11-10-2013, 03:07 PM
[quote name='tamathumper' timestamp='1384100064' post='152026']
Unfortunately, a given brand and weight of oil might be reformulated at any time, so Mobil 1 15W-50 from a few years ago might not be the same today! Argh!
[/quote]
TRUE. The lubricants lab at Cincinnati Milacron was part of my organization until we finally closed it with resale of the company. The lab produced the Cincinnati Milacron Lubricants Manual (you can still find used copies on line). It was the bible for the machinery industry. We did a whole series of ASTM tests that were important to the use of general equipment. The list of approved lubes for a wide variety of purposes on machinery was published in this manual.
It wasn't uncommon that a lube that had been on the approved list for many years, when retested (I think we required this on an every other year basis as a minimum) would fail a specific test. The failure could be traced to a change in the base stock (where in the earth the actual base oil came from), or reformulation of an additive, or... Reformulation to get approval and listing in the Manual could sometimes be a long process just to regain the properties that an earlier product of the same name possessed.
Unfortunately, a given brand and weight of oil might be reformulated at any time, so Mobil 1 15W-50 from a few years ago might not be the same today! Argh!
[/quote]
TRUE. The lubricants lab at Cincinnati Milacron was part of my organization until we finally closed it with resale of the company. The lab produced the Cincinnati Milacron Lubricants Manual (you can still find used copies on line). It was the bible for the machinery industry. We did a whole series of ASTM tests that were important to the use of general equipment. The list of approved lubes for a wide variety of purposes on machinery was published in this manual.
It wasn't uncommon that a lube that had been on the approved list for many years, when retested (I think we required this on an every other year basis as a minimum) would fail a specific test. The failure could be traced to a change in the base stock (where in the earth the actual base oil came from), or reformulation of an additive, or... Reformulation to get approval and listing in the Manual could sometimes be a long process just to regain the properties that an earlier product of the same name possessed.

