Last week one of the e-newsletters I get, the Lube Report, printed a report on some testing done by the Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) that found several oils claiming to meet certain new specs, really didn’t. The viscosity tested was a 5W-30, and some were out of this range when tested. Also they didn’t meet the current SM specification guidelines that is now required for new oils and vehicles by the API. Only a small sample of oils were done in this testing and there was some question as to whether some of those even were certified to meet the API specs claimed on the bottle because they didn’t appear on the APIs Web Site. This was clarified this week with the following statement:
Early editions of "Motor Oil Buyers, Beware" last week said that Pilot- and Sheetz-branded 5W-30 oils claimed to be API-licensed but were not, because they did not appear in API’s directory of licensed products. After the story was published, API’s Kevin Ferrick said, "API inadvertently left the Sheetz product off the Pinnacle Oil license, and the Pilot license expired because of some delays related to the renewal process. I expect both licensing issues to be rectified soon." Both products are now correctly listed at API’s website.
Here is the article link: Motor Oil Buyers, Beware.
But now a week later, yet another report was released in the Lube Report, of testing done by Institute of Materials and finding 16% of the oils in their testing didn’t meet the SM Rating. They did point out some of the specs were just outside the range, but to me, the fact remains, they didn’t pass and why make oil so close to the edge of the spec range that it can fail the test at one point, yet pass another? Wouldn’t you want your oil to remain stable enough to pass every time? This test took 250 oils and put them through their paces, and found 40 of them failed.
Here is the article link: Research Finds 16% of SM Oils are Flawed.
One test mentioned above is the NOACK Volatility test, and the top end of the range is 15% before it fails. This test measures how much oil evaporates under certain conditions. 15% is a lot and the main concern of the API, and has caused the requirement for such low zinc and phosphate levels, for fear of damaging the catalytic converter. Amsoil oils come no where near this loss. You can see by the graphic below how one of Amsoil’s most common oils, their 5W-30, rated in this tested to other popular brands. This test is also a concern for Amsoil, since this oil is rated for 25,000 miles or a one year drain interval. You don’t want your oil disappearing under heat conditions and falling out of spec during these type of extended drains.
