I will be the wet blanket...
Project Farm, a channel on Youtube, recently did a string of engine oil tests.
https://youtu.be/WrR7-kQulao
1) "
...doesn't simulate engine operating conditions perfectly." Agreed.
More correct: doesn't simulate any engine operating conditions very well.
2) The oils used in the tests are of different specifications, e.g. SN and SN+ and even one SL. Comparing within the specification could be useful in determining how well one oil stacks up against another (assuming valid tests), but comparing across specifications does not give useful results IMO.
3) The cold pour testing is cool, but ultimately not that useful. The main thing for engine oil that matters in severe cold is pump-ability. That does not correlate to its pour-ability as closely as he intimates.
1) Again, tests are not simulating real-world conditions inside an engine. Results cannot be assigned much weight as a result.
2) The evaporation test is unnecessary to begin with. Each oil already has a value assigned during testing that indicates its propensity to evaporate from heat - NOACK. Look up an oil's NOACK value and compare that to another's in the same specification and weight. That will provide some useful data if making a decision on which to run.
3) What does the PPM value of the Anti-wear additives tell me? What is an anti-wear additive? The data he seems to be after is already known and published by each oil company, and it is broken down into the specific elements or molecules as well. Need more moly? Need less ZDDP? What about sodium? Those are all available already for each oil.
Which do you think will win?
Honestly, even if Pennzoil doesn't win, 2nd place isn't bad.
EDIT:
Amsoil or Pennzoil, which wins Championship? Let's find out! - YouTube
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Full Disclosure: I did not watch the latest video recently added. I suspect my position on the value of the information presented would not change if I had.
It seems to me the gentleman in the video had some pre-determined favorites and suited his testing to confirm them. Either way, I did not hear him mention the absolute best way to determine how an engine oil is doing in your specific engine - get a string of UOAs to establish and baseline and reveal any trends.
TBN is an additional return data point you can have tested also, that will be more accurate for each OCI versus his judgments based upon generalized graphs.
Also, I heard the phrase "
..seems to have more.." and "
...seems to be..." waaay too many times for a video series pitting oils against each other to ascertain the better ones over the lesser ones.
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