Bear in mind the Author is an electrical engineer/circuit board guy that basically had one work week of research total before writing any of this.
- He has limited understanding of chemistry, separation process technology, thermodynamics.
- No understanding of actual refinery processes. Little has actually changed, just new processes added to meet efficiency, regulatory, or other requirements.
- Sulfur in fuel does not dump sulfuric acid in the oil.
- Oil does not burn from engine temp - motor oil flash point is 450-490F. If the motor oil is that hot, you probably have other worries.
- Oil does not have additives for it's ability to neutralize acid - that is a function of the mixture chemistry, and especially of double bonds in napthenic chains.
- Tar and wax build ups come from the oil in break down and conglomeration, not from the engine block metal. Solvent added to dissolve waxes would boil off the first engine cycle.
- The paleologic origins of oil are inaccurate, but it is indeed from aquatic microorganism accumulations.
- Engine oil is not made from Walgreen's mineral oil, it's a fractionating column cut from crude oil.
- One chemical better than a mix - absolutely false. A mix allows you to tweak low temp viscosity and high temp viscosity separately, not possible with a single component.
LAYMEN PORTION
- Additives are not the end all be all of motor oil. If they were, oil additive bottles would let you never change you oil again.
- JASO-MA is needed for safe use on wet clutches. This is the opposite of "energy conserving" oil.
- Oil collects fine particulates from the engine as things wear, including the dust from the clutch plates. Not all of this will be collected in the filter, so regular changes are needed.
- As the oil is crushed in tiny clearances, heat cycled, pumped, and sheared, the viscosity drops as the carbon chains are broken down. As such, it needs replaced from time to time.
- When to replace oil? Check your maintenance schedule. The article writers every 1000 miles seems more frequent than needed.
- What weight? Manual specs, a notch lower if you're Canadian and like to ride cold.
- If there is some water in the oil a good heat cycle will boil it and any other light weight solvents off. Water touching oil doesn't mean it's trash.
PERSONAL NOTES FROM REFINERY VISITS
- There is enough fume in the air at a sour crude refinery to leave a light coating on your clothes. When you walk into an airport later, like Shreveport Regional, their bomb sniffer will go off. You will be escorted behind a blast proof shield for a pat down, no strip search. They will search any luggage you have, everything from your pockets, etc; all of it will be swabbed and bomb tested. They will swab your clothes, pockets, and skin for trace explosives. You will spend a good 4 hours to get through security. Expect considerable questioning.
- If they make a batch of gasoline or diesel with sulfur content below the regulatory limit, they will blend it with sour (high sulfur) fuel to just barely pass. Removing sulfur is expensive, so they work hard to just barely pass government inspection.
- Old motor oil and other oil waste is filtered for coarse junk/sand/etc, and dumped right back in with the crude at the start of the fractionating column.