Oil Brand doesn't Matter -Consumer Reports Article

[Corvette Owner]

This has probably been posted before, but I just read the Consumer Reports Article where they tested oils using New York City Taxi Cabs and a 6,000 mile OCI. Here is the article:

May take sometime to load.

Very interesting, seems a very good test, except for their omitted lack of cold start-ups. They even changed the lifters/camshafts from roller to flat to accelerate wear! They tested Mobil 1 and found no differences. Says a lot for the state of modern oils !

I will still be using synthetic oil in my cars: Castrol Edge, Pennzoil Platinum, Mobil 1 EP, Pennzoil Ultra.

 

[Corvette Owner]

Because that link may not work, here is the article:

Consumer Reports Article

(removed text since it is copyrighted) Above link has text from 15 year old test

 

[Steve S]

Who woulda thunk it.

 

[Turk]

I say 60,000 miles was too early & not long enough.

Should have been 200,000 - 250,000 miles.

 

[1 SX]

But this is 60000 city miles. That's about a minimal of 120k regular miles. I will never buy another city car again. Low mileage or not.

 

[hate2work]

"We used a tool precise to within 0.00001 inch to measure wear on the key surfaces of the camshaft, and a tool precise to within 0.0001 inch on the valve lifters."

Are they saying they measured the camshaft to 1 hundred-thousanths of an inch? Am I reading that right?

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: hate2work

"We used a tool precise to within 0.00001 inch to measure wear on the key surfaces of the camshaft, and a tool precise to within 0.0001 inch on the valve lifters."

Are they saying they measured the camshaft to 1 hundred-thousanths of an inch? Am I reading that right?


Yep.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher

I say 60,000 miles was too early & not long enough.

Should have been 200,000 - 250,000 miles.



I agree. 60K isn't much of a test when doing 6K OCIs. Double that with 12K OCIs and that might prove something.

 

[ProfPS]

Thanks for reposting the article, but I take these types of studies with a grain of salt. Keep in mind that city driven taxi cab engines are running constantly and rarely turned off which is the second best condition for oil; highway driving is the best. It's the cold starts, oxidized oil from heating and cooling, and short runs that wear down oil the fastest. Having a study comparing oil under those conditions that are closer to normal usage would be nice to see how well an oil protects for comparison. With out that type of study we have to rely on UOA's.

 

[ottotheclown]

The thread just posted a few days ago Crazyoildude said the same point. I will bet if followed up the newer oils would show a different showing but not by much. IMHO
Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
This has probably been posted before, but I just read the Consumer Reports Article where they tested oils using New York City Taxi Cabs and a 6,000 mile OCI. Here is the article:

May take sometime to load.

Very interesting, seems a very good test, except for their omitted lack of cold start-ups. They even changed the lifters/camshafts from roller to flat to accelerate wear! They tested Mobil 1 and found no differences. Says a lot for the state of modern oils !

I will still be using synthetic oil in my cars: Castrol Edge, Pennzoil Platinum, Mobil 1 EP, Pennzoil Ultra.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

that article is from July 1996 and SH oil. without the stats, no discernible difference can only be guessed at. for bitog'rs i'm sure there would be a discernible difference

 

[glum]

Quote:
According to the laboratory tests, Mobil 1 and Pennzoil Performax synthetics (glum's note: The only full synthetics tested) flow exceptionally easily at low temperatures - a condition our taxi tests didn't simulate effectively. They also had the highest viscosity under high-temperature, high-stress conditions, when a thick oil protects the engine. Thus, these oils may be a good choice for hard driving in extreme temperatures.

My interpretation of the above quote: "Synthetics really are better. We're done here."

 

[Corvette Owner]

Interesting comments, people always suggest how to improve the study. I think using New York Taxi Cabs for 60,000 miles is a pretty severe test, obviously other people didn't think so !

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
Interesting comments, people always suggest how to improve the study. I think using New York Taxi Cabs for 60,000 miles is a pretty severe test, obviously other people didn't think so !


XM did their taxi cab test in Las Vegas for 120K at 15K OCI and was ridculed here for that. Some just don't like oil test using cabs.

 

[A_Harman]

Don't denigrate the test because it was done in a taxi fleet. One of the most severe tests that we do on valvetrains where I work is called the "Taxi Test". It's very simple; just run the engine at idle for 80% of the time, then do stop and go driving for 20% of the time. This is great for wiping out cams and lifters in slider-follower engines. Since this test was done 15 years ago on SH oils, I'm not surprised that there wasn't a lot of problems with cam wear. SH oils were allowed 1200ppm Phosphorous, and today's SM/SN oils are only allowed 800. It would be interesting to see that test repeated today using SN oils.

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Don't denigrate the test because it was done in a taxi fleet. One of the most severe tests that we do on valvetrains where I work is called the "Taxi Test". It's very simple; just run the engine at idle for 80% of the time, then do stop and go driving for 20% of the time. This is great for wiping out cams and lifters in slider-follower engines. Since this test was done 15 years ago on SH oils, I'm not surprised that there wasn't a lot of problems with cam wear. SH oils were allowed 1200ppm Phosphorous, and today's SM/SN oils are only allowed 800. It would be interesting to see that test repeated today using SN oils.

I agree.

 

[Capa]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Don't denigrate the test because it was done in a taxi fleet. One of the most severe tests that we do on valvetrains where I work is called the "Taxi Test". It's very simple; just run the engine at idle for 80% of the time, then do stop and go driving for 20% of the time. This is great for wiping out cams and lifters in slider-follower engines. Since this test was done 15 years ago on SH oils, I'm not surprised that there wasn't a lot of problems with cam wear. SH oils were allowed 1200ppm Phosphorous, and today's SM/SN oils are only allowed 800. It would be interesting to see that test repeated today using SN oils.


+2.

I agree.

 

[Gabe]

Sorry to dig up a 2 year old thread about a 17 year old article, but...

At the end of the original article, it makes the comment that the motor oil they tested was a mix of oils from around the country. Valvoline and Mobil used a different blend for select areas.

Is this still a common practice??

 

[OneEyeJack]

There's a taxi test on the Auto Rx web site.

 

[CarbonSteel]

Originally Posted By: glum
Quote:
According to the laboratory tests, Mobil 1 and Pennzoil Performax synthetics (glum's note: The only full synthetics tested) flow exceptionally easily at low temperatures - a condition our taxi tests didn't simulate effectively. They also had the highest viscosity under high-temperature, high-stress conditions, when a thick oil protects the engine. Thus, these oils may be a good choice for hard driving in extreme temperatures.

My interpretation of the above quote: "Synthetics really are better. We're done here."

Hardly; today's conventionals are every bit as good as the synthetics of yesteryear. I am running a little experiment of my own (although I will not be tearing the engine down and measuring the parts). Thus far, I have not seen any "wow" moments where synthetic oil performance has dwarfed conventional results. I have another 80K or so to go, to complete the runs and all of the UOAs and so it will be interesting to see in the end.