The Essence Of Blending Mineral Oil Popularly known as Base oil

Have you ever heard of this expression that ‘oil na oil’? It is a phrase you will often hear some vehicle owners use when they want to convince their mechanics to probably go ahead and use base oil as lube which they bought from roadside oil sellers. Other times, you may hear auto-parts sellers also use those same words to falsely persuade motorists and mechanics alike to buy an ‘unknown brand’ of lubricant from them against the wishes of the buyers.

This expression is very typical of those motorists who do not have knowledge of what oil is all about and how it works whether in the engine or other lubricating systems also found in the car.

It is like saying that ‘all medicine (tablets) is the same!’ But this is wrong and an incorrect assertion. A tablet that may sooth pains may not exactly be the same tablet that will heal stomach upset or cancer of the breast and therefore different tablet(s) with different composition may be required to perform the latter. This is exactly what is obtainable in the oil (lubricant) world too!

In this issue, we want to find out why base oil (mineral oil) is blended before it can be considered commercially suitable for consumption or use in your engine and other mechanical components in the car. And we want to use this article to educate motorists of the dangers of using base oil straight as a finished lube.

Mineral oil is the generic term for lubricant (oils) when they are still in unblended form or unadditized. However, mineral oil when blended is called a lubricant and may take the form of a liquid, semi-liquid or even solid. Oftentimes, marketers, to refer to their blended grades of oil products use the phrase ‘lube’

The reasons for blending mineral oil- that is one of the by-products of distillation processes of crude oil- are simply for protection and performance of equipment, identifying specific applications and functions, branding, marketing and segmentation. So, it is not likely that unblended base oil would probably have served as an all-purpose lubrication, that is, working as a motor oil as well as gear oil, brake-fluid, hydraulic oil, shock-absorber fill oil, etc all at the same time. But this would have been terrible and absolutely impossible!

Nevertheless, we cannot undermine the importance of “blending mineral oil”- but again, there is a contrary message those hawking base oil as lube are preaching that ‘oil na oil’ to their unsuspecting customers (motorists) who patronize them on daily basis without any knowledge of the danger it poses to their engines. This implies that they are passing unblended base oil as engine oil without being fortified with additives.

In today’s world of highly sophisticated machines (cars), these machines are made up of different components performing variable functions which requires recommended and entirely different blends of oil products, and not unblended base oil, in order to meet certain functionality and specific applications within the machine.

Consequently, emphasis should be placed on the significance of using branded lubes and also patronizing well blended lubes as against the infamous use of straight mineral oil as finished lubes to unsuspecting motorists.

The basic difference between a blended oil product and mineral oil is the inevitable presence of additives introduced to the mineral oil. Additives are chemical substances that impact certain properties or qualities into the base oil to give it a characteristic function in application so that this newly achieved blend of oil product will only be suitable for that specific function/application it was designed.

For instance, engine oil will differ strictly from gear oil in function and properties as the former is recommended only for use in the crankcase system while the latter is meant for use only in the gear box system, and nowhere else! Similarly, penetrating oil just like gear oil or brake-fluid does have its own specific area of application(s), so that in functionality and in additive package (requirement) it will be strictly different from those of other blends.

Now, you must have learnt that there is no such thing as ‘oil na oil’ but just an erroneous sales repertoire used by quacks, and you should therefore be dissuaded from the use of base oil as lubes. This column advocates strict adherence to recommended uses of lubes should be best practice in order to ensure protection and longevity of engine system and other components in the car.

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My email: autolubetalk@yahoo.com