Talk:Motor oil

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[edit] Links

There are no links in this article. I am new to this, but may attempt to cross reference key words.

Go for it! By the way, it's best form to sign your posts, by typing four tildes ~~~~ -- this turns into your name and time: Coneslayer 01:26, 2005 May 19 (UTC)
Since the above initial comment, many links have been added and many other edits made to this article. A few new sections and some more information have also been added. The article is in signifiucantly better shape now. H Padleckas 17:47, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article not practically finished yet

I have n't practically finished this article yet. I will modify modified the "Uses" section for certain mechanical corrections and I will add added a new "Synthetic Oil and Synthetic Blend" section and new a "Non-vehicle uses" section. Both have been written offline. I just haven't gotten to putting them in yet. H Padleckas 03:25, 19 May 2005 (UTC)
H Padleckas 17:47, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

  • Does anyone know what API Standard number defines the service categories for Gasoline and Diesel engines?

http://www.burkeoil.com/pdf/oilguide.pdf

[edit] Length of article

The article looks pretty good now. However, it has reached 30 kb in length, which is considered a little long by Wikipedia standards. Does anybody think the "Common Points of Discussion" section at the end is really necessary or unnecessary in this article? H Padleckas 17:04, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

This section has been removed by now. H Padleckas 04:37, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

==Question== I put a quart of transmission fluid in my engine last night instead of engine oil!

Can someone please tell me what will happen? Do I have to get it drained? I already drove about 10 miles, have I cause permanent damage?

Help! Desiree

You are more likely to get an answer to any questions you have by posting on the Reference desk. Either the science or miscellany section will be suitable. I'm not an expert on this issue, but I imagine that you will need to drain it, transmission fluid is not designed as a lubricant Lurker haver 13:55, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

You should draine it and refill it with proper engin oil as soon as posiblie. The atf fluid is far better then nothing but is far from ideal.

Wow - is there an engineer in the house? I'm sorry, I'm not usually slanderous in Wikipedia - but come on - does anyone on this page know what he or she is talking about? "...transmission fluid is not designed as a lubricant..."? Please people - this is not a forum, this is an article. Please don't post information that is not backed up or cited from a reputable source, or so obviously untrue (I happen to know that transmission fluid is indeed a lubricant, as it was designed to be). Go to a forum or something of that nature to determine what you should do. No one would call up Encyclopedia Britannica and ask them what to do about your engine oil problem; this is not the place for such discussion. Also, please sign your posts. Behavior such as this is what hurts the credibility of Wikipedia. Nicholas SL Smith 16:23, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] motors

I've again disambiguated this page so that it doesn't directly link to Motors. This article is about internal combustion engines with only one sentence mentioning electric generators. A bit of research confirms [1] that electric motors normally are air cooled, and lubricate their bearings using grease and not motor oil. (Unless they're used as liquid pumps, where the pumped media will carry away heat. This is also the case in large-scale generators.) -- Mikeblas 14:34, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Their is a part on the page that says that more wear occurs in the engine between 1000 and 2000 miles. I find this to be completely erroneous for my experiences as a mechanic is that customers who always change their oil at three thousand never have internal engine problems like bearings wearing out or becoming noisy even at three and four hundred thousand miles were as those who are trying t be cheap and wait for to eight thousand far more often run have internal engine noise due to play in the bearings. And are their cars typically burn oil run out and throw rods. Now this is just my experience but I have seen no founding for the assertions made on the page. I could accept what is said if it were properly sighted by several verifiable sources. Also while the automotive industry my push 3000 mile oil changes the cost of an oil change at 35 dollars is very little compared to the cost of engine replacement. used engine cost being (for "low mileage 30-40k" pre removed) 1500-8000 depending on vehicle atypical Toyota Camry would be about 1500 and labor for a Toyota Camry would be about 15 hours at 75$ plus an hour this will only increase in cost as the size of the engine increases v6 v8 and on mini vans it would be much more than 15 hours. So while it might be a little premature it does no harm and it does not save you anything to change the oil less often.


[edit] oil changing company conspiracy

I removed the following text for lack of references or citations. Content must be verifiable.

For example, most people in the United States believe that a common oil change frequency should be every 3000 miles or every 3 months, whichever comes sooner. This 3000 mile oil change interval has been relentlessly promoted by oil changing companies for decades. It had a scientific basis when engines used non-multi-weight, non-detergent oil. It no longer has any scientific basis, but it is still being promoted by certain entities, most notably the oil change industry in the United States (including car dealerships). Indeed, studies have shown more wear occurs with fresher (1000-2000 mile) oil. This is attributed to additives re-establishing themselves, TBN converging, and filters becoming more efficient. Most manufacturers recommend oil change intervals of 6,000 miles or more for modern cars. In Europe, by contrast, where the influence of oil companies has been much less, oil is typically changed only at a major service interval, between 10,000 and 15,000 miles for a modern car. For convenience, the oil filter is usually also replaced at the time the oil is changed.

--Ibanix 19:47, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

There is still a large section of text that is linked to "http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm". Someone needs to provide a proper link or remove it. I wonder how much of this article is directly from this text.

[edit] Types of Cheap Oil

Something that I think might be interesting for the article would be information about the different types of oil you can buy and whether or not they'll actually affect your car that much. I mean, I've got a 1994 Ford Fiesta (classic), done about 70,000 miles and I'm wondering whether I should buy the cheapest oil possible or something a little bit better. I heard that it makes no difference when you've got an old car but then it says on the container the cheapest oil comes in that it's for cars with 100,000+ miles on the clock, so I figured I'd be better off with the slightly better stuff. You know, on the cheapest oil, it's described as "motor oil" whereas the slightly better stuff is described as "petrol oil". Doom jester 11:32, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Needs cleanup

This article needs help with basic grammar, spelling, proper headings, and encyclopedic tone. --Charles Gaudette 09:55, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to change the oil in your car

This Motor oil article was already somewhat long when a new "How to change the oil in your car" section was recently added, making it even longer (about 36K). Even before the addition of this new section, the "Maintenance" section provided an overview about motor oil replacement in a vehicle in order to provide a basic understanding of how it's done. This new section includes a detailed step-by-step practical procedure on how to change the oil in one's vehicle, including such advice as wearing old jeans, not screwing in a new oil filter too tight, etc.

According to Section 1.8.4 of What Wikipedia is not, Wikipedia articles are not Instruction Manuals (how-to guides). Wikipedia is not the place for detailed step-by-step procedures such as the "How to change the oil in your car" section just added. This how-to procedure section has since been removed and is now available only in previous revisions under history. However, there is a Wikia called Wikihowto for such how-to procedures. This how-to section (now only in previous revisions under history) for changing your car oil can be moved to Wikihowto and the section in the Motor oil article replaced with given an external link leading to it. Of course, when the procedure has been moved to Wikihowto, it can have an external link to the Wikipedia Motor oil article. H Padleckas 17:24, 11 May 2007 (UTC) H Padleckas 04:10, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

In another website called WikiHow, there is an existing how-to procedure called "How to Change the Oil in Your Car." An external link to this WikiHow procedure has been placed in the "Maintenance" section. H Padleckas 04:45, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

This Talk section modified yet again to take Wikihowto into account. H Padleckas 12:10, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

I've deleted most of the "how to" stuff, and merely placed the WikiHow link at the bottom. I do think the "reason" why you need to change engine oil is still valid, hence why I left it in. -- Teutonic Tamer 18:23, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3000 miles myth/fact

These sections seem to be plagiarized from this page: http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm


Removed Copyvio 208.124.27.242 21:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Multi-Grade Oils

I find the below text to be rather confusing. Is that supposed to mean the oil can be pumped at a lower temp on startup or at operating temp?

The API/SAE designation for multi-grade oils includes two grade numbers; for example, 10W-30 designates a common multi-grade oil. The first number associated with the W (again 'W' is for Winter, not Weight) is not rated at any single temperature. The "10W" means that this oil can be pumped by your engine as well as a single-grade SAE 10 oil can be pumped. "5W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "10W". "0W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "5W"

--Jkoether 16:02, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Motor" vs. "engine"

The article comments:

Motor oil used for vehicle engines is commonly called engine oil in American Petroleum Institute (API) documentation.

As far as I can remember I've always heard the substance called "engine oil" rather than "motor oil". It seems to me that "motor oil" is the American term, while "engine oil" is the British term, which happens also to be used by the API. If this is the case, it's probably worth mentioning the alternative name in the lead section. The term "engine oil" is also used a couple of times outside this section without definition. Hairy Dude 21:41, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Added engine oil in the initial paragraph. -- Teutonic Tamer 18:28, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Biodegradable Motor Oil Section Has Erroneous Assumption About Disposal

The benefit of this new form of motor oil is the ability to transform the oil back into soil with no negative environmental effects.

That is an erroneous statement. Used motor oil (traditional, synthetic, or biodegradable) contains heavy metals and other contaminants due to the combustion and wear processes. Thus, it cannot be directly disposed of as if it were an innocuous substance. In my opinion, the quoted claim above should be deleted. Shawn D. (talk) 11:32, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Agree. I have rewritten that part so as not to lead people to just dump their oil out on the ground. Also maybe we should add a section about proper disposal of all types of motor oil. I looked around a bit on the recycling articles for a page to link to, but i think this is something that just need to be written from scratch. Quickmythril (talk) 21:33, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dino oil?

The term "dino oil" is not defined in the article, not mentioning the fact that this is not really a term, but just a teenager's slang. What is it doing in the Wikipedia article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.102.249.143 (talk) 03:09, 23 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Synthetic Oils

Today, synthetic lubricants are available for use in modern automobiles on nearly all lubricated components, allegedly with superior performance and longevity as compared to non-synthetic alternatives. Some tests [citation needed] have shown that fully synthetic oil is superior to conventional oil in many respects, providing better engine protection, performance, and better flow in cold starts than petroleum-based motor oil. These "tests" simply test the parameters of the oil itself and not really how well they work. Synthetics may offer little or no real-world benefit, as witnessed by the millions and millions of cars that lead long lives on plain motor oil. Generally, other components will fail long before the engine dies of an oil-related failure. Lab analysis of the wear metals contained in the used oil show identical or even lower wear with plain dino oils. Consumer Reports attempted[citation needed] to demonstrate the conventional vs synthetic advantages, but chose taxi cabs as a test-bed, which is actually a non-demanding application since the oil stays hot all the time, easily driving off accumulated water and fuels. This "test" in low-performance engines over a less-demanding driving cycle technically proved little about the subject.

I move this here because of lack of citations and POV issues. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT TALK 12:28, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Images

The image at the top of the page should not have a container of a brand name in it. Propose it be replaced with generic image. Undo advertisement. --THE FOUNDERS INTENT TALK 17:40, 8 June 2008 (UTC)