Quantum Leaps

[KARNUT]

I remember when 12-12 was the normal warranty period and 100K miles was the extreme goal. Now it's much more. I don't believe auto manufacturers goal is to just get you pass the warranty period that's just bad business. The adverage usable life of vehicles now is 200K miles with adverage mantiness. In a lot of cases you can go longer and repairs will still be under what adverage payments would be if your inclined.

[Grumpy Bear]

I remember when 12-12 was the normal warranty period and 100K miles was the extreme goal. Now it's much more. I don't believe auto manufacturers goal is to just get you pass the warranty period that's just bad business. The adverage usable life of vehicles now is 200K miles with adverage mantiness. In a lot of cases you can go longer and repairs will still be under what adverage payments would be if your inclined.

 

Opinions vary. That's why they are called opinions, right?

 

Here's what not a opinion. I know a fella (mechanical engineer) that works for BMW. Guess what his job is? Planned failure. (warranty evasion) I knew another fella, when I much younger, (electronics engineer) for Zenith. His job? Planned failure. Overload a circuit just enough to force a parts failure at a specific number of hours of operation. the year following the warranty expiration. He's dead now and so is Zenith.

 

My last job at Eastman Chemical (bought and sold like trading cards) was in R&D for coatings. Paint. Know what my job was? Planned failure aka product development. There are about twice as many fishermen in the pond as there are fish so if you customers are not buying repeatedly and frequently...you don't have a business. That was what my boss called 'bad business'. We cheapened products until they failed the walked them back just enough to finish the warranty.

 

The object of the game is to give the illusion of quality without actually delivering on that hope. There is little real R&D going on anymore. The kind that improves a product in a fundamental way. At least not without the bean counters approval and that's tough to get.

 

Mobil 1. Changes from a once market leading POA to a Hydrocracked-dewaxed desulfurized group III hydrocarbon stock after suing Castorl for the same practice. That sir is a MAJOR step backward. Tells no one and ups the price to improve margins. Nope...no one engages in this practice.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

[KARNUT]

 

Opinions vary. That's why they are called opinions, right?

 

Here's what not a opinion. I know a fella (mechanical engineer) that works for BMW. Guess what his job is? Planned failure. (warranty evasion) I knew another fella, when I much younger, (electronics engineer) for Zenith. His job? Planned failure. Overload a circuit just enough to force a parts failure at a specific number of hours of operation. the year following the warranty expiration. He's dead now and so is Zenith.

 

My last job at Eastman Chemical (bought and sold like trading cards) was in R&D for coatings. Paint. Know what my job was? Planned failure aka product development. There are about twice as many fishermen in the pond as there are fish so if you customers are not buying repeatedly and frequently...you don't have a business. That was what my boss called 'bad business'. We cheapened products until they failed the walked them back just enough to finish the warranty.

 

The object of the game is to give the illusion of quality without actually delivering on that hope. There is little real R&D going on anymore. The kind that improves a product in a fundamental way. At least not without the bean counters approval and that's tough to get.

 

Mobil 1. Changes from a once market leading POA to a Hydrocracked-dewaxed desulfurized group III hydrocarbon stock after suing Castorl for the same practice. That sir is a MAJOR step backward. Tells no one and ups the price to improve margins. Nope...no one engages in this practice.

I can see cost analysis verses longevity. But the American auto makers need to rethink their failure points if that the case. They've been losing market share to foreign auto makers for reliability and longevity since the eighties. It sure isn't because Honda and Toyota look better.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Grumpy Bear]

I can see cost analysis verses longevity. But the American auto makers need to rethink their failure points if that the case. They've been losing market share to foreign auto makers for reliability and longevity since the eighties. It sure isn't because Honda and Toyota look better.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well said. Honda. We've had three. 1998-2003-2006 and you can see and feel the decline in quality. The 98 was in my estimation the best all round car I have ever owned and the 06 the next to the worst. Truth of this is as you say. The 'walk back' from perfection to improve margin walked back to far. So...when JD Power says blah blah blah...it is in relative terms. Peoples memories are either to short or way to long. Solid construction has been replaced by gimmicks and glitz. I have a $20 shock on a $30K truck. What's that about? Wax as rustproofing. Really? Next thing you know they will Ritz dye trucks instead of painting them. It's about that thin now. LOL At least it wouldn't chip, right?

Edited July 8, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

I use to race. Drag race. I had a philosophy about racing. There was never ever anyone in the other lane. Ever! No one that mattered anyway. Not that I didn’t run with someone almost every pass. A bye run was run just like any other pass. If he isn’t there, he can’t get in your head. And as I see it, he has no bearing on what I need to get done. Run the quickest pass I can on the closest light I can manage. Even if you’re bracket racing you can’t be beaten if you run a perfect package. EVER. And…I never lost a race holding a tighter package than the other lane gave. NO one ever has. I never ever hit the brakes to clip a light and I never ever looked at the other car unless he wandered into my lane. I never sandbagged or padded a dial. I never ran a box and I never felt bad about losing a pass to a tighter package. That said I hate bracket racing and quit when it started. I ran stock class heads up racing the old fashion way. Dial was the national record for your class. Cars of the same class ran heads up on a 500 tree. My job wasn’t to beat the other guy. My job was to get closer to the record with every outing. The closer you get the more races you win. If he’s closer than you are or running under you are not going to win. Get over it and work harder. If you improve every week winning will take care of itself. It needs no help.

 

I drive like than now on the highway. That is, I drive my car and let others drive theirs. You want to drive like you have the Getty fortune, have at. I’d drive like driving Ms. Daisy even if I had J. Paul’s wealth. Performance means different things to different people.

 

About now you might be thinking, “He’s going to beat the mpg drum again”.

 

Round about. Think air conditioner. Laugh but these devices use to take tons of power to operate and now it’s hard to measure the power they consume via the MPG meter. Alternators use to grab a bunch too but smart regulators now keep loads to a minimum and extend battery life immensely. Multistage oil pumps vary oil volume and pressure to suit load and speed and again, limit loads the motor would otherwise carry. Old Kettering Ignitions, even the most powerful ones could fail to ignite 15% of the power strokes and you could not feel it. That’s the human threshold limit. A dropped cycle is almost unheard of now and plugs last 100K instead of 5 K.

 

Here’s the thing though. Manufactures driven by the Fed mandates for economy make huge strides in technology then drop the ball in the details. AFM paired with gas eating tires and frontal areas the size of a bank building in Manhattan. A sacrifice for a “look” that someone who can’t afford it clamors for.

 

Performance in my house isn’t measured with a stop watch anymore. It’s measured with the MPG meter and my personal comfort.

 

I love my climate control and my solar filmed glass.

Edited July 25, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

Gran Turismo, Wikipedia defines it as: A grand tourer (Italian: gran turismo) (GT) is a performance and luxury automobile capable of high speed and long-distance driving.

 

Hum, well…okay…so…trucks are out? I don’t think so. Neither do they have to be capable of high speed. Performance is difficult to define and luxury is a ‘what you like’ thing. Long distance…yea that can be covered on a bicycle. So what does it really mean.

 

Etymology of the words would suggest to “travel extensively” or “greatly, largely. That’s a few anyway and some I like allot. Now the question becomes ‘how’?

 

Personally, I’m not all that interested in quick. If I’m touring something like the Olympia Brewery or the Amana Colony’s assortment of dining establishments I don’t rush it. These things need to be lingered over to appreciate. Getting there quickly or at high speed is just as counterproductive.

 

A good paper map where I can get both a detailed view and a wide scope of focus to plan my trip off the beaten path and away the mundane. See something worth the look. One preferably through some delightful scenery that needs a measured pace to absorb. So, slow is good. Not that’s traveling large. That thing were you race to a place to eat and wolf your meal so you can be back by dark fighting heartburn is the reason we now have Omeprazole.

 

Luxury. What might it mean? Comfort! I don’t want to be distracted by a harsh ride or a vehicle that is a handful to drive. Noise is a minus. Those things wear you out, not refresh you. I want to drive with the windows down so I can enjoy the air and scent’s such as fresh cut alfalfa and the sounds of Red Winged Blackbirds. On cooler/hotter days or in foul weather a quite cabin would be nice with some climate control that works nicely if I so happen to get caught unaware. A seat that is comfortable and enough space for me and puppy, the wife and some overnighter or week long baggage. Nothing there demands wood and leather or a symphony capable sound system. Fact is they become distractions. I’m listening to the birds and taking in the sights, remember? Don’t need to be watching that the dog isn’t chewing the leather.

 

Performance and long distance almost define each other. Reliable and efficient and engaging drive trains do this nicely. I want to feel connected to the vehicle and safe but not jailed by it which can happen with either extreme of the possible.

 

A well sorted Silverado 1500 2wd RCSB Chevy Pickup. The WT1 trim level and a fine assortment of State road maps. The nice ones available at Interstate rest areas. My wife. My pup. Looking forward to a great meal or some fine sights. A visit with old friends or family. A comfortable drive through some pretty country.

 

Now that’s Grand Touring.

 

 

[Grumpy Bear]

The English language is going the way of the Roman Empire. Into extinction. Like the Greeks before them. The Persians before them and the Chaldeans and Egyptians before them…..I expect for the same reasons. A total breakdown in morality. It’s a pattern repeated over and over and one where humanity never seems to get the lesson.

 

Language it isn’t dying of syphilis but rather the likeness is in the corruption of law and order, the loss of moral value that brought the Roman Empire to ruin. No one lost their way and forgot the proper use of its own members. It’s chosen word by word. A false testimony given for favors. Change the meaning of a word here and there to provide a favorable ruling.

 

We’ve come to the point where simply denying a thing makes it true and confirming supplies truth in absence of evidence and even against such evidence where it exist. We just need a consensus. If the opinion we hold is dear enough, not even that is required. We just shout louder than the rest to make a lie true.

 

Self-delusional mental masturbation abounds. It has become the normal and no longer done in a dark corner of a bar or behind the barn. We air it in full light of day on the message boards. All of them if you hang out awhile. It doesn’t matter which one.

 

It starts innocent enough. A request for ‘what you like best’ like regular cab or quad. Perhaps some insight into your personal habits like the frequency of an oil change or your favorite driving speed. No one asked why yet….

 

We feel compelled to corrupt the initiators information gathering process with a personal agenda. Assert our________________. Belief? Opinion? WAG? As truth? And for what reason? Will it change anything except the state of excitement in the participants?

 

Bringing the truth to a topic is much like tossing a lamb into a den of wolves. They are not hungry for truth just the taste of flesh.

 

If it were a matter of searching for truth it would progress orderly point by point. Subject to reason and proof of evidence. If it were a simple matter of statement each would post a single post so stating their thoughts. A follow up perhaps for clarification.

 

Not what happens. We insist in pointing out the error of our brother. In his thought. In his assumptions. In his grammar. In his spelling. Attitudes. Then counter with an equally flawed view and slight some mud.

 

Here’s the part that is delusional. We state…”I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything”. Or “I’m just trying to understand the platform your speaking from”?

 

If you are asked to choose between ‘red’ and ‘blue’ and offer a single word past those you are absolutely trying to promote, convince and advance your thought. But…we can assert we are not and change the truth into a lie with nothing more than our statement of will. Corruption.

 

Me? I’m ALWAYS trying to convince someone. Sometimes just myself.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

[CadillacLuke24]

Boy howdy your last post is on display these days more than ever.

 

In reference to Grand Touring, you may enjoy my latest "project" on the truck.

[Grumpy Bear]

Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Vasco de Gama, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Hernando Cortes, John Cabot and Samuel de Champlain. Now these boys could sail ships. I wonder how far they would have gotten if they had ignored weather and currents? If they had no destination in mind. I’ve heard it said that no wind is a fair wind for a ship without a harbor.

 

In 1534 the Portuguese set the Sao Joao Baptista afloat. A four mass Galleon of 1,000 tons that sailed on wind power.

 

Once the world powered seas with something other than the wind they ignored it entirely. The wind that is. As we do when we drive and kids it is a mistake to do so. You can’t sail without taking note of wind nor fly a biplane so why would you drive ignoring weather and current.

 

As good as drag coefficients are on today’s trucks they suffer huge frontal areas. The motor has no clue if the power it needs to generate overcoming wind drag is the truck moving through air or air moving over the truck. In short it takes the same power to overcome wind resistance of a truck doing 60 mph on a windless day as it does a truck doing 50 mph into a 10 mph head wind.

 

Nearly every Interstate made runs next to the road it replaced. There are times it makes good fuel efficiency sense to run the state road at a lower speed into a headwind than to buck the headwind on the Interstate at a higher speed. Then again sometimes it doesn’t; like when that parallel road runs through a major city. That would be an example of ‘currents, traffic and the lay of the road. As would be choosing a county road from one place to another instead of the state highway because it runs though ‘water tower’ towns without stop lights at higher average township speed limits.

 

If you’ve seen the sights before a night drive on the Interstate at a lower speed is in most cases the most efficient use of your fuel. Such as the hours between 10 pm and 5 am. Winds are normally calmer during those hours as well. Avoid large city rush hour parking lots. Go around or pick a different time. Plan your drive don’t force it.

 

Speaking of winds, use them to your advantage. Winds from your 4 to your 7 in the direction your planning…there’s a plus. Got a ‘smart phone’? Use it to keep track of wind speed and direction. Road construction. Accidents. Weather hazards.

 

I drive a solid 5-15 mph slower (road dependent) than most and yet average net speeds based on miles divided by engine hours over double the average with fuel efficiency 30% plus better than average.

 

Good fuel efficiency isn’t driving like a geezer. It’s driving like Einstein.

Edited September 9, 2017 by Grumpy Bear

[Grumpy Bear]

Ever eat boiled Okra? Raw Oysters on the half shell? Two best examples I can think of that demonstrate ‘slickness’ and neither would make a good engine lubricant.

 

There is a fairly common belief that oils slipperiness comes from its thickness and that thickness is the same thing as its viscosity and they have something to do with film strength.

 

Thickness means exactly what it says. How thick is the layer of oil. You can fill a fixed space between two plates of glass with water or peanut butter and get the same thickness. Give 70 weight enough time on an incline and it will get microns thick.

 

Viscosity is a liquids resistance to flow. Pretty simple. The correlation between thickness and viscosity is dynamic and loose and neither have much to do with slipperiness except that between ‘like’ fluids they tend to be somewhat proportional. The catch word there is ‘like’. Naphtha and Paraffin and not ‘like’ nor is Mineral ‘like’ Ester. Water is not ‘like’ oil. Even mon-esters differ from polyol’s or di-esters. And then there is film strength and there is much ‘to-do’ about those words.

 

Film strength is not the only job oil has. It has three. Cooling. Cleaning and Protecting. Wear test rigs abound and as far as I can tell all are equally useless except one. The motor powering the vehicle you’re personally driving. Seriously. A rig that turns a race against a fix roller in a submersion bath and measuring a wear scars width, length and depth tells me what exactly that is relevant to the motor powering my truck? Which part of that motor operates like this? Even if you found one would it be under that much load?

 

These test rigs do not answer the two most basic questions to be asked; how much ‘relevant load’ and, much more importantly, at what temperature. Even if those conditions could be repeated in your motor under what conditions would that happen that would not spell the end of your motors usefulness anyway? It’s a point of reference problem.

 

Example of such a problem is NOACK volatility tests which measures the evaporative losses in percent weight of a sample of oil held at 250 C (482 F) for one hour. The question then is…under what day in, day out normal operating conditions does any part of your oil system see temperatures in this range? The answer is nowhere so why does it matter?

 

There is a law called the “law of partial pressures”. In short it’s the reason cloths dry on the line without being at 212 F. The boiling point is not the evaporative temperature. You don’t have to raise the oils temperature to 212 F to drive off the minute traces of combustion water and you’re never going to see the conditions a wear test rig in a motor that lives more than a few minutes anyway.

 

So…why worry about conditions that are not representative of your motors operating range? I mean if you replicate the conditions of a wear test rig or a NOAC test your motor is toast anyway.

 

How about I worry about something relevant instead. What would that be?

 

Next time…..

[Grumpy Bear]

So…what matters? What matters are conditions that are representative of your habits and equipment. And that kids only matters if you care. Was that too simple?

 

If you live in Arizona, own an oil well, a bank, trade every other year, drive it like you stole it and could care less about what the next guy gets from your beat to death under serviced left overs; that’s a different set of conditions than, a retired guy in Iowa living on Social Security wringing every penny from a dollar leaving the truck to his granddaughter.

 

If you’re in group two you also have to care enough to investigate, test and weed out the snake oil from the black gold. Read past the marketing hype and be deaf to the culling wisdoms of ignorance.

 

For example I know in the future there is going to be a need to replace tires. I started looking for that set a week after I bought the truck with few miles on the set it was wearing. My first look went to the set that came with the truck. So I read ‘customer reviews’ on Tire Rack and other suppliers. Combed threads on truck sites and concluded that the majority opinion was, they are junk and wouldn’t last 25 K, were lousy in the rain, noisy and wouldn’t grip glue. It was thousands of reviews. I could have listened to that but something caught my eye.

 

About a dozen owners loved the tire whose mileage exceeded 70K miles. I asked myself; what’s the difference between guys that get 70K out of a set and guys who can’t get 25 K. And the answer is?.....

 

Driving habits and equipment conditions. That is, of course if they are honest and not just bashing. Hum…well…let’s see what I can get from a set.

 

From day one I rotate every 5K. Check pressures weekly and more often when we have drastic temperature changes. I had the alignment adjusted to my specs within factory limits and common sense experience. Not just “in spec”. I drive it moderately by all definition of the word. No late braking. Not jack rabbiting. No excessive speed or load and yet not a snail either. I monitor tire temperatures and measure tread depths and keep a log making correlations for that data that helps me modify procedure and habits. I tested claims for noise and wet, dry and snow traction. That too much work? ($$$$$$$). Seems I’ll get 3X more miles than average or save $1200 dollars in parts plus mounting, balance and disposal. How many hours do you have to work to clear say $2000?

 

I don’t throw away things that work perfectly but many other’s do.

 

How about oil? Choice is one third the battle. Service is another third. What’s the last third? You can’t make up your mind about the first and second until you give long and hard consideration to your…Driving habits and equipment conditions. Tell me you saw that coming.

[Grumpy Bear]

The joke goes, one in three people in this room are nuts, so look to your right and look to your left and if they seem fine…it’s you.

 

Of course everyone looks and yet no one thinks themselves nutty no matter what the others appear to be. You could substitute wrong for nutty and get the same result. No one thinks themselves wrong about _____________, you fill in the blank. Perhaps it’s just human nature to need to be right. And I mean NEED to be right. Like it was a calling. Wish to be worshiped daily? I believe that is call narcissism. Of course always being wrong is another issue. Myself I don’t mind being wrong. I mind being willfully embarrassed by another for my ignorance for their amusement or prideful narcissistic needs. But there is this fact which is unavoidably true, if you’re always right then you have nothing to learn. Learning each day winds my watch.

 

Saying “studies prove’, for example, proves nothing. Unfounded and/or offered in absences they are the absolute definition of ‘blind faith’ and faith is anything but blind, it is assured by evident demonstration. Don’t take my word for it. Read Paul’s words at Hebrews 11:1. Then read the chapter for examples. It’s an interesting read even if you’re not a big Bible reader.

 

Imagine in a murder trial the prosecution saying, “We have the smoking gun!” and never producing it or the ballistics or the finger prints on it and getting a jury to believe just anyone they choose to point a finger at is guilty on proof offered in absence. Yea, take my word for it. Sure.

 

For reasonable rational people tangible proofs that give evident demonstration not only give people reason for having faith a thing is true it actually convinces them by such proofs. Sort of the definition of rational and what the Greeks had in mind what it was like to be reasonable.

 

That said if you have a belief in something to be true and are offered proofs, given evident demonstration that is convincing enough to alter your belief there is one more hurdle to clear. Your pride. That requires humility, by the bucket load. Being convinced, even in the mildest manor, is a bit uncomfortable as you realize your…wrong…and everyone who witnessed it knows it. However it is a bit less so IF the one offering the proofs isn’t rubbing it in for their amusement. Learning really is a two way street if it is to be effective and humane.

 

If I break in six motors with a certain method and have good, no great success with that method that might be worth sharing. But here’s the thing. My saying so isn’t convincing proof nor evident demonstration that will convince anyone not inclined to be convinced. In fact the only person that can be absolutely convinced of that method is me. I’m the only witness to it.

 

IF you run that down the rabbit hole then nothing is convincing proof of anything that isn’t personally witnessed by those wishing to be convinced.

Then how did we become so self-assured that our personal beliefs are so infallible?

 

Romans 1:20 gives a clue of what should convince. (New Living translation)

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God”.

 

And yet, people do all the time; seem to find excuse for disbelief it what is proven with certainty.

 

This is why I excuse myself from such unreasonable or irrational discussions. No one gets convinced of anything except the nature of the participants. Perhaps someday I will perfect closing those doors sooner.

[Grumpy Bear]

Let’s talk hydrocarbon chemisty. Oil and fuel. I’ll do a series of consecutive post. This is:

 

#1

 

I”ve been bootstrapping this truck from the first minute I got my hands on it. I kid you not, I knew less than zero about the Silverado. I’ve owned a few Chevy’s but not a truck and not recently enough. I actually skipped the entire LS chapter of GM. That said there are things that do not change. First amoug that list is the ever present line of…hum…can’t seem to think of a term that isn’t vulgar. Okay, call it what it is…crap.

 

Marketing has done a fair job at keeping people in the dark and misdirected and ill educated about their paticular product. My favorite subject along those lines is hydrocarbon chemistry. Good ol motor oil and fuels. The never ending nonstop drivel over what IT is or isn’t. The fighting over terms that are simple enough a fifthgrader could handle it.

 

Motor oil is a ‘cut’ of the barrel. That cut is inclusive of molecules containing between 18 and 32 carbon atoms. Lubricating oils in general cover 13 to 50 carbon atoms. For reference gasoline covers 3 to 12 carbon atoms. Diesel 7 to 24 carbon atoms. In that barrel are also Aviation fuels such as JP-4. Then there is heating oil, asphalt, wax, pitch, kerosen and so forth. Lots of overlap.

 

It also contains whatever it leached out of the ground such as heavy metals. Sulfur water, mud and lord knows what else. Every barrel of oil is unique even from the same well on the same day in the proportion of how much of what carbon chains are present and how much contamination was pumped up with it. There are allot of steps between the well and the can or pump that have nothing to do with marketing and the world to do with cleaning and seperating the fractions. Some of those are leathal. Some are carcinogenic. Disloved gases such as hydrongen sulfide and Benzen ring componets. For every carbon hydrogen combination there are coutless variations of bonds thus carbon/hydrogen ratios. Branching and shapes are numerious. Everyone of them has a impact on what the products properties are.

 

Light and heavy straight run gasoline, JP-4, kerosen and diesel are first cut products. Meaning they are natuarlly occuring in every barrel of oil. It’s were refiners make their money. Fact is JP-4 and gasoline cover almost the same carbon range. So what’s the difference? JP-4 has a higher end point meaning it covers further down the carbon change range. Second, purity and selection. Lastly how they are finished. Additive packages for example.

 

Every producer of motor oil who owns a well and a refinery has the same BULK range of carbon atoms. They vary in ratios of the various combinatinos. That is besides what is naturally occuring some take extra care in the cleanlyness of the cut and perhaps the tightness as well. Every viscosity of oil comes from the same 18 to 32 carbon atom cut. Use your noggin here. This ‘cut’ can be sliced numerious ways. Obviously 5 weight leans toward the 18 carbon atom end and Nitro 70 the 32 or heavier carbon atom side of the range.

 

The viscosity INDEX or how much the viscosity proper changes with heat is directly controled in the bulk phase by the exact compisition of the cut.

 

More to come.

[Grumpy Bear]

#2

 

At one time there were dozens of oil companies each with its own technology. Not so much anymore. Tis why Castrol buys from Exxon/Mobil for example. The tech Getty used is still around. It’s just been absorbed by a larger fish. Interesting read. Wiki Getty Oil and get some popcorn.

 

Point is, tech is pretty much well known and dismally the same these days. What separates one from another is marketing and who can tell the largest lie and prove it isn’t in court. Paraffinic and Naphtha based mineral oils for the most part separated by exact carbon composition and additive concentration and/or selection. For example the acid neutralizers used can be calcium or magnesium based. Yep, Tums or Rolaids. A marketers job is to convince you there is something special about their selection or concentration. There isn’t. Half these companies don’t have refining capacity and barely have blending capabilities. What was sold this week isn’t what is sold next week in terms of absolutes. Only in terms of generalities. Consider this. Even if an oil company has ten refineries they were likely not build by them or to their design. They were acquired. Not in the same time period nor engineered to do the same functions.

 

A refinery for example that was built in the 20’s to handle Pennsylvania sweet high paraffin crude is moved to Texas and now/was running west Texas Sour Naphtha crude. To get more from a barrel of oil the heavy ends of the barrel are ‘cracked’ by various methods to make shorter more useful chains from larger ones.

 

Hydrocrackers, Cokers, Isomax to name a few. I ran an Esso Model IV FCC. Fluid cat cracker to capture second cut straight run gasolines, diesel and kerosene. But this sort of thing is not limited to the heavy end of the barrel. For example I also ran a Isomerization Unit that rearranges Butane into Isobutane a component in Avgas to improve knock numbers. Point is, what isn’t in the barrel in sufficient quantity to be profitable or viable is engineered around by chemistry.

 

After lead was rejected as a knock additive Rheniformer and Platformers were designed to chemically fabricate more complex molecules within the gasoline range to replace lead. TEL was cheap. Running a Platformer is not. Gas went up. Added steps, added cost past to consumers. Then came Ethanol. Much cheaper than a Platformer. You getting the idea yet?

 

Group 1 are solvent refined. Like extracting vanilla with alcohols. Group 2 oils are hydro treated. Group 3 oils are hydrocracked. This link is a good read:

 

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/28960/mineral-oil-refining

 

Group 4 oils are POA’s or polyalphaolefin and are called ‘synthetics’. Mobil 1 use to be of this class. But what is it really? According to ExxonMobil they are:

 

Hydrogen saturated olefin polymers by the catalytic oligomerization of linear alphaolefins that have been dewaxed and chemically manufactured to a predetermined chain length.

 

Okay so what is a olefin? Olefin, also called alkene, compound made up of hydrogen and carbon that contains one or more pairs of carbon atoms linked by a double bond. Olefins are examples of unsaturated hydrocarbons (compounds that contain only hydrogen and carbon and at least one double or triple bond). (Source Britannica).

 

So…highly refined and selected mineral oil molecules that are fully saturated, that is to say all carbons bonds filled. Dino juice gone rouge. They get to call it a synthetic because it is made by processes that alter the bond structure. Thing is these are naturally occurring as well just not in sufficient quantity to be chimerically viable.

 

An FCC does this crudely to gasoline but you don’t hear it called synthetic gasoline. It’s still Dino Juice.

 

Propane = alkane = C3H8 all single bonds.

Propene = alkene = C3H6. Some single and one double bond.

Propyne = alkyne = C3H4 = at least one triple bond.

 

Thing is they contain nothing but carbon and hydrogen. A C4 POA is turning C3H6 into C3H8.

[Grumpy Bear]

#3

 

I left the question dangling in air at the end of post #2. Is a POA a synthetic? Didn’t ask it but implied that it is a …..Oh you thought I would take a stand on that? Maybe later.

 

What I did point out is that in basic mineral oil, aka crude oil, all possible combinations exist. Problem for the refiner was/is; perhaps not in sufficient quantity to produce the desired effect the engineer is looking for so…he takes some material and via the refining processes subjects it to heat, pressure, hydrogen and catalyst to make more of something he needs from something else he has an excess of.

 

While there is in fact an advantage to this sort of thing nothing ‘new’ has been manufactured. I don’t use the word created because God is the creator…humans manipulate those creations. That said it is possible for humans to make a molecule from one element or combination of elements to create unique molecular structure not present in nature but whose possibilities lies in the creators basic design. That is to say, no natural laws have been violated in doing so. Even some elements are manmade.

 

So that settled let’s look back on POA’s. They are Dino Juice whose range of carbon chains and their particular arrangements have been narrowed to a selection that produces some predetermined and desired effects. Such as enhanced thermal stability or a higher natural viscosity index that allows for lower concentrations of VI improvers or pour suppressants. It’s a good thing. It’s like going through a box of graham crackers and sorting out the broken ones for the whole to make perfect s’mores. The finding a process to put the broken pieces back together to make even more. As perfect as that may be, they are still graham crackers.

 

There is another group of lubricants. Group 5. Many there are but the ones I personally find useful are polyol esters and not just any old polyol but Neopentyl alcohol based esters. Instead of rewriting the written I’m going to provide a link you may or may not have seen and let you read it from the horse’s mouth. Concentrate on the sections Ester Chemistries and Polyol Esters.

 

https://bobistheoilguy.com/esters-in-synthetic-lubricants/

 

Notice anything different? Molecules not found in nature custom designed to produce specific desired effects and by nature having a few natures juice is lacking. Castor oil is a naturally occurring diester but neopentyl polyol esters (POE) are hindered esters formed from mono basic acids (plant or animal) and a or group of SYNTHETIC polyfunctional alcohols. Not naturally occurring.

So which one in your mind is a definition of a synthetic hydrocarbon? POA’s or POE’s? Perhaps hydro treated paraffin’s? See how silly that is?

 

A POA is literally a ‘dumbbell’ molecule. One end is the processed (POA) high viscosity component and the other hopefully is an alkylated naphthalene. Dewaxed and desulfurized.

 

What is alkylation? A processes used to convert low-molecular-weight alkenes into alkylate. Basically reconfigures the molecule into a more useful shape.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Grumpy Bear