Hot Weather Performance Tested
Engines Get Hot!
Internal combustion engines need heat to operate. But controlling that heat has always been a problem for engine designers. When fuel is ignited inside a combustion chamber, an explosion results, forcing the piston downward. It is this energy that moves your vehicle. Each explosion elevates combustion chamber temperatures to between 2000º and 3000ºF. This heat is absorbed by the piston and cylinder and then transferred to other areas of the engine. Once an engine reaches its operating temperature, excess heat is pulled away with water circulated through the radiator. But this can only dissipate 60 percent of an engine’s heat (air-cooled engines simply direct air flow over the outside of the engine and are even less efficient). The remaining 40 percent must be cooled by an engine’s oil. Motor oil is directed or splashed onto key engine parts as they move in close proximity to one another. Only a small portion of the oil is needed for lubrication. The majority of the oil carries heat away from hot surfaces down to the oil pan where the heat is dissipated to the outside air. Not all oils react the same way when exposed to hot metal surfaces. This is because not all oils are made the same way.
|
Conventional Oils Can’t Take It
Petroleum-based motor oils start out as crude oil that must be pumped from deep within the earth. Crude oil is a mixture of thousands of different organic compounds that can be separated through refining processes into products ranging from jet fuel to asphalt. In the same manner, petroleum motor oil is also a mixture of various compounds. However, the refining process has no way of separating compounds that have desirable properties from ones that do not. There is also no way of removing 100 percent of impurities such as waxes, asphalt and sulfur. High temperatures cause petroleum oil to oxidize and break down. This leads to the formation of sludge, lacquer, varnish and corrosive by-products. High temperatures also cause conventional oil to volatilize or "boil off." Lighter fractions of the petroleum evaporate, leaving a thicker oil behind. This thick oil is less protective and can become more solid than liquid when exposed to cold temperatures.
AMSOIL Starts Where Other Oils Quit
AMSOIL synthetic lubricants are "designed" rather than refined. AMSOIL lubricants are composed of select synthetic base stocks and additive systems that give consistent and predictable performance characteristics. AMSOIL synthetic lubricants can in this way be developed to address specific performance requirements. AMSOIL synthetic lubricants do not contain impurities, thus providing greater protection from heat, chemical breakdown, sludge and deposit formation. They also offer protection over a wider temperature range. |
|
More Benefits of AMSOIL Quality
AMSOIL synthetic motor oils have been reported to actually reduce engine oil temperatures by as much as 50ºF! AMSOIL synthetic motor oils have a high degree of lubricity or "slipperiness" that reduces friction and wear inside an engine. This increases engine performance, reduces emissions, and extends the engine's service life. AMSOIL synthetic oils utilize the world's finest base stocks and additives to provide a unique, unparalleled lubrication film. It is quite simply the best motor oil in the world.
More Benefits of AMSOIL Quality
How well does AMSOIL synthetic motor oil protect at high temperatures? This photo demonstrates that AMSOIL motor oils (as well as all AMSOIL lubricants) stay fluid and resist deposit formation. The thick, black sludge and residues characteristic of conventional oil are not present in AMSOIL. AMSOIL synthetic motor oils do not thicken, form deposits, or degrade like regular oils. AMSOIL retains a tough lubricating film that keeps engines clean, cool, and operating smoothly for maximum performance and service life.
Heat, Volatility, and AMSOIL Performance
|
A motor oil must remain stable at high temperatures to protect today’s hot-running gasoline and diesel engines. The more thermally stable the oil, the better fuel economy, engine cleanliness, and wear protection it provides. The NOACK Volatility Test is an industry-accepted method of determining an oil’s thermal stability. It does so by measuring an oil’s rate of evaporation (volatility) at high temperatures and pressures similar to those created in an engine. Below is a graph showing motor oils that were subjected to the NOACK Volatility Test. American Petroleum Institute standards require that an oil’s weight loss does not exceed 20%. No oils tested demonstrate greater stability than AMSOIL. In fact, most oils fail under the harsher specifications of the Association of European Automotive Manufacturers (ACEA), which accepts weight loss no greater than 15%. AMSOIL motor oils reduce oil consumption. increase fuel economy and provide unsurpassed engine protection. |