Originally Posted by ThugStyle
Hi
Just so we are all clear, what is the purpose of UOA's?
Some have said that they only use them to see if coolant or fuel (or something else) gets into the oil so that they can address any malfunctions. I think I saw an interview of two men from Shell/Pennzoil who said this much at some kind of race event for their car. The guy interviewing appeared to be an average Joe with a YouTube channel. I tried to find the link but could not. He was asking about seeing this and that metal % in the oil, and the two guys were like, "No, we don't really use it that way, we look for coolant or fuel to be in there so we can go fix any leaks."
If you think I'm lying about this, I guess you can use twitter or phone to contact Pennzoil.
So can someone explain why people turn to them for anything other than what those two guys described? And how exactly would you justify doing so?
It seems to me that UOA's would not really be accurate for metal present anyways because the heavier parts fall to the bottom of the oil, so you may get a higher or lower reading for something depending on if the oil sat for a while or not before collecting a sample. Like using the ladle at Souplantation to dig deep in the soup container.
Good statement, only thing you are wrong about is "heavier parts fall to the bottom"
The procedure for taking a UOA sample is to get the oil up to full operating temperature, the oil is well mixed up when you take the sample and as far as metals go we are talking about the PPM of metal in the oil.
So UOAs are mostly for fun, to see how much metal wear is showing up and yes, valid reason is to check for coolant and fuel.
Using UOAs and VOAs and commenting on the make up of the oil itself is a joke in here. People looking for a lot of zinc/phos/Calcium/boron ect is laughable, a VOA checks for a TINY amount of compounds that have been around for 50 years or more and doesnt represent compounds that oil manufacturers have used to replace those outdated ones.
So some manufacturer like Red Line can produce an oil loaded with stuff from decades ago and sell it for $13.00 a quart all the while, something like Supertech may provide the same protection for $3.00 for the everyday driver.
This is not to say that their arent some specialized engines that need these old compounds, I repeat, I am talking about for everyday drivers.
Its funny, engines now outlast the vehicles and the engine components of the typical everyday car and truck using any API oil including $2.00 a quart oil but for fun, some are still looking for a Holy Grail. Thats ok, as long as they respect this statement, there is no proof or intelligent reason to use an expensive oil with the same API as a cheap oil as it will not make a difference in the life of the engine for the everyday driver.