These are all quotes from the 'other site',where everyone is still hung up on VOA,and lab results being unreliable.
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"As for “simple” VOA and UOA Lab results, they are traditionally variable. Those from Oil Company Labs when testing their own products are certainly better. At a recent visit to Daimler AG in Unterturkheim, I was assured that they do their own VOAs on FF lubricants as a matter of course. Variances in supply quality do occur!
and the 0w-40 is not synthetic basestock? also, viscosity as published is an average value not an exact one. look at
Yes. Most oil companies give averages on their PDS sheets and UOA's all depend on the calibration of the test equipment and which human did them. I've had VOA's done in the past where I questioned the additive level. Resent samples three times from the same bottle and got back three different answers. All within the 10% range
The Blackstone 100C vis of 13.36 cSt is quite a bit off the M1 PDS spec' of 14.0 cSt (used to be 14.3 in the not too distant past).
That's something to keep in mind when reviewing UOAs from this lab particularly when assessing how shear prone M1 0W-40 is reported to be.
This seems to happen far too often. I know VOA/UOA are relatively inexpensive via Blackstone but having to send out a sample to verify a sketchy result does add up. It seems the adage "you get what you pay for" does apply to oil analyses. "
VOA's are not a good way to answer your question Shup1. They are good to have for reference in comparison to UOA's to see what changes occured during use. You cannot rate an oil bt its VOA
Some might be close, but when a VOA is even over a year old, it's pretty much old news. When a VOA is 4+ years old, there is almost 100% certainty it been changed by the formulator. Driven by improvement, specification chasing, cost, new and discontinued additives - lubricant formulas change.
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SAVE YOUR MONEY GUYS. ......ALL THAT REALLY MATTERS IS LONG TERM PERFORMANCE,AND ACTUAL RESULTS!!! THOSE TESTS(VOA/UOA) ARE CERTAINLY GOOD AT DRAINING YOUR WALLETS-IF NOTHING ELSE! THAT'S WHY I HAVE NEVER BOTHERED!