Tom F&L GoR
Enthusiast
Part of being an API certified and licensed oil (the round symbol on the back of the bottle) is being subjected to a blind quality audit. API conducts the program by purchasing quart bottles off the shelf or sampling bulk oils from quick-lubes and conducting various bench, physical, and chemical tests. A few are also engine tested.
Historically about 10% of all sampled oils fail for some reason; many are minor reasons, some are not. The failure could be due to incorrect labels, not meeting low temperature viscosity, or when the API category changes and the old and new oils are mixed. A notable year is when 20% fail.
LUBE REPORT: API Audit: One in Five Motor Oils Off-spec
Lately ILMA has started conducting it's own quality audit (they consider it part of their code of ethics) and the results are that 6 of 20 engine oils failed. Other than what is in this article, we won't know any more details.
ILMA Polices Lube Labeling
The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) comprises those companies that are not more than 5% owned by a base oil manufacturer, major oil company, or chemical company. ILMA would include AMSOIL, Bel-Ray, Royal Purple, Warren (supplies WalMart), Valvoline, etc. Obviously they are much smaller than ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron but are also differentiated because they must purchase the components to blend their oils rather than manufacture them.
Overall if ~10% and up to 20% of all oils fail, but a subset of all oils called ILMA shows a 30% failure rate, by math and logic one could assume that the major oil companies have a much lower failure rate.
I don't mean to infer that ILMA oils are "bad" or that ILMA members are cheating. The scenario I am pointing out is exemplified by WalMart, who was fined for a SuperTech gear oil that too low in viscosity because their supplier misblended. It's most often a case of lack of expertise.
Unfortunately I don't have a recommendation. You can pay more for the big name brands and possibly get higher quality but be also paying for lots of advertising (I don't think the profit margin is much higher, just that the expenses are higher.) Or you can buy store brands and get the same performance, almost all the time, and pay less. At least now you know the picture.
Historically about 10% of all sampled oils fail for some reason; many are minor reasons, some are not. The failure could be due to incorrect labels, not meeting low temperature viscosity, or when the API category changes and the old and new oils are mixed. A notable year is when 20% fail.
LUBE REPORT: API Audit: One in Five Motor Oils Off-spec
Lately ILMA has started conducting it's own quality audit (they consider it part of their code of ethics) and the results are that 6 of 20 engine oils failed. Other than what is in this article, we won't know any more details.
ILMA Polices Lube Labeling
The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) comprises those companies that are not more than 5% owned by a base oil manufacturer, major oil company, or chemical company. ILMA would include AMSOIL, Bel-Ray, Royal Purple, Warren (supplies WalMart), Valvoline, etc. Obviously they are much smaller than ExxonMobil, Shell, and Chevron but are also differentiated because they must purchase the components to blend their oils rather than manufacture them.
Overall if ~10% and up to 20% of all oils fail, but a subset of all oils called ILMA shows a 30% failure rate, by math and logic one could assume that the major oil companies have a much lower failure rate.
I don't mean to infer that ILMA oils are "bad" or that ILMA members are cheating. The scenario I am pointing out is exemplified by WalMart, who was fined for a SuperTech gear oil that too low in viscosity because their supplier misblended. It's most often a case of lack of expertise.
Unfortunately I don't have a recommendation. You can pay more for the big name brands and possibly get higher quality but be also paying for lots of advertising (I don't think the profit margin is much higher, just that the expenses are higher.) Or you can buy store brands and get the same performance, almost all the time, and pay less. At least now you know the picture.
