Do all Esters smell sweet?

[Scuderia]

As a lot of you know Motul 300V smells like banana juice. This is one of the few oils that is pretty much fully ester based. I was changing my oil today, and I noticed that I still had a bottle of Motul 8100 Eco-nergy with a little bit of oil still left in it. Curious, I took a sniff and it smelled kinda sweet. Not exactly banana juice, but I could still detect some sweetness. I also have some German Castrol and some Mobil 1 to, and the Castrol doesn't smell sweet at all, but the Mobil 1 does contain a hint of sweetness. So this got me thinking, is it the esters in the oil that account for this sweet smell? Can anybody who has used Red Line or other group 4/5 oil post what it smells like?

Now if you excuse me, I feel lightheaded and in an unusually good mood.

 

[Shannow]

Some smell absolutely freakin' awful.

Year 11 chemistry we made all sorts of esters with carboxylic acids and alcohols...

Some smelled like strawberries or bananas (and are used industrially). Some started with filthy smelling ingredients and made "edible" smells...some were awful.

 

[crinkles]

i retch at the smell of oil and ATF.

 

[chevrofreak]

Most of the synthetic oils I have do have a sweet smell to them. Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20, Super Tech 5W-30, Valvoline Synpower 5W-30, NAPA Synthetic 5W-30, Castrol Syntec 20W-50, Mobil 1 10W-30 and 10W-30EP. The Quaker State Torque Power 5W-30 has more of a vegetable oil smell to it rather than a candy smell. I think it's the only synthetic I've smelled that isn't sweet in some way.

 

[Shannow]

would a rose, by any other name, still smell of an ester ?

 

[INDYMAC]

Auto-Rx is the sweetest I've smelled (has a hint of tequila too!)

Texas tea (sweet crude) smells good too!

 

[aquariuscsm]

RP definitely has it`s own smell. Kind`ve a rubbery atf type smell. From what I`ve read on this site via uoa`s,it`s a grp IV/V mix.

 

[JAG]

I have a bottle of ester based Maxima 2-stroke oil and it does NOT smell sweet. Red Line 5W-30 smells like a sulfur factory but the additives cause that and mask any base oil smell. So not all esters smell sweet.

 

[TallPaul]

You are not likely to get pure ester to be able to sniff it. I had a batch of Redline D4 ATF that stank to high heaven. I thought something was wrong with it and called Redline. They looked up the code on the bottle and said it was find, that the smell was the particular seal conditioner additive they used. Stuff has been performing fine in the Aerostar auto tranny for a couple years now.

 

[wannafbody]

Do any have a hint of oak?

 

[labman]

Mostly what you smell is the lower molecular weight components, not the base oil. Dribble a little oil on something hot. Smell it. Go away and come back later. Most of the oil will still be there, but it won't smell nearly as strong. Stick around and your nose will start ignoring the smell.

 

[sparkplug]

I don't know but Valvoline has the best smell out of all oils. mmmmmmm.

 

[Tom NJ]

Esters are a broad class of chemistry. Volatile esters (low molecular weight) are often odiferous and are used in flavors and fragrances. The esters used as base oils in synthetic lubricants, however, are of much higher molecular weight and are essentially odorless when properly made.

What you are likely smelling is one or more of the additives. But if the oil in your bottle was old and exposed to moisture, then the diester base oils could have hydrolyzed slightly, which would liberate sweet smelling oxo-alcohols. Shouldn't affect performance.

Tom NJ

 

[TallPaul]

M1 ATF (at least several years ago) was about the most wonderful smell ever, just like a new cheap vinyl notebook.

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: sparkplug
I don't know but Valvoline has the best smell out of all oils. mmmmmmm.


I have no reason to disagree with you. The Maxlife, Synpower and the NAPA synthetic smell very good.

 

[brian12]

Before last week I would have thought you were crazy. But after being covered in Belray EXL I know what your talking about. Weirdest [censored] ever how it smells sweet.

 

[berlyn]

Redline race oil very sweet!
Although the smell from a couple years older formulation (in the bottle with the taller neck) was even better!!

 

[Bamaro]

You'll have to ask Fred Sanford

 

[Max_Wander]

Originally Posted By: berlyn
Redline race oil very sweet!
Although the smell from a couple years older formulation (in the bottle with the taller neck) was even better!!


Wow, I think Redline racing oil smells... not too great. Smells quite similar to Mobil Jet Oil II. But esp when I heated it on the stove to mix an antioxidant in, whoowhee what a smell. It absolutely reaked of some type petroleum. PP smells fantastic. I think it's the additives that determine the smell. The PPs smell is kinda sweet with a hint of ammonia, probably the basic additive used for TBN. Motomaster Formula 1 smells exactly like PP although it's lighter in colour. Less colouring or less additives/moly? I have a hunch some of these GIII PCMO have some esters in them (the cheap kind though, not pentaerythritol or anything like that)

 

[berlyn]

well I never smelled PP!
But Amsoil MCV's smell is very similar to Mobil 1 V-twin.
Who is Fred Sanford ?

But the number one smell is Maxima's Maxum...bike oil