7 December 2014

The engine oil myth literally drive yourself insane

Peoples ask me what "engine oil" to use and why? 
The engine oil for motor vehicle had complex detail, is a myth literally drive yourself insane for an answer. To be frank even a PHD professor cannot give you a right answer, the huge engine oil market competition against each other is a wars! Industry standard keep changing to lower cost or improve quality. I had spend few hours to write up this simple explanation base on my riding experience the "key" to what type of engine oil I'm using...

3 types of buying consumer I often seen when purchasing engine oil for their bike.

  • Benchmark money with quality, pay peanut get monkey behavior.
  • "Trending behavior" go for the brands that pay most advertising, due to huge marketing the company forget to invest on quality oil slowing die off in the market.
  • Mechanic "advise" without research at all clearing stock it the main goals.

I will only focus on 2 points as there is too many amazingly complex detail to go after.


Japanese Automotive Standards Organization short for JASO.
The grading system measured oils ability to resist clutch friction, protection offered against engine wear and pitting in the gear box.

  • The higher the grading the better Dynamic Friction and the currently industry standard is JASO MA2.



Synthetic oils??? 

Some countries in Europe, the word synthetic is just a marketing term with no real indication of it performance. In the USA, class 3 oil can be really cheap although not that it is inferior to other base oils hence it is rather meaningless to argue over "real or fake" other then educational interest.

In Germany, the labeling is slightly different.
Base oil made from hydrocracking / isodewaxing / isomerized are called "Synthetic Technology" while polyalphaolefin and some ester oil is called "Full Synthetic".

Do note not all class 3 oil is so call "fake synthetic" as most people happily think so. Shell base oil is group III and one could argue that it is the real stuff.

Due to touring, I'm very "choosing" over engine oil I have tried most including supermarket and petrol kiosk brands USA, Italy, France, Japan and Germany made engine oil. My requirement including daily use and touring non stop riding from point A to point B minimum 900km. Currently I had test and proven only Germany brands can fit into my requirements as Germany had strict requirements how the company label their engine oil.

I had tried few viscosity engine oil from ROWE, example there is one ride using ROWE 10w40 HC synthetic base (Not label as fully synthetic) on a 125cc Honda Varadero Singapore to Thailand ride it's was good experience touring for 1600km but oil degrade after 3000km and oil change at 4000km.

Last months surprisingly the highest grade ROWE viscosity 10w-60 FULLY SYNTHETIC was here.
Change before touring I have clock around 500km before my ride to Thailand, during local ride under hot sun I was amazed by the heat tolerant this engine oil can take. My temperature gauge always stay at 50% no other engine oil can do that money well pay! During Thailand trip from Singapore, Malaysia to HatYai, Yala, Betong and back to Singapore total 2000km was clock the ROWE 10w-60 RS had out perform any engine oil I had ever use till today clocked 4000km and had no sign of degrade at all. Thumb up!

 The ROWE 10w-60 is truly amazing Fully Synthetic engine oil JASO-MA2 certified.
 Currently in Singapore only Keng Hock Motor carry stock visit them to find out more.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keng-Hock-Motor/279781475486924
Tel: 6844 2855 (Please call to check ROWE 10w-60 oil available)
188, Yio Chu Kang Road
(If you like to try out ROWE 10w-60 engine oil Keng Hock Motor is the only shop carry this oil.
And due to limited stock or shipment issues Keng Hock will reserve stock for his regular customer first till new stock came in.) I have suggest him bring in more stock due to demand Update 17-1-2017




Viscosity Grades

Currently on market 90% of engine oil had multigrade rating, the number you see on the bottle is the flow measurement.

Basically in southeast asia, we can ignore the "W" rating as we do not have winter.
10w-40 VS SAE 40= The operating temperatures these oils are the same as both are rated"40"
Peoples argue 10W is too thin? The only time the 10W-40 oil is "thin" is at cold start up conditions where you need it to be "thin."

The video below had the best explanation on viscosity rating.