How To Buy The Right Engine Oil

When buying engine oil for your car, there are a lot of things you need to know. What weight is right? What does 5w40 mean? Is your oil an approved oil? What are oil specs? Thanks to Liquimoly for coming by to talk oils.

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[riptidex]

The more oil videos I watch the more confused I am.

[HumbleMechanic]

Thanks to Steffen from Liquimoly for coming by and chatting engine oil :)

[larryevans]

PAO is not "raw petrol" as he states at 6:33

To break it down in basic chemistry... Group 1-3 is long-chain simple hydrocarbons. Just a string of single-bonded carbon with hydrogen filling most of the the open bonds. The longer the carbon chain, the "heavier" the molecule, which is more viscous, less volatile, and more stable (for reference, Butane is a 4 carbon chain, Octane is an 8 carbon chain, whereas motor oil is around a 25-30 carbon chain). The more carbon-hydrogen bonds are filled in the molecule, the more "saturated" the molecule, which makes it more stable for a given weight.
Group 1 is distilled from a solvent base, and has the lowest saturation
Group 2 is distilled in the presence of hydrogen, filling most of the open hydrogen bonds, and creating more saturated molecules
Group 3 is "hydro-cracked", where heavier hydrocarbons treated with hydrogen under heat and pressure are "cracked" to become "lighter"/shorter chain hydrocarbons with almost all the hydrogen bonds filled

Group 4, or Poly Alpha Olefin (PAO), is also a long chain hydrocarbon. But, at one end of the molecule (in the "Alpha" position) is double-bonded carbon. This slippery synthetic molecule containing double bonded carbon is, by nature, more stable and less volatile than even a fully-saturated simple hydrocarbon.

Group 5 is a catch-all for everything else (silanes, alkylated benzenes, esters, etc.).

[chunkeeone]

See, THIS is what I wanted to know when I worked in an oil change business, but nobody working there knew! It disturbed me greatly to work with "professionals" who knew nothing about the product, thus I knew nothing as well. Great job, guys!

[EGT]

I was surprised to see the comment section open and nobody getting downright mean and stuff that normally comes about in an oil video. I think its pretty cool Liquimoly sent this dude all the way from Germany to talk about wiscosity with us.

[maveric]

My MKIV R32 Back in 2004 called for Mobil 1 0W-40, at that time Volkswagen had a contract with Mobil, I still use it till this day and I changed my oil today!

[oliknow]

I like my Liqui Moly for years and years now, probably since when this video went online. Here in Germany it is widely available and considered the "good" oil to put in last after a flush. The oil, the additives (used with care and caution) and the overall perception makes me feel good using these products. Others might be just as good but I think LM is quite transparent about what they do AND they actually get back to you when you have a question as an end user. Quite good

[scubbarookie]

I've got a 92 GTI with a 2.0 16 valve and it would take 20w 50 for the summer; however, during the winter I ran 10w 40. This was over a decade ago. Thank you!

[Janet_Airlines]

I just changed to Liquimoly from Castrol in my 1 8 B5.5, it seems pretty happy with it.

[mikeh]

I own a 1991 Ford Explorer which I purchased new. The recommended oil at the time was 20W-50 and I have used it ever since. Every engine rebuild manual says that synthetics will not work in my 4.0L engine. Despite that, I have tried both blends and pure synthetics - 5W30, 0W40, etc. Both turn black and drop my oil pressure. When I go back to the 20W-50 my oil pressure returns to normal and the oil becomes clean. One mechanic told me that the synthetic was blowing by the rings and that was what was causing the black. So, I guess the moral of the story is that many older engines, at least mine, will not tolerate synthetics. Love the channel - thanks for the great info.

[ManfredEWhite]

I use Liqui Moly 5W-30 in my 2004 BMW 760 for 11 years no issues, 130K no smoke. Nice video.

[cobrar]

i am using LM mos2 10w-40 in my car and the black color of it scares almost everyone who sees it for the first time, but i really love that oil gave my engine a new life.

[mr]

This was the most savvy interview with Steffen of LiquiMoly that I've seen thus far. Super informative!

[gamergamer]

This is the video that gives you all the information needed. Unfortunately, there are few that kind of explanations out there. Good job

[longlifetimingbelt]

Liqui Moly and Motul certainly lead the pack in price but other brands make the same claims about quality and lubrication technology. If you have the right multigrade and specification, adhere to the recommended oil changes, I believe you'll keep your engine healthy no matter which brand you use.

[arttafil]

I only use Liqui-moly 5W40 full synthetic in my 1999 Merc. ML320 which now has 302, 650 miles on it.

[Trump-The-GREATEST]

Project Farm did a motor oil extensive testing on about 20 popular brands and sadly Liqui Moly was 3rd to last in line and failed against the cheapest oils out there! Amazon freakin' Basic and Walmart's Super Tech motor oil BEAT Liqui Moly in the first round! How in hell could that be???
The winners of the oil testing was no other than AMSOIL Signature 💯% Synthetic oil and second place was Pennzoil Ultra Platinum motor oil!!!
Goodbye Liqui Moly, hello Pennzoil Ultra for my BMW 5 M-Sport! The cleaning power of Pennzoil is in another level unmatched! Now i know why BMW switch from Castrol to Pennzoil as their now OEM synthetic motor oil!!!

[TheBigDanois]

one thing about these newer thinner motor oils: Faster cold oil changes! Remove that drain plug and empty.

[CarsSimplified]

Very cool stuff; it was a good refresher most of the way through. The approval versus spec bit was completely new to me, though!

It's also good timing because I am arranging an interview with an oil company near me, and I will need some good questions for them.

[monkey]

its been puzzling me too...but ur video has cleared it up so now i feel confident in the future on my oil choices