Why does Valvoline have the only engine testing lab for their products?

[sloinker]

have the only engine testing lab for their products? You would think all the big manufacturers would utilize some real world controlled engine tests for their products. Valvoline makes this claim. Is it true?

The First and Only Dedicated Engine Lab
Valvoline is the only motor oil brand with a dedicated engine lab, where we test and prove our products 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our highly skilled technicians put our products through an exhaustive array of tests to measure oil consumption, deposit build-up, wear, fuel economy and more. Valvoline is the only motor oil company that can perform all five gasoline tests currently required by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and International Lubricants Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) groups in-house.

 

[Skippy722]

I'd imagine an independent 3rd party results would carry more weight, since they don't have anything to gain or lose. I could be absolutely wrong with that idea though

 

[DoubleNickels]

I believe everything they tell me. I believe everything that everybody tells me. I fall for all the advertising.

I also believe that their oil is the best at cleaning, improves fuel economy, and allows the engine to produce more horsepower. Even though every oil claims the same.

Same way I believe that Chevrolet is "the heartbeat of America", and that only Ford can be built "Ford Tough".

Makes you wonder how all the other oil companies meet Original Equipment Manufacturers' specifications, and American Petroleum Institute ratings.

So is their "in house" laboratory more better than 3rd party verification? Wouldn't it be better to have an independent testing facility verify, than simply for the oil manufacturer to tell you, "yeah, we checked it, trust us"?

 

[Triple_Se7en]

We are the independent testing facility. Millions of testers.
Valvoline is good stuff.

 

[4WD]

What about Dr Ford

 

[Kira]

...or Mr Goodwrench?

 

[Linctex]

Mobil has a huge test facility, where the engine is left in the car/truck and is run on a chassis dyno for 100,000's of miles under "real world'' driving conditions.

 

[Trav]

Can you think of a better way to get creative with the data if necessary like Maxlife meeting dex vI? Out of house is something they have no control over.

 

[njohnson]

Mobil has their research and development lab, where it looks like they test their lubricants in engines. See the link.

https://mobiloil.com/en/article/why...ifference/the-technology-in-every-bottle

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I test in my engine.

Bang!

Oops! - that one is not too good ....

 

[buster]

I'm not sure why Valvoline would make that claim when it's not true. They do have a nice Lab though.

In addition from njohnson's post from Mobil's website:

"About 500 formulations are blended each month at the technical center in New Jersey. Our flagship products consists of about 15 to 20 hand selected components, which consist of synthetic base stocks and performance additives that address the demanding operating environments of today's machines. Real-world testing begins at the EMRE technical center, where candidate formulations are put through extreme tests in rigs, engines and vehicles which simulate high-speed, high-load and high-temperature environments. After testing, engines are disassembled and digital microscopes are used to inspect part surfaces for wear.

In another area of the center, vehicles of every make and model are strapped to dynamometers to test oil blends, sometimes against competitive brands. Cycles can be custom-programmed to generate data for high speeds, stop-and-go traffic, long durations, or any combination of driving conditions.

Production equipment at the plant can blend up to 300 gallons per minute and dispense Mobil oil into anything ranging from plastic quart bottles to tank railcars. From New Jersey, the oil carries more than 40 years of research and development to consumers, shops and race teams around the world"

 

[rideahorse]

Its not what they tell you that is good about a product. Its what they don't tell you. That the first thing you are taught in marketing class.

 

[javacontour]

They define it very narrow dedicated is probably the discriminator. If the others have a lab complex that does engine tests and any other tests, they are no longer dedicated engine test labs.

Words mean things. I suspect dedicated is the weasel word that makes the claim true.

 

[edwardh1]

WDTD
what does toyota do?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by javacontour
They define it very narrow dedicated is probably the discriminator. If the others have a lab complex that does engine tests and any other tests, they are no longer dedicated engine test labs.

Words mean things. I suspect dedicated is the weasel word that makes the claim true.


NO. Read again . Valvoline does API and ILSAC certified Engine test procedures.

Exxon-Mobil?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by edwardh1
WDTD
what does toyota do?

Makes really boring cars and you WANT the engine to expire but it doesnt?

So you have to hire a Hit Man

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted by edwardh1
WDTD
what does toyota do?

Makes really boring cars and you WANT the engine to expire but it doesnt?



But that can't be true, Gokhan keeps telling us how much fun his 1985 Corolla is to drive!

 

[addyguy]

Not that it was the first, but doesn't Amsoil have a top-class test facility to test their formulas?

 

[chemman]

30 years ago I interviewed for a chemistry position in the Paramins Division of Exxon Chemical. At that time, Paramins was a leading manufacturer for lubricant, grease and fuel additive packages. In one of the public areas they displayed oil cans from virtually every oil brand on the market at that time to show who their clients were. I was also told that one of the laboratories they had was an engine lab where they tested every additive package formulation they developed in multiple engines.

After running a particular additive package in an oil formulation for a standard period of time (I do not know how many hours or miles equivalent miles they were run) the engines were dismantled and every part was measured for wear, tested for lubricant and additive residues, and much, much more, in order to see how the formulated oil and it's additive package performed. The amount of testing performed was mind boggling! While being shown around the labs, I was lucky enough to see a cylinder head that had been taken off one of their test engines being analyzed by a spectroscopic technique known as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

I can only speculate that the other additive manufacturers/formulators (such as Lubrizol or, Chevron's Oronite) also have similar laboratory setups in order to test their products or use a contact facility with the expertise to run all the tests that are required to evaluate finished lubricant packages.

I learned there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes in the development of finished petroleum based products used in the automotive and other related industries that the public never knows about.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted by javacontour
They define it very narrow dedicated is probably the discriminator. If the others have a lab complex that does engine tests and any other tests, they are no longer dedicated engine test labs.

Words mean things. I suspect dedicated is the weasel word that makes the claim true.


NO. Read again . Valvoline does API and ILSAC certified Engine test procedures.

Exxon-Mobil?




Yes, XOM can self-certify. They also, I'd wager, farm that service out to others, which may be the difference.

XOM provides base oils and additives to the entire industry, so it wouldn't be surprising that they also offer certification testing in their labs. Ashland doesn't do any of those things, so the odds are they have a lab that they use for internal testing, and that's it.