Originally Posted By: mbacfp
Hello all,
Does anyone know of any studies or data regarding oil composition comparing 5w-40 synthetic diesel (CJ-4) engine oils? I heard Shell T6 has good levels of Zinc while Mobil Delvac ESP 5w-40 has some of the lowest (comparatively speaking). What are companies going or already using in Zinc's place for wear protection? Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge.
Start by reading this:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/used-oil-analysis-how-to-decide-what-is-normal/
Then when you're done, read it again, because most folks gloss over it and think they understand it, but really don't.
As previously mentioned by others the PQIA site has good info as to the VOA info on many lubes, although I am not sure they delve deeply into the PAO syns ...
The point I am making is that inputs are different from outputs. Focus on the later and not the former. There are a lot of good lubes out there in every market that use different add-pack and base stock formulations. And yet most all of them do just about equally well in protecting against wear and keeping an engine/gearbox/diff/etc clean.
As the article states, you most certainly can find a "best" lube, but only for your specific situations, after a LOT (and I mean a heaping load) of time and money are spent. One lube would eventually reveal itself as "best", but I dare say you will NEVER, EVER discover it because most of us don't have the cash or resources to do such a detailed study in terms of micro analysis. However, macro analysis can show us what is "normal" in terms of typical wear, and then you can compare/contrast your results to the mass market curve. And because we see MANY lubes perform "same as" in most applications, the correct conclusion to come to is that results outweigh inputs.
Or, more succinctly put, there's more than one road to the same destination. So your quest to find/define a "best" lube via some VOA study is a fruitless venture. You're welcome to do so; no one here would stop you. But as far as I am interested, that will fall FAR from the target of what is important.
I have more than 10,000 UOAs that show me VOAs are only predictors, whereas UOAs actually tell about what happens inside the equipment. And when most wear rates exhibit variance small enough to be "normal", regardless of the brand/grade/stock/add-pack, then I can rightfully conclude VOAs are just trivia for Bitog Banter.
I absolutely agree and proclaim that there will be, at some point, a difference great enough to show some kind of performance disparity between any two lubes. But you, I and most every BITOGer here will NEVER (and I mean that in the literal sense) be able to accurately define that point due to constraints of time and money and it would ONLY apply to our individual unique situation. So for any sane, typical application, as long as the bottle states a certification (or approved for use in) Spec-ABC, XYZ, etc, then your equipment won't know the difference.
