Thread: Disco 2 diesel

Originally Posted by Nomad9

Hi Gents,
Attached an article, have a read of that. I rest my case

Cheers Marty.

Seriously ?

FWIW I can add bleach to any oil and it'll beat any normal oil in a Falex test, but what would that prove ?
It's a little like Amsoil always touting the 3 ball test in their engine oil test results, but it's only really applicable to gear oils or grease.

The Falex test is pretty inconsequential when it comes to engine oils, it's more suited to gear oils, and you can additise the oil to get impressive results in a Falex test but still not have great engine wear characteristics.
Actual wear metal numbers in use are much more meaningful, and that can only be seen over mutiple tests and guaging the trend.

In fact the best Falex test results I've ever seen were a race oil I used back in the early nineties.
It was marked back then as a 0W-5, but in reality would be around today's light 0W-20 engine oils.

HP and torque results were impressive, but bore wear was horrific......
That companies 10W-30 was an impressive race oil and gave much better in use wear protection (it was used worldwide at the time in many Cosworth BDA's, BDD's, DFV's, etc) but had lower Falex test results, and their 15W-50 had lower Falex test results again.

Oils ain't oils. ;-)

Hi Will,
It works for you and that's all that matters. I have had great success with RP, however with Land Rovers potential to incessantly leak a small amount of oil using a full synthetic like RP, this brings out the worst in the oil leaks and this proves to be a full time quest for me to try and keep the oil in the places it is supposed to be.
Please, I don't see this as ignorance, nothing to excuse, you don't know what you don't know........... same as myself. You might find the article interesting to read.

Cheers Marty.

Hi Rick,
Stirred some interest. I new someone would come back discrediting the testing method, no it isn't the best test method I agree, however it is something that starts the comparison off. The Falex test does give a gauge on film strength, do you agree there?Yes, I work for a large multi-national oil company and now I have ten years worth of experience testing RP ( I use the term "testing" loosely, you can't really afford to test in turbo gear, sounds like you would know that. ) in the larger turbo machinery ( 7 and 8 meg) all with very favourable results in comparison to the standard mineral oil used before. Yes they have large gearboxes in the drive train. No I didn't add bleach to the mineral oil to justify changing the oil, interesting concept though..........

A couple of engines I have stripped for issues not related to lubrication and have had RP in them they have been in mint condition, that can't all be luck, surely

So for me "seriously" ..............yes.

Cheers Marty.

Hi Marty and yep, the Falex test is all about film strength, it's an EP test.
Like you I hate the term 'best', it's always 'best compromise' for a given situation.

I'm not discrediting your results with RP, I'm sure it's a very good oil overall, and the tribologist I've used for years for analysis and recommendations has said in the past that their founder is one very smart cookie, he developed his own EP additive packages for gear oils.

A few months back I had a specific application that was a bit tricky in terms of FM package and so employed my consultant for recommendations. He's an independent tester who has done work for the big multinationals and has access to some heavy hitters in the US.
Interestingly his prime recommendation was a full mineral oil from a smaller US company who also make exceptional oils and also use their own EP additive packages. Their full mineral oils outperform most all full syns in gear and diff use, particularly in terms of wear, so there are some really exceptional, non mainstream oils available.