ok I saw sometime ago ( VERY LONG TIME AGO) a link that did a test on a lot of different brands of oil

it showed what the viscosity, ash deponsits, zinc, freezing pour point, all that good stuff


does anyone have a link to taht website for me to take a look at ?

 

http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-overview.html

 

thank you much icemark

 

I also have a version mirrored on my site...
http://fc3s-pro.com/TECH/MODS/ENGINE...randweight.htm



-Ted

 

ranking the 20W50 based on VI or viscosity index we get

Brand VI
Spectro Golden M.G. 174
Spectro Golden 4 174
AMSOIL (new) 157
Quaker State Dlx. 155
Red Line 150
Valvoline Synthetic 146
Valvoline Turbo 140
Valvoline Race 140
AMSOIL (old) 136
Shell Truck Guard 130
Kendall GT-1 129
Havoline Formula 3 125
Valvoline All Climate 125
Castrol GTX 122
Unocal 121
Pennzoil GT Perf. 120
Exxon High Performance 119

 

hrm... castrol GTX is near the bottom.... and i thought that was the best... besides REDILNE... which i can not afford....

 

for 15W40 aka ReTED motor oil aka diesel motor oil

Field1 Field2
AMSOIL (new) 164
Red Line 149
Shell Rotella w/XLA 146
Mystic JT8 142
Valvoline Turbo 140
Valvoline All Fleet 140
Chevron Delo 400 136
AMSOIL (old) 135
Kendall GT-1 135
Exxon XD3 Extra 135
Castrol 134
Exxon XD3 n/a

right now my car has rotella from shell...

but its flash point isn't so good.

 

My motor oil is better than your motor oil!


-Ted

 

So it's not a good idea to use 10W40? What should NA's use, 10W30?

 

So far from what I've been reading I'd say the best would be a mix between 10/30 and 10/40.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmm what about 20w50 for us texans where it gets hot in the summer?

 

Again oil weights:

For 86-88 FCs and all Turbos, 20W50 should be used in temps above 20F.

If you expect temps below 20F, 10W30 is okay but it should not be used in 86-88 cars that operate above 80F. 10W30 is good for between the temps of -15F to 80F.

S5 NA FCs can use 10W30 until about 100F.

as mentioned in the oil study avoid 10W40, 10W50, 5W30 oils in high reving motors like the plague due to the low base oil required and the number of additives and polyesters needed to get that range.

 

How come mobil1 isnt on that list? And remind me never to buy castrol again (already knew that, but first oil change is gonna be after 500km. Oil isnt even going to get dirty )

 

The VI (Viscosity Index number) really isn't that important as long as you are not driving in radical temp differences (like it is 20F in the morning and 80F in the afternoon). Remember, that an conventional oil with too high a viscosity may not pump to the proper parts at low temperatures and the film may tear at high rpm. So just going by the VI number is a poor way to judge an oil.

That high Spectro Golden M.G. with its 174 number scares me much more so than the Castrol GTX and its 122.

Really the more important numbers are the Ash, Flash and Zinc content. Any of those numbers too high and you will add all sorts of deposits into the engine and friction points. Based on those and the VI, the Castrol GTX oils really are one of the best non synthetic oils out there.

And the reason that Mobil One isn't on that list is because they don't make a 20W50 oil

 

Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw a red bottle of 20w50 at the store when I was getting the castrol.

 

The Mobil 1 version is a 15W50 or something like that.