HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT LUBRICANT FOR YOUR CAR ENGINE

Why do you leave the selection of oil in the hands of those who may not know any more than you do? How did you choose the oil you are presently using in your car engine? Do you rely on mechanics or the auto-parts sellers to make that selection? The truth is that when you engage most of these mechanics on why choose 20W50 oil over an SAE 40/50, or let them explain what informed their decision, they will just fumble and falter. For the auto-parts sellers, it’s a sales repertoire to lure uninformed motorists (and mechanics alike) to buy from a brand of motor oil- worst of all, they cannot demonstrate what SAE or API or the difference between 20W50 and SAE40/50 means. This is responsible for the poor lubrication awareness among motorists.

I have often deferred in opinion about the selection of oil that you don’t have to be a mechanic, or be trained as a tribologist or lubrication engineer before you can understand how to choose the right oil for your car engine!

Recently, in a lubrication seminar organized by Tribology Society of Nigeria, TSN, the chairman of the seminar, a veteran in the business of lubrication and lubricants described a scene during his marketing days as a sales rep in 70s, how he had taken a delivery of some lubes to a customer and was shocked by the unconventional method deployed the customer to test the oils he supplied- the customer was physically tasting each oil by putting a finger into the oil and actually touching the oil to his tongue, saying ‘this one, good! this one, no good!’ Perhaps the customer had wanted to detect the ph level of the oil. But then, this is absolutely WRONG.
For more information on Passing The Tongue Taste, visit my Blog at http://lubewatchafrica.blogspot.com


My friend once told me a story of how he had gone to a roadside mechanic to have his car engine serviced but was surprised when the mechanic condemned the fresh can of motor oil that he had bought, by just dipping his finger into the oil and actually trying to feel the oil texture. He turned to him and declared, ‘this oil, e no good’. Again this practice of selecting oil is wrong!

Our aim here shall be to provide correct information for choosing the right oil for your engine lubrication needs. In this edition, we attempt to demonstrate how this number and letter systems can aid in the selection of oil for different applications in the car. You should be paying more attention to this article because at the end you will not need a mechanic or auto-parts seller to guide you in choosing the right oil for your engine.

Knowing how to select the right motor oil will help you get optimum performance out of your car. It is an art that will require learning the skill (information) and practice (training). But many motorists will agree with me that choosing the right oil is most difficult task because they neither know what to look out for nor have the right information to guide their decision of choice.

There are four pieces of information that will educate you on how to choose the right oil your engine lubrication needs.

First, as a motorist, you are supposed to have a clear understanding of how lubricating systems in a car work e.g. car engine. This is crucial to the selection of a lubricant for a particular application. For instance you cannot choose grease as the lubrication need for the gearbox system (as being practiced by some mechanics till today), nor motor oil for use in the wheel-bearing system. These practices are wrong and will cause problem to the lubricating systems concerned.

Second, in the October article titled, how can I understand the number and letter systems used to rate oils, I did discuss two symbols to look out for on a motor oil label when shopping for the oil to use in your engine crankcase system. The two symbols are API service rating and SAE viscosity grade. I am not going into details about how the symbols work in rating oil here (refer to the article in my blog at http://lubewatchafrica.blogspot.com). However, the API service rating uses letters to identify two important information namely, the vehicle fuel-type that the oil is designed for, and the quality level of the motor oil. Consequently the API & SAE ratings help consumers (motorists) identify quality engine oils for their petrol and diesel powered vehicles. These parameters also explains the reference of a multi-grade oil to mono-grade oil, therefore read up the details from my blog website at http://lubewatchafrica.blogspot.com

Third, is the good, better, best model to determine what to choose. There are major differences in motor oils, but you shall learn more about other differences in motor oil apart from mono-grades and multi-grades that will further dispel the mystique surrounding choosing the right oil. However choosing the right oil can have a major impact on how well your car runs. As a result, the cheapest and quickest way to improve your car’s performance and reliability is by understanding the art involved in selecting the right oil.
Therefore the best and easiest way to select motor oil is to follow the good, better, best model as postulated by some industry authorities. This model tries to examine each motor oil type from the basestock used, price, availability (predominance) and performance.
The Good: These are mineral-based motor oils. They are the regular type, the cheapest and most widely available oils. They typically use standard additive package that provide minimum levels of performance and protection.
The Better: They are synthetic-blend motor oils. These motor oils are blended from the finest stock of mineral oil. They are fairly expensive than the mineral-based oils and are still widely available. Their performance advantages come predominantly from the synthetic base nature. They have a longer service life and offer some improvement in protection relative to the pure mineral-based motor oils.
The Best: High performance synthetic motor oils are the most technologically advanced oils. They significantly outperform mineral-based or synthetic-blend motor oils but are more expensive than the synthetic-blends and mineral-based oils. They are typically only available through leading manufacturers’ point of sale, selected oil change centers and some organized auto-repair garages. These oils primarily differ in their uses of more advanced proprietary additive technologies.

Fourth, we advise that you should follow your vehicle’s manual for recommendation of motor oil choice to guard against voiding your warranty and causing problems to your car.

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