SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life®
SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life®
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SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® can eliminate frequent Oil Changes.
How is that possible?
It can be understood by looking at the raction rate and Arrhenius equation of the base oils when compared to SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® .
Reaction rate is in Chemistry the rate that quantifies the
speed of a chemical reaction.
Generally, reaction rate is temperature dependant, and speed of the chemical
reaction increases with elevated temperature.
On average, the molecules in motor oil at room temperature do not have enough heat energy to undergo any significiant change, and can and will remain "same" for hundreds of years!
With sufficient heat, the liquid however will react quickly with available
oxygen, water and such common in oil suspended impurities as sulphur.
When the molecules collide, they transfer energy to each other in varying degrees, based on how they collide.
The molecular collision rates increase with the temperature of the substance and the Reaction rate is increased, and thus the chemical reactions become faster.
Arrhenius equation - Heat increases the collision rate of molecules and reaction rate as well as the activation energy of any chemical reaction.
The Arrhenius equation is a simple, but remarkably accurate, formula for the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant, and therefore, rate of a chemical reaction
The higher activation energy helps overcome the barrier (or natural resistance) molecules have to chemical reactions.
Typically molecules of lower molecular weight will react easier and faster than molecules of high molecular weight.
In petroleum oils there are hundreds if not thousands of molecules of differing compositions and of differing molecular weights. That is why from petroleum crude it is possible by conventional refining methods, such as distillation to extract different substances (gases, fluids or solids), that range from Petroleum Gas through Gasoline and Diesel Fuel to Paraffin Wax.
One of those refinery fractions is "Lubricating Oil Base stock", which while it is composed of molecules of relatively high molecular weight, it still contains many molecules that have both lighter and heavier molecular weights.
The molecules in oil that have lower molecular weight will react at lower temperatures.
The heavier molecules are more dense and the higher the density the slower is the reaction rate.
The lighter molecules are less dense and the lower the density the faster is the reaction rate.
The effect of temperature according to the Arrhenius equation is however much more pronounced and has greater effect than the molecular weight.
A historically useful generalization supported by the Arrhenius equation is that, for many common chemical reactions at room temperature, the reaction rate doubles for every 10 degree Celsius (18°F) increase in temperature.
Which means that the oil service life will be reduced by one-half for every 10°C (18°F) increase in temperature.
As far as longevity of Petroleum lubricant is concerned, the most "damaging" checmical reaction is the oxidation of the petroleum molecules. The results of such chemical reactions are gum, varnish and sludge.
In the case of oil oxidation, the reaction results in the sequential addition of oxygen to the base oil molecules, to form a number of different chemicals species, including aldehydes, ketones, hydroperoxides and carboxylic acids.
While the rule of exponential oxidation that states that the oxidation doubles for every 10°C (18°F) increase in temperature is relatively accurate for most chemical reactions, it is not universally accurate for all chemical reactions.
Food for example "spoils" at rate that is 60 times faster, when at ambient temperature versus being refrigerated.
Similarily there is slight "doubling-rate" temperature gradient difference between low molecular weight oil (such as SAE 20) versus high molecular weight oil (such as SAE 50).
The light molecules may have "doubling-rate" for every 8°C (14.4°F).
The synthetically made non-petroleum SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® SAE 5W-50 Motor Oil, for example has "doubling-rate" for every 12°C (21.6°F).
While this may not seem like much, table below will demonstrate the oxidation limited oil life based on operating temperature.
| Typical SAE 30 API SA |
Typical SAE 5W-20 API SN |
Typical SAE 15W-40 API CJ-4 |
SynLube Lube‑4‑Life SAE 5W-50 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 150°C | 2 hr | 100 hr | 80 hr | 320 hr |
| 140°C | 4 hr | 200 hr | 160 hr | 512 hr |
| 130°C | 8 hr | 400 hr | 320 hr | 820 hr |
| 120°C | 16 hr | 800 hr | 640 hr | 1,900 hr |
| 110°C | 32 hr | 1,600 hr | 1,280 hr | 4,500 hr |
| 100°C | 64 hr | 3,200 hr | 2,560 hr | 10,000 hr |
| 90°C | 124 hr | 6,400 hr | 5,120 hr | 24,000 hr |
| 80°C | 248 hr | 12,800 hr | 10,240 hr | 57,600 hr |
| 70°C | 500 hr | 25,600 hr | 20,480 hr | 140,000 hr |
| Viscosity Increase |
300% | 150% | 275% | 40% |
Contamination is in chemistry:
The Sequence III Tests, otherwise known as Viscosity increase Tests, determine the Viscosity increase of the "used" Motor Oil after completion of the test whose duration is the time interval that is indicated in above table by "bold" number of hours.
The Viscosity Increase in the last row is the Oil and Automotive Industry accepted "passing" limit for the specific Test.
The exception is the percentage for SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® SAE 5W-50 Motor Oil, where the actual test result is shown after running four consecutive Sequence IIIF Tests.
Because the Sequence IIIF Tests are conducted in a laboratory on a dedicated Test Stand, on which a "blue printed" special test engine is operated for 80 or 100 hours (depending on the specific test) with either 10 or 20 hour "breaks" - while this "stresses" the Motor Oil to maximum because it is operated at 150°C (300°F), it still does not translate to every day "real-life" use in vehicles.
Normal drivers do not operate their vehicles "non-stop" at high power for 10 or 20 hours at a time!
The "cool-down" cycles that are experienced in every day vehicle operation contribute to introduction of contaminants into the Motor Oil.
When the engine is "cold" and first started, the engine is operated "rich"
in order to warm up the catalytic converter as fast as possible in order to
reduce exhaust emissions.
This however introduces unburnt fuel in to the Motor Oil for the first few minutes of cold engine operation, and the colder the climate the more serious is the effect.
"Blow-by" gases at all temperatures contain water, as that is a product of
hydrocarbon fuel combustion.
When the Motor Oil in the Test Engine is at 150°C (300°F) there is virtually
no chance that this water vapor will condense into the oil.
But in real life operation Motor Oil is under the boiling point of water 100°C (212°F) for large proportion of engine operational time. Therefore it does affect the Motor Oil adversly.
All "contaminants" such as water in "blow-by" from normal combustion, un-burnt fuel in "blow-by" during cold start operation, as well as iron particles from engine wear, significiantly reduce the "theoretical" maximum Motor Oil service life based on "pass" of Sequence III Test and applying the Arrhenius equation.
Example:
Since ALL Motor Oils that are certified to the API SN performance level have to "pass" the 100 hour Sequence IIIG Test, by calculation, such oil in typical engine that does not operate most of the time over 110°C (230°F) should last as long as 1,600 hours !
But vehicle operators are used to change Motor Oil in "miles" and not "hours", so we need to translate the hours into miles, and since the average light vehicle speed over time is about 25 MPH (60% City and 40% Highway as per EPA estimates) then 1,600 hours is equivalent to 40,000 miles of driving !
Yet based on OEM internal tests for "Oil Life" monitor calibrations, the API SN rated Motor Oil is generally suitable for about 5,000 miles of real life driving, which represents 200 hours of Engine Operation!
So infact the Motor Oil that is tested in the Sequence IIIG Test is in real life suitable for service interval that is only "twice" as long as the Test duation.
Most modern API SN rated Motor Oils are quite capable of 7,500 miles service interval.
7,500 miles is in typical driving equivalent to about 300 hours, as in USA in mixed City and Highway driving the actual average Miles per Hour speed is only about 25 MPH. The motor oil average Oil Sump temperature in such operation is about 220 °F or just above boiling point of water (104°C) this temperature is considered ideal for conventional engines as it boils of water condensation.
When the operating temperature is however increased to 238°F (115°C) the conventional lubricant evaporation is increased so much that additional "make-up" oil amounting to as much as one US Quart will be required in only 150 hours or less which translates to 3,750 miles.
This "fresh" additional oil then makes operation for up to 200 hours or about 5,000 miles reasonably safe even in engines that use highly volatile low viscosity Motor Oil such as SAE 5W-20.
Now when using the SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® which is proven to be capable of pasing the Sequence IIIF Test four times, and thus accumulate 320 test hours, if the same "doubling" in real life is applied then 640 hours of operation is quite reasonable. This translates to a minimun of 16,000 miles.
NO MAGIC HERE - Just plain Thermo-Chemical Fact
But WAIT !!!
Do you remember the MAGIC #1 ?
There we have demonstrated that most mechanisms lubricated with SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® run "cooler" on the average, due to thermal conductivity and specific heat properties of SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® .
Typically the "cooler" is at least 25°C that in turn calculates to theoretical increase in Oil Service Life by as much as a factor of 4 (2*2=4).
So now the calculated minimun of 16,000 miles, becomes 64,000 miles !
NO MAGIC HERE - Just Mathematical Fact
So to sum it all up, SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® at first has a lower Activation Rate than conventional oils and therefore the Reaction rate at operating temperature is much lower, but secondly because of the typically lower average operating temperature than those, which is experienced in the same mechanism with conventional lubricants.
SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® lasts even longer in service than suggested by Arrhenius equation alone.
The MAGICAL RESULT?
Much Longer Oil Service Life !
SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® is the only space age Motor Oil on the market that is not just capable, but proven to provide excellent engine protection as well as engine longevity with oil changes as seldom as every 15 years / 150,000 miles (240,000 Km).
However for purpose of our SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® Limited Lubrication Warranty, we take more conservative approach and require that the used SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® is either replaced or a sample is submitted to SynLube Incorporated every 5 years or 50,000 miles.
SynLube Incorporated then test the used SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® Motor Oil using a proprietary oxidation test to determine if it is suitable for further use, or if indeed it can be used for as long as 15 years or 150,000 miles (240,000 km).
Here are LINKS to other pages on our web that explain the SynLube™ Lube‑4‑Life® MAGIC in detail:
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