You see after-market engine oil additives on the shelves that promise performance enhancements. It sounds great - wear protection, cleaner engines, rust inhibitors. Should you use them? Should you use engine oil additives? The short answer - no. When a blender formulates your engine oil they have already carefully selected additives that work together. Adding an unknown additive to an existing engine oil can cause a reaction with the chemistry…

Looking for the right lubricant? Your owner's manual tells you what lubricant you need. But it can be time consuming and confusing to go through those tables. They list many different products, specifications, and viscosity requirements over several temperature ranges. This makes it tough to determine what you need for your equipment. Another solution? Call your oil supplier.   Calling your oil supplier When calling a supplier and asking for…

    The lubricant market is filled with supply shortages and pricing increases. Despite this pressure it's important to remain aware of which oil you are purchasing. Oil specs play a huge role in performance. We've all heard it - if a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Our customers have been seeing vendors moving old stock for great deals. These deals may seem appealing due…

  Cavitation is defined as a phenomenon in which the static pressure of a liquid reduces to below the liquid's vapour pressure, leading to the formation of small vapor-filled cavities in the liquid.   Okay, but what does cavitation actually mean? How does it damage your engine? Engine vibration can cause the formation of tiny bubbles in coolant outside the wall of the cylinder liner. These bubbles implode against the…

  Industry jargon is commonly misinterpreted.  It feels like you need a reference card to keep track of all the abbreviations. When dealing with lubricants it's important to clarify the meaning instead of just assuming. A good example of this is 15W40 or any multigrade engine oil. It's commonly assumed that the W stands for weight - it actually means winter. Multigrade engine oils (both gasoline and diesel) are identified…