ALL Your Oil Questions Answered!

[slider2828]

Wholly Geezus, I have NEVER in my whole life seen anything SO informational and complete about oil. If you can read ALL 60 pages of EXPLANATION about oil pressures, oil weight, oil quality, correct weights, etc etc... You will be pretty much an expert. This will include weight of oil explanation for conditions of driving. There is even a self test about it and information is current!

For most of you there is about 10 chapters to this article, if you wanna skim and don't care to understand, read the last 2 paragraphs from each chapter. There is also 2 self tests for comprehension! Happy reading!

Excerpt from Motor Oil - All Chapters, Inclusive -Copy and Save This - FerrariChat.com

About the author:
Dr. Haas is a physician and surgeon. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in biochemistry with honors. He studied motor oils since high school where he did independent studies on this topic. He studied the properties of viscosity.

When he was a general surgery resident in Chapel Hill he studied the flow mechanics of human blood. Today he continues his research by discussion of oil products with chemists in the field and chemists from the oil manufacturers.

He has personal racing experience in Formula Super Vee. He is his own Lamborghini and Ferrari as well as Mercedes mechanic.



Chapter One - Motor Oil 101

I think it is time to go over passenger car automotive engine oils in detail. I will be writing several articles to be published soon so I will try to get some of it out here. I feel this is a very general topic for all car owners on this board.

This is a very difficult topic to comprehend. Everybody including good mechanics think they are experts in this field but few understand engine oils. Most of what I hear is the opposite of the truth. It is however easy to see how people get mixed up as there is always some truth to the misconception.

Please forgive me if I am too wordy or even verbose at times. I will be redundant for certain. This will be in areas that people have to hear things over and over again to get it right. Some will never be able to understand these concepts unfortunately. I base my thoughts on those whom I have been listening to in various automotive chat rooms and discussion with mechanics. I will try to minimize technical terms and be somewhat vague rather than exact. I will round and average numbers to make the point simple rather than mathematically exact. Thickness has the same meaning as viscosity. Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid (liquid or gas) to flow. Fluids with high viscosity, such as molasses, flow more slowly than those with low viscosity, such as water. Again, I am trying to explain general principals as I know them.

The greatest confusion is because of the way motor oils are labeled. It is an old system and is confusing to many people. I know the person is confused when they say that a 0W-30 oil is too thin for their engine because the old manual says to use 10W-30. This is wrong.

More confusion occurs because people think in terms of the oil thinning when it gets hot. They think this thinning with heat is the problem with motor oil. It would be more correct to think that oil thickens when it cools to room temperature and THIS is the problem. In fact this is the problem. It is said that 90 percent of engine wear occurs at startup. If we are interested in engine longevity then we should concentrate our attention at reducing engine wear at startup.

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[punxva]

wow great find, i just browsed the article quickly but very informative. your on a roll man

[slider2828]

Well I took the midterm and the test. I got 3-5 right on my midterm and 14-20 right on my final... What you guys get?

[slider2828]

If there are any questions about oils and tuning.... Man these guys ima say "Let me google that for you....."

[Om1kron]

a moderator posted this link in an oil cooler thread. Their forums are... AWESOME

Bob Is The Oil Guy

[slider2828]

Yah I think the oil guy talks about the oil itself, but I think the main thing about the Ferrari forum talks about the effects and how to correctly use the RIGHT WEIGHT for your car... I think that is the best thing to learn from this post. Not so much the oil itself....

[Def]

He's not 100% correct on a lot of things.

Being a surgeon does not make an oil expert...

There's much more mechanically going on in an engine as to what grade oil you should choose beyond static pressure measured at the oil filter.

[slider2828]

Hmmm but I think he is talking about weight and not so much grade comparison.... but I would like a differential on what he is incorrect on... This would make it seem more instructional than commenting on his points by saying, "He is not 100% right..."

[Def]

I have too much work to do to go through and pick apart all his writing. But most of what I disagree with is why he says go for a given weight/viscosity of oil. He's looking at it from purely a flow/supply issue to parts, which is what the human body's circulation system is concerned with; but the oil has an important job of lubrication, the mechanics of which differs in many parts of the engine.

Most of what he says is good and is generally applicable to most cars though. Do some research, do some real world tests, and you'll probably find a few areas where you disagree with him.

As for my qualifications, I actually have a Mechanical Engineering degree, have been studying tribology for a while, and primarily work with controlling/balancing pressurized oil flows with $$$$$$ data acquisition systems. Not really important since I'd rather my statements stand on their own, but like I said, don't have the time.

[chituntang]

Originally Posted by Def

He's not 100% correct on a lot of things.

Being a surgeon does not make an oil expert...

There's much more mechanically going on in an engine as to what grade oil you should choose beyond static pressure measured at the oil filter.

You are not 100% correct either. He is only talking about engine oil, not engine. He took out everything else as it stated "held all others equal." Just like he said "if engine design is that simple, you will be the one building your own engine."


But it is a great read.

[Def]

Originally Posted by chituntang

You are not 100% correct either. He is only talking about engine oil, not engine. He took out everything else as it stated "held all others equal." Just like he said "if engine design is that simple, you will be the one building your own engine."


But it is a great read.

Your post makes no sense...

You must know HOW an engine uses oil, and what it needs from this oil to properly select the right oil... which is the whole point.

[Om1kron]

Originally Posted by slider2828

Yah I think the oil guy talks about the oil itself

Read through the site, that is a misconceiving assumption that is all the website is good for. I was directed there for cartridge type pass through filter set ups and spent most of the day scratching my head wondering how in the fuck that was supposed to answer my question. After I read through all of the oil tests and the different stresses oil goes through while lubricating your engine, transmission and differential.

The forums talks about how you put that knowledge into application. Tons of race teams are on there sharing their oil set ups, stories and what not talking about motor oil I've never even seen before. It's very interesting stuff.