the years. Is this a good excuse? I do not want to believe that lube oil is just a commodity. Yet the Trailer Life grid did not lie.”

Your thoughts? How about this, “Well, Mister Editor, you’ve established that the test is unbiased. But, if you are not going to change what a person believes, why bother?”

Good observation and question. The answer, “I’ll spend the money on lube oils and analysis so that John Martin and I can have data to debate and discuss. If by chance should the data might enlighten and educate others, then so be it.”

Whoa, partner. Before you look

at the results of the oil test (or any test

or article written for your consideration)

one has to wonder if there is an agenda

hidden behind the data.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISSUE 56 OF THE TURBO DIESEL REGISTER

FOR BACK ISSUES GO TO www.turbodieselregister.com/info.htm

TDR 56 www.turbodieselregister.com 51

TECHNICAL TOPICS . . . . Continued

Blind Sampling—Figures Don’t Lie

Presenting the blind-sampling-from-the-bottle data.

Sam

ple

Des

crip

tion

Vis

cosi

ty@

100

°

TB

N

Cal

cium

Mag

nesi

um

Pho

spho

rus

Zin

c

Bor

on

Mol

ybde

num

1 15.3 11.60 3964 14 1468 1541 148 112

2 14.7 10.30 3562 10 1449 1501 146 110

3 15.2 8.99 1379 921 982 1028 62 49

4 15.7 8.77 2488 8 1108 1147 37 2

5 15.1 9.02 3016 9 1179 1226 0 0

6 15.0 9.35 3146 9 1283 1333 2 8

7 15.0 9.20 3119 9 1251 1297 2 6

8 14.6 11.50 3631 12 1403 1435 0 1

Notice that I listed the lube oils by number. Thus there is no bias. Didyoupickafavorite?

The Price Factor

Nowlet’sconsiderprice.Thepricereflectsthecostpergallon:1 $9.982 $10.363 $9.684 $10.965 $7.686 $9.527 $9.528 $17.36

Isyourselectionofafavoriteoilinfluencedbyprice?Now,I’llturnthe article over to John Martin for his analysis of the lube oil data.

JOHN MARTIN’S RESPONSE

Obviously the editor is trying to trick me by sending me the oil analyses and asking me to determine which is the best oil for my engine(andyours).Now,thedatasentdoesn’thaveNitrogen(N)levels,soIcan’tjudgerelativedispersantcontentoftheoils.That’sokay, I wouldn’t worry too much about dispersant content unless I were running a lot of stop-and-go service. Engines with frequent speed changes (particularly in colder climates or before the engine isfullywarmedup)needthemostdispersancytopreventsludgebuildup. Most modern diesel engines have plenty of dispersancy, so let’s not loose any sleep over that.

Whataboutdetergency?Idon’tknowifI’vesaiditinTDRbeforebut, “Diesels love detergents!” The only reason more detergent isn’tplacedintheoilisthat:(1)highdetergentoilshaveatoughtime passing the passenger car tests which are part of the tests requiredtoputtheAPIdonutonthecan;(2)highdetergentcontentoils can sometimes interfere with the additives responsible for valve train wear protection; and (3) high detergent oils allegedly canprematurely plug particulate traps.

Item(1)ensuresthatyoucanputyourdieseloilinyourpassengervehicle without damaging it. Here’s a dime—call someone who cares. Either this is a leftover concern from years ago or a concern aboutsellingtoill-informedcustomers;I’mnotevensureit’sstillrelevant with today’s oils. Do you use the same oil in both your carsandyourtrucks?

Item(2)wasalittlemorerelevantwhenoilsdidn’thavethewearprotection they have today, but prior to electronic fuel injectionthose diesels had tremendous valve train loading on the fuel injectorpushrods.Asaresultoilsformulatedformoderndieselshave to have very good EP (extreme pressure) protection topreventprematurefuel injectorpushrodtipwear. That’swhy,atleastupuntiltheAPICJ-4specification,dieseloilshavehadmorezinc (zincdithiophosphate) than passenger car oils. There is aconcern with passenger car oils about the effects of high zinc and phosphorous levels on catalytic converter life. One of my beefs with API CJ-4 oils is that limits have now been placed on zinc and phosphorous to prevent premature particulate trap plugging.

AnotherofmybeefswiththeAPICJ-4specificationisthatitplacesalimit on the amount of detergent in the oil in the name of preventing premature particulate trap plugging. I’ve not seen any compelling datatosupportthisclaim.Coulditbethatourmajorinternationaloil marketers decided that oils containing less purchased additives mightmakethemmoremoneyinthelongrun?Weallknowthatthepooroilcompaniesarejustbarelymakingaliving!

Okay, I’ll get off my soap box and examine the data.

Myfirstobservationisthatoil3isunique.Itusesacombinationof calcium and magnesium detergents, and it has a relatively lower level of zinc and phosphorus than the other oils. This oil is a product of what we in the industry refer to as the “Double Cross Oil Company’s” additive division (Exxon/Mobil). Magnesium ispreferred by those who want to pass laboratory engine tests, but field test results tend to favor the use of all calcium detergentsystems for diesel trucks. Besides, magnesium and water don’t get

Could it be that our major

international oil marketers decided

that oils containing less purchased

additives might make them

more money in the long run?

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISSUE 56 OF THE TURBO DIESEL REGISTER

FOR BACK ISSUES GO TO www.turbodieselregister.com/info.htm

52 www.turbodieselregister.com TDR 56

TECHNICAL TOPICS . . . . Continued

along. Note that all of the other diesel engine oils have a calcium only system. (Ignore magnesium levels below 15 parts per million (PPM)becausethatisatthelowendofthedetectionsystemsusedtoanalyzeoils.)

Also look at the total amount of detergency. Oil 3 has 2300 PPM detergent.Nowlookatthetotalbasenumber(TBN)of8.99units.Oil 3 has the lowest detergent content of all the oils tested. In terms offullywarmed-upfieldtestperformance,itisprobablythelowestquality oil here. However, I’ll also bet that it is an API CJ-4 or an API CI-4plusoiljudgingbytherelativelyhighTBNvalueforthedetergentcontent. I would guess this oil would contain a lot of dispersant to passthelatesttests,butdoyouneedit?Idon’tthinkso!

Oil 4 has the second lowest detergent content of the oils tested (2500 PPMcalcium)andthe lowestTBN.(BecarefulwhencomparingTBNvalues,repeatabilityisontheorderof+or–0.5units.)Butagain it has a relatively high TBN for the detergent content, so I’m guessing that it is a CJ-4. It has marginally higher levels of zinc, but not quite as high as the other oils. I personally wouldn’t cross the street for a free crankcase of oils 3 or 4 unless I were running afleetofbusesorgarbagetrucks.

Oils5,6,and7aremiddle-of-the-roadoils.Notgreat,butnotbadeither. There are tons of these types of diesel oils out there, and they doaperfectlygoodjoboflubricatingyourdieselengine.Iimaginethese oils are all API CI-4 oils, and suspect that they are okay for your engine. If you’re looking at price versus performance, oil 5 is hardtoignore,becauseitonlycosts$7.68pergallon.

Oil2looksmarginallybetterthanoils5,6,and7,andatapricewhichiscompetitivewithoils6and7.Ithinkthisisprobablyagoodupper mid-range performer. I also like the fact that it includes boron (probablyaborateddispersantoraboronoxidationinhibitor).

However, my two favorites are oils 1 and 8. Both of these oils containaslugofcalciumdetergentandsufficientphosphorusandzinc to protect the valve train. Oil 1 also appears to use a borated dispersantorboroncontainingoxidationinhibitor,sothatisadefiniteplus. If price is part of your equation, you should select oil 1. Due to the much higher price, I would suspect that oil 8 is at least a partial synthetic. (Remember, there is nothing magic about synthetic oils unlessyouneedultrahighorlowtemperatureprotection.)Ilikeoil8, but I’m not sure I would pay the cost difference over oil 1.

Well, I hope I’ve thoroughly confused everyone by now. As you cansee,oilchemistryisverycomplicated;butifyoulearnalittlesomething about reading oil analyses, you won’t be misled nearly as often. Robert asked me if I could tell which oil was manufactured by which company—As I said in Issue 55, oil chemistry between competitors is becoming more similar all the time. That’s why I think oilisbecomingmoreofacommoditywitheachnewspecification.To me it’s obvious that oil 3 is ExxonMobil. From Robert’s earlier comments about Wally World oil, I can conclude that oil 5 is probably WalMart (which, of course, would be manufactured by someone else). But, from there on out, even I can’t tell one brand fromanother. I wouldn’t worry about the performance of any of them in your vehicle’s diesel engine.

CONCLUSION

(Intentionallyleftblank—you’llhavetodrawyourown.)

THE KEY

Oil Brand Name Specification1 Cummins(Valvoline)PremiumBlue CI-4plus2 NAPA Universal Fleet Plus CI-43 Mobil Delvac 1300 Super CI-4 plus4 Shell Rotella T CJ-45 WalMart Super Tech Universal CI-46 CastrolGTXDiesel CI-47 Motorcraft Super Duty CI-4 plus8 ShellRotellaTSynthetic(5W40) CI-4plus

NEXT TIME

Didyounotseeyourfavoriteoiltested?Thosethatwereincludedin the survey were collected from four auto parts and discount warehouse locations. For TDR Issue 57 we will add several of the popular mail-order lube oils and several semi-synthetic blend lube oils to the survey. With the additional data you’ll be able to compare, contrast and price-factor a wider range of products. Until next time…

Robert Patton TDR Staff

I personally wouldn’t cross the street

for a free crankcase of oils 3 or 4

unless I were running a fleet

of buses or garbage trucks.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN ISSUE 56 OF THE TURBO DIESEL REGISTER

FOR BACK ISSUES GO TO www.turbodieselregister.com/info.htm