API SA really still available?

[Ron AKA]

This article suggests SA oils (but does not name the brands) are still beings sold. Sounds almost criminal based on the article at the link below. Has anyone seen these and what brands they would be? They said they bought the test oil at a national auto parts chain.

http://autoalliance.org/archives/SA vs SL comparison 110804 final-rev121604.pdf

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

Accel SA, cheapest stuff on the shelf. Available at most WalMarts around here.

 

[dwendt44]

If your burning more oil than gasoline, maybe this stuff(and re-refined oil) is the way to go.
It would fit right in with those little 'anti fouling' thingys for the spark plugs.

 

[Ron AKA]

I recall Canadian Tire used to sell an oil that just said Motor Oil on it. Not sure if they still do, but perhaps another candidate.

 

[Vilan]

Haven't seen any locally, but Pitt Penn makes SA motor oil.

http://www.pittpenn.com/viewPDF.asp?fName=Quality API-SA&fID=2

 

[Rand]

Accel SA , accel also makes some SG rated stuff
with a big warning "not for use in vehicles
newer than 1988"

Its available at Autozone, Big Lots(sometimes)
Every walmart I've ever been to and other
"quality retailers".

 

[schwartr88]

Our local dollar store sells SA rated oil for $1.58/qt.

 

[KieferS]

Every single truck stop ive seen carries SA

 

[427Z06]

There's a BP gas station combo convenient store nearby here that has a nice big row of SAE 40 SA in their oil section. Since it's the lowest priced oil there, I can see where desperate and ignorant people buy this stuff from the change they found under the front seat. They may as well sell crack in the candy section while they're at it.

 

[Nebraskan]

Is this the same stuff I saw at the grocery store the other day that says, "Does not meet new car warranties" ? It was produced somewhere down in Indiana if I remember.

 

[80caprice]

That crud they sell at dollar generals and beleive family doller.... (minus the havoline and pennzoil.... maybe stp?)

 

[Nickdfresh]

STP oil was SM/SL rated last time I checked.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I thought there was some use for non-detergent SAE40 (that old lawnmower that's never seen detergent?)

 

[Kestas]

This brings to mind that SA oil perhaps has its uses. But at that price ($1.58/qt) the economic advantage isn't there. It would have to be for some other reason. At the moment I can't think of any.

Is it perhaps loaded with ZDDP?

 

[XS650]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kestas:
This brings to mind that SA oil perhaps has its uses. But at that price ($1.58/qt) the economic advantage isn't there. It would have to be for some other reason. At the moment I can't think of any.

Is it perhaps loaded with ZDDP?

---

An oil labled SA could be most any old ****pe. For one thing, there is no longer any such thing as an official SA oil.

For another thing, if you ran an SM oil through the SA tests (assuming you could find the test eauipment) there is no reason to expect that SM oil wouldn't qualify as SA oil.

Oil specs for the most part are performance and compatibility specs, not formulation specs.

 

[Nickdfresh]

Isn't SA essentially non-detergent? Perhaps it would be best used in an application in an old engine filled with sludge and deposits that detergents would stir up? That's the only thing I can think of. I know my father had an old beater lawn mower that I used (heavy as a pile of bricks

) I used in the wet, marshy areas laden with hazards like tree stumps and roots that he didn't want to risk ruining the newer mower on, around the backyard treeline. I think he insisted on using nondetergent in the engine for fear that a detergent oil would stir up any deposits in the engine. I'm not sure that SA is 'nondetergent' though, but I think it is.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nickdfresh:
Isn't SA essentially non-detergent?

---

I believe it's non-anything. API SA, became obsolete in the 1930s when the first additive engine oils (API SB) began to appear. It was defined retroactively when API first set up its engine oil licensing program in the 1960s. IIRC, even current non-detergent oils have some additives in them.

It's probably made out of the cheapest Grp I oil that can be had sans anything else. I wouldn't be surprised if they get it for free as waste product.

I wouldn't use it in my old lawnmower.

http://www.imakenews.com/lng/e_article000391424.cfm?x=b11,0,w

“We buy several hundred gallons of line wash every year, which we use for bar-and-chain applications, a legitimate usage,” Taglia said. “However, we understand some marketers are simply relabeling line wash as engine oil, which is not an ethical usage.”

[ August 26, 2006, 11:57 PM: Message edited by: 427Z06 ]

 

[bruce381]

SA from memory is ONLY base stock with a small amount of AO or PPD if any.
SB has I think a SMALL amount of ZDDP.

You would be far better of using a ISO 100 AW hydraulic oil.
bruce

 

[bruce381]

""We buy several hundred gallons of line wash every year, which we use for bar-and-chain applications, a legitimate usage,” Taglia said. “However, we understand some marketers are simply relabeling line wash as engine oil, which is not an ethical usage.""

Very true still done today.
My line wash goes into cutting oil.

bruce

 

[ebaker]

What's "line wash"?