What’s the difference between base oil categories?

The most important part of any lubricant is the base oil. But are you aware how the base oil categories differ?

The two different broad base oil categories are:

1.) Mineral base oils
Modern mineral base oils are the result of a long and complex distillation and refining processes. The feedstock used is crude oil. This substance is not of uniform quality

Are fire resistant oils for real? Where are they used?

When we refer to fire resistant oils we’re not really talking about those crash and burn accidents we see in the movies: No fire resistant oils are more commonly used in hydraulic applications.

What are fire resistant oils?

First discovered in the 1940’s phosphate esters have since been applauded by industry for their anti-wear and flame resistant properties.

Phosphate esters are used primarily as basestock

Why are inexpensive cars using relatively expensive 0W-20 synthetic motor oil?

The main reason 0W-20 synthetic motor oil is becoming increasingly popular with automotive OEM’s, is to improve the CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) reported to the USA Federal Government.

CAFE is the combined average fuel economy of all of a manufacturers vehicles sold. Minimum CAFE levels are specified by the Federal Government. In order for a vehicle manufacturer to avoid penalties for non-compliance on their large trucks and SUV's, which typically have poor fuel mileage ratings, when compared to

How important are oil additives in effective lubrication.

Whenever oil performance is discussed viscosity is the main focus. Seldom is the importance of additives in oil given center stage.

What are oil additives?

Additives are organic or inorganic compounds dissolved or suspended as solids in oil. They typically make up between 0.1 to 30 percent of the oil volume, depending on the application. Additives have three basic roles:

1. Enhance existing base oil performance with

Is there a defined temperature at which synthetic gear oil is clearly better than crude.

We’ve all been told that synthetic gear oil is unsurpassed when operating at high temperatures: But what are the “high temperatures” at which point they’re clearly superior to mineral based products.

There are many classes of synthetic gear oil.

The term synthetic is very broad, so we’ll refer to lubricant that is formulated using polyalphaolefin (PAO) synthetic base oil – also known as fully synthetic lubricant.

When should I use

Premature Rolling Bearing Failure Is Not Common.

Although premature rolling bearing failure is not a common occurrence, there are definite steps that can be taken to ensure longevity.

Under normal operating conditions, bearings have an impressive service life, which, according to research, less than 1 percent of rolling bearings fail prematurely.

What leads to premature rolling bearing failure.

When a rolling bearing does fail prematurely, it’s usually

Engine Sludge build up: The Black Death of sad engines!

Image from: www.tunemytoyota.com

Engine sludge build up used to be better (Or more sensationally) known as “Black Death”; probably accurately describing the appearance an effect it has on an engine, if not rectified in time.

Basically what happens is the oil oxidises and becomes contaminated to the point where it thickens to form a sludge and changes colour. The high viscosity, in turn, leads to the oil pump not being able to pick up this sludge from the oil pan; causing oil starvation.

What causes engine sludge build up?