What are the differences in base oil groups?

All lubricants consist of a base oil. Normally, lubricants consist of 90% base oil and 10% additives. The American Petroleum Institute’s (API) has categorized base oils into five groups which are specified by the saturate level, sulfur level, and viscosity index. 
Saturate Level

Saturates are a type of molecule commonly found in base oil. They are naturally present in base oil but during the refining process higher levels of saturates are obtained. If the level of saturates is higher, the molecular bond of the oil is stronger. This will increase the resistance to breakdown and oxidation or the loss of viscosity.

Sulfur Level
Sulfur is a natural inorganic element occurring in crude oil. Because it reacts with oxygen it can be harmful to the performance of oil. It can also be damaging to exhaust after treatment devices. Besides these negative aspects of sulfur there are also some positive aspects. Sulfur can be an effective antioxidant which improves the oxidative stability. When the content of sulphur is lower, the purity is better which decreases the probability of corrosion and oxidation.

Viscosity Index 
The Viscosity Index refers to the changes in viscosity compared to the temperature of the oil. The viscosity is measured at 40 °C and 100 °C. When the viscosity index is high, the changes are smaller with differences in temperature. All oils increase in viscosity when the temperature decreases and decrease in viscosity when temperatures increase.

Group I, II, and III are derived from crude oil (mineral oil), Group IV is a fully synthetic oil, and Group V is for all base oils that are not included in one of the other groups.

Group I
Group I oils are solvent-refined, which is a simpler refining process, making them the least refined and therefore also the cheapest base oils available. Solvent-refined oils consist commonly of a mix of different hydrocarbon molecules which cannot be distinguished in the refining process. This results in an oil with irregular molecules causing increased friction within the oil. Group I oils are therefore used most often in less demanding applications.

Group II
Group II base oils undergo hydrocracking which is a more complicated process than the process for Group I oils.  Hydrocracking is a process that breaks down large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller ones. The hydrocarbon molecules of these oils are saturated, giving them better antioxidation properties. Group II oils are priced closely to Group I oils.

Group III
Group III oils undergo an even longer process than Group II oils. The process, called severe hydrocracking, is also more intense. More pressure and heat is applied during the refinery process. This results in a purer base oil with a higher quality. Even though Group III oils are derived from crude oil, they are sometimes described as synthesized hydrocarbons.

Group IV
Group IV base oils are polyalphaolefins. These are not extracted but made from small uniform molecules. This is also the biggest advantage of PAOs because they can be completely tailored to have a structure with predictable properties. They are very suitable for use in extreme cold or extreme hot conditions.

Group V
Group V oils consist of any type of base oil other than mentioned in the previously defined groups. If it is a synthetic oil and it is not PAO it is a group V base oil. They include, among others, of naphthenic oils and esters. Usually Group V oils are not used as a base oil but as an additive to other base oils. 

Apa itu Ester? (Edisi Bahasa Melayu)

ESTER? Ape itu ESTER? Ester adalah hasil tindak balas acids & alcohol. Ester SANGAT STABIL pada suhu yang sangat tinggi dan sebab itu ester digunakan secara meluas dalam minyak enjin jet dan kereta formula 1(F1)!

Kenape perlu ESTER dalam minyak enjin?? 
Sifat molekul ESTER sentiasa TERTARIK kepada permukaan metal yang bercas positif. Oleh sebab itu, molekul tersebut tersusun dan melekat di permukaan logam di bahagian-bahagian dalam enjin dan menghasilkan lapisan perlindungan nipis untuk mencegahkan gesaran masa permulaan enjin, jadi pagi-pagi, kereta anda akan SENANG UNTUK START dan enjin akan LAGI LANCAR walaupun dalam keadaan suhu yang tinggi atau pun rendah! Kekurangan terjadinya gesekan, juga meningkatkan tenaga dan enjin lebih dingin, bahkan lagi senyap. Selain daripada itu, Ester adalah detergen semula jadi yang kuat untuk membersihkan endapan karbon pada enjin.

Synthetic vs Regular Oil

Synthetic vs regular oil - which is better? Without trying to put an end to a discussion that has no end, let’s look at a few facts. The oil we put in our engines serves multiple purposes. It coats the metal parts inside and allows them to run on a thin layer of lubrication thereby reducing friction and wear. It also works as an additional coolant, neutralizes acids, captures and transports combustion by-product particles to the oil filter, and employs solvents to keep the engine clean. Motor enthusiasts love to debate the merits of one oil over another and when someone brings up the “synthetic vs regular oil” issue, the conversation is off to the races with “experts” pressing advantages and disadvantages with knowing passion. The reality is, there are degrees of “rightness” and “wrongness” depending on what you’re driving and how you’re driving it. The oil you use in your family car (even if you've tuned it up to breath a little life into that grocery store run) isn’t going to be the same oil that goes into a racing engine. In order to choose the right oil, it helps to understand some of the key differences between synthetic and regular.

"Regular oils" are mineral-based products refined from crude oil taken from the ground. Over the past 20 years these lubricants have been refined even further, particularly in the area of viscosity enhancers. This means modern oils flow better over a range of temperatures. This, in combination with engines that sport tighter clearances and better machining, allow for the use of thin oils that both reduce friction and improve fuel efficiency. For instance, in the world of racing, very few teams are going to be using motor oil with single rated viscosity. Racers not only want efficient operation and greater power, they want the best lubrication of engine parts as quickly as possible. (Start-ups deliver high engine wear, so you want an oil that gets to work quickly.)

"Synthetic oils", which have been around since the 1970s, have the same natural ingredients as "regular oils" but they are distilled in a chemical plant where the concept of refining goes techno-geek. Try wrapping your head around the concept of “synthesized-hydrocarbon molecular chains” and base fluids including “polyalphaolefin, synthetic esters, and alkylated aromatics.” What the heck do all these terms mean? In plain english, they are the engineered basis for the synthetic oil qualities listed below.

Synthetic oils:

are all season and have multi-viscosity properties, some flowing as much as seven times faster than regular oil.can stand extremes of engine temperature (some above 400°F) more efficiently.can boost horsepower more effectively than thinner regular oils.can be used for as much as 10,000 miles before requiring an oil change.contain fewer contaminants like sulfur, wax, and other elements that contribute to sludge build-up.

Of course, synthetic oils are more expensive and there are some things they don’t do, including:

eliminate the need for oil changes.or eliminate engine wear.

The major advantage of synthetic oils is superior lubrication that significantly reduces engine wear over the long term.

For regular drivers and performance car enthusiasts, there’s a place for both types of oil. Conventional wisdom suggests that you should use “regular” oil while breaking in an engine. At this phase of an engine’s life, you want some wear to make sure all the components get properly smoothed down. (On the other hand, there are plenty of performance cars that come from the factory using synthetic oil.) Depending on who you ask, this breaking-in period can be as short as 500 or as long as 5,000 miles. At whatever point you choose, the switch from regular oil to synthetic oil is intended to then slow engine wear down as much as possible. (And you don’t want to mix regular and synthetic as that’s a great recipe for sludge.) At the racing level, of course, a team is going to test various oils, determine what horsepower gain is returned, gauge the viscosity and temperature tolerances, and in short, make a science out of oil choice versus engine benefit.

As you can see, there are virtues to both types of engine oil. Anything you put in your engine or any modification you make to your vehicle, whether it's a racer or the family car, has to be looked at in terms of the goal you're seeking to achieve. Without question, the chemical composition of synthetic oils have a quality and uniformity at the molecular level that just isn't found in conventional, "regular" oils. Synthetic oils will continue to be fine-tuned in the laboratory to give even higher levels of performance and benefit. As we ask more of our engines, not only in terms of output but in the areas of clean and efficient operation, no one can afford to rule out synthetic oils as a viable option, on or off the track. Like everything about automobiles, lubrication techniques are evolving rapidly and the days of indiscriminately telling the guy at the gas station to "just add a quart" are definitely over.

Is Engine Oil Dark Equal to Dirty?

Engine oil myth : When engine oil turns dark, it's dirty and should be changed.

If you'red conscientious about keeping your car in good running order, you probably worry from time to time that your oil has gotten dirty and is causing sludge to build up in the engine. So you pull the dipstick out and checkk the colour of the oil at the tip. Chances are, it's starting to turn dark, no longer the light amber colour that you saw on the stick when the lubricant was fresh. So now it's too dirty to use, right? It's depositing sludge in your engine and needs to be changed.

Wrong. In fact, just the opposite is true. If you're using a detergent engine oil (and most modern engine oils have detergent additives), the oil is working just the way it;s supposed to, dispersing the tinu particles that can result in engine sludge and holding them in suspension in the oil itself so that they can't build up. That's why the oil appears darker, but this in no way inpedes the oil from performing its normal functions of lubricating and protecting the metal surfaces inside the engine.

Of course, the oil is limited in how many of these suspended particles it can contain and will eventually need to be changed when it becomes saturated, but use the oil change interval recommended by your car's manufacturer to decide when to change the oil, not the colour of the oil on the stick.

Credit to Habot

Major Advantages of Common Types of Synthetic Base Oils

Major advantages of common types of synthetic base oils(PAOs (polyalphaolefins), PAGs (polyalkaline glycol), diester and polyol ester.)

Chemlube use Di-ester.

Polyalphaolefins (PAOs)
PAOs, often called synthetic hydrocarbons, are probably the most common type of synthetic base oil used today. They are moderately priced, provide excellent performance and have few negative attributes.
PAO base oil is actually similar to mineral oil. The advantage comes from the fact that it is built, rather than extracted and modified, making it more pure. Practically all of the oil molecules are the same shape and size and are completely saturated.

The potential benefits of PAOs are improved oxidative and thermal stability, excellent demulsibility and hydrolytic stability, a high VI, and very low pour point. Most of the properties make PAOs a good selection for temperature extremes – both high operating temperatures and low start-up temperatures. In my opinion, those are the conditions that favor PAO selection. Typical applications for PAOs are engine oils, gear oils and compressor oils.

The negative attributes of PAOs are the price and poor solubility. The low inherent solubility of PAOs creates problems for formulators when it comes to dissolving additives. Likewise, PAOs cannot suspend potential varnish-forming degradation by-products, although they are less prone to create such material.
For the most part, this issue of solubility can be addressed through the addition of other base oils such as diester. The cost issue is really about whether or not you actually get value by utilizing the performance.

Polyalkaline glycols (PAGs or PGs)
PAG base oils have several unique properties that allow them to work very well in certain applications. In general, they have excellent oxidative and thermal stability, very high VI, excellent film strength and an extremely low tendency to leave deposits on machine surfaces. The low deposit-forming tendency is really due to two properties – the oil’s ability to dissolve deposits and the fact that the oil burns clean. So when they are exposed to a very hot surface or subjected to micro-dieseling by entrained air, PAGs are less likely to leave residue that will form deposits. PAGs may also be the only type of base oil with significantly lower fluid friction, which may allow for energy savings. The other unique property of PAGs is the ability to absorb a great deal of water and maintain lubricity.

There are actually two different types of PAGs – one demulisifies and the other absorbs water. The latter can be very useful if you have a compressor that cannot be stopped that is continually contaminated with large amounts of water. The most common applications for PAGs are compressors and critical gearing applications.
The negatives of PAGs are their very high cost and the potential to be somewhat hydrolytically unstable.

Dibasic Acid Ester (Diester)
The properties of diester are somewhat similar to that of PGs. It has excellent oxidative and thermal stability, very high VI and excellent solubility. This excellent solubility makes it a good choice for reciprocating compressors, where valve deposits can be a huge problem. Another common application for diester is in synthetic engine oil. It is often used as an additive with PAO basestocks to provide the necessary solvency for the engine oil’s large additive package. As a side effect, the synthetic engine oil will have excellent detergency. The negative attributes of diester are the high price and poor hydrolytic stability.

Polyol Ester
Polyol ester base stocks have several excellent performance properties, including thermal stability, super-high VI and fire resistance. Of the base oils mentioned in this column, it is probably the best choice for very high-temperature applications. The two most common applications for polyol ester are fire-resistant hydraulic fluids and jet engine oils. They can be used in engine oils and compressor applications, as well. The negative attributes are the same as those for diester.

Credit to Noria Corporation 

Synthetic Oil Basics

Technically, Synthetic Oil originates as traditional mineral based motor oil.

What separates the two is the level of advanced engineering, refinement and criteria that goes into this modern engine lubricant.

In short, there is no other routine maintenance contributor that can provide better protection, performance and longevity than today's Synthetic Motor Oils

Extreme Weather Protection:
Under early morning sub-zero winter starts or summertime high temperature stop-and-go traffic, Synthetic Oils are engineered to deliver vital engine protection and reliable performance year-round.

Cold Weather Pour Test:
In this laboratory test, a Synthetic-Oil and a Synthetic-Mineral-Blend have been frozen overnight at minus 40 below.

This pour test illustrates conclusively the cold-start readiness of Synthetic Oil.

Even after six minutes, the blended oil can't keep up.

And, those white globs you see are wax - a standard component of conventional mineral-based motor oil.

Clearly, Synthetic oil is the best way to ensure that your vital engine components are adequately lubricated during cold cranking.

New & Old
With very few exceptions, Synthetic Oil is a wise choice for all new and older vehicles.

Modern engine components are built to higher tolerances and levels of precision and the superior lubricating properties of Synthetic Oil deliver the finest day-to-day protection against wear.

Older-engines, performance-engines and power-plants-under-heavy-load can all benefit from the advanced lubrication and low-abrasion attributes of Synthetic Oil.

In all situations, engine seals and gaskets are protected and remain pliable and effective.

Compliance:
All major auto manufacturers support and specify the use of API certified lubricants and Synthetic Motor Oil meets and even exceeds all standards and criteria.

The advanced additives developed for Synthetic Oil help contribute to cleaner and more efficient operation during the entire span of the recommended oil change interval.

Factory Warranties remain intact, un-compromised and supported.

In any case, the best warranty is the one you never have to use and proper routine maintenance is an effective way to achieve that long-term goal.

Always check your manual and adhere to the manufacturer's recommended grade.

Compatibility:
Today's Synthetic Motor Oil is fully compatible with traditional mineral based oil.

This means that you can safely upgrade to synthetic oil... or in a pinch, switch back or partially top-up with conventional mineral oil.

Longevity:
When you factor-in a decrease in engine wear and fuel consumption, upgrading to Synthetic Oil can add up to long term savings and better performance throughout the life of your vehicle.

Ultimately, the goal is for fewer repairs, so that you and your car can spend more of your valuable time on the road and not in the shop.

Since they were first commercially introduced in the mid seventies, Synthetic Motor Oils have constantly evolved to serve the needs of motorist and the cars they drive.

Today, there is no better choice than Synthetic Motor Oils for maintaining engine reliability, performance and protection.

Credit to Canadian Tire

Chemlube Sport Single Grade Motor Oils Product Data Sheet

Chemlube Multi Grade Motor Oils Product Data Sheet

Why we need Engine Oil

The primary function of an engine oil is to act as a lubricant. All mechanical devices require lubrication to prevent over-heating and damaging wear. Where any two solid surfaces move in contact with each other, the friction created generates heat and causes wear. High quality engine oil, such as those produced by Castrol, will lubricate, protect, cool, clean and seal your engine.

Engine oils:

• reduce friction and wear for efficient engine operation and long life.
• remove heat from the engine to prevent it overheating.
• prevent deposits and corrosion to keep the engine clean.
• contribute to energy savings and clean combustion.

Below is a video to show how lubrication system work:

So now you know why engine oil so important.

Don't Let This Happen to Your Car

Only use high-quality oil products and change on time to protect your engine from oil sludge.

Ester in Synthetic Lubricants

In the simplest terms, esters can be defined as the reaction products of acids and alcohols. Thousands of different kinds of esters are commercially produced for a broad range of applications. Within the realm of synthetic lubrication, a relatively small but still substantial family of esters have been found to be very useful in severe environment applications. This paper shall provide a general overview of the more common esters used in synthetic lubricants and discuss their important benefits and utilities.
Esters have been used successfully in lubrication for more than 60 years and are the preferred stock in many severe applications where their benefits solve problems or bring value. For example,

What is the difference (in the oil content) between 5W30 and 10W30?

The bigger the difference between the cold oil viscosity (the # before the 'W') and the hot oil viscosity, the more amount of viscosity modifier is put in and hence, contain less volume of base stock.

There have been instances where the larger amount of viscosity modifiers that are present in 5W30 have broken down due to excessive heat and have left carbon deposits on the valves, but this is extremely rare. The proper fix would be to reduce the excessive heat, but the workaround was to use an oil with less viscosity modifiers.

Chemlube Viscosity Index

Specifications

The Benefit of Ester Based Synthetic Oil

Ester based synthetic oil
While some synthetic motor oil use hydrocarbon (PAO) as their base material, Organic based ester (base stock) for its motor oil inherents high quality characteristics has proven to be the highest quality base material for synthetic oil used even by aeroplanes.

One of the organic ester based synthetic oil is Chemlube. Chemlube synthetic oil remains committed to the use of organic ester although costs are about 40% more expensive than PAO or hydrocarbon synthetic oil.

Conventional 100% Synthetic super-multigrade lubricant (5W40, 5W50, 10W60...) use VII (Viscosity index improver) to boost their viscosity. These viscosity additive tend to loose efficiency and shear when submitted to extreme conditions. As motor oil use ester for its base material, it benefit from the natural viscosity of synthetic ester thus they need very little of such additives or none.

Esters are very stable at extremely high temperatures and are used almost exclusively in jet engines.

Superior benefits of organic ester are:
Natural Affinity to stay on metal surfaces providing a thin protective film to eliminate dry start-up engine wear which means easier morning starts and smoother engine operations.

Very High Viscosity Index indicate a low viscosity change. By employing Ester as the base for synthetic oil, it changes the conventional concept of synthetic oil. Ester are polar molecules that have the ability to electro-chemically bond with metals, so as to maintain a continuous lubricant film at high or low temperature (the element found in oil additive or as aditive in engine oil). This in turn provided a better resistance to thinning at high temperatures and thickening at low temperature.

Outstanding Film Strength so it takes a lot longer for the oil to drain completely off the bearings and into your oil sump. This prolongs engine life and increase engine efficiency.

Strong Detergent Characteristic - inhibits rust and corrosion but minimizes spark plug fouling and carbon, gum and sludge deposits. Ester itself is a natural detergent, it adheres naturally to motor parts which dissolves and suspending harmful sludge, varnish and carbon deposits which keep engines and lubrication ports cleaner and in top performing shape.