Royal purple - oil analysis results

ottocycle

Good Afternoon All,

My name is Chris and I work in the Royal Purple tech department. Another employee came across this thread and brought it to my attention. Certainly we want to know if anyone has a bad experience with a Royal Purple product. We welcome all feedback, good or bad.

I’m concerned that perhaps some judgments are being made without a full understanding of used oil analysis (UOA). It’s a great tool if it is used correctly, and the correct way to use UOA is as a trending tool. A single UOA report, when not compared to other UOA results from the same vehicle, on the same oil, from the same lab is of little benefit. For UOA to be useful, you need a baseline analysis of an unused sample of the oil intended for usage, and you need periodic sampling. A single data point tells nothing of significance and definitely does not show what is 'normal' for a particular engine.

One of the concerns in this instance is the 'Universal Averages' that were reported. What is the standard deviation of the average? Are all of the historical values within a few percent of each other or are they all over the place? Both scenarios can give the same average. An average is useless, statistically, without a standard deviation. By chance does anyone here know how many UOAs this particular lab has performed on used oil from the relatively new Nissan 3.7L engine specifically? Were they all of the samples from factory stock engines? Were they all from daily driven cars? Were some of the samples from highly modified track-only cars? None if this pertinent info is available.

Another concern is the report format. The elements used in additives, and elements that are contaminants or wear metals are not separated and identified. Unless the analyst (and/or the customer) is intimately familiar with that a particular oil, and oil formulation in general, how can normal, or good and bad be determined? Interestingly, everything they show that is supposed to be in the RP 5W-30 is still within our spec, and the viscosity is within American Petroleum Institute (API) and RP specifications. The oil is still in great shape.

My previous position was with Southwest Research so I’ve been intimately involved with, and I'm knowledgeable about lubricant manufacturers, their products and processes. Please be aware that we do not cut corners on materials or manufacturing. Additionally, our QC program is one of the most extensive in the industry.

Please let me know If you have specific concerns with any of our products or if you have any questions about used oil analysis. You can reach me by email at cbarker@royalpurple.com or by phone toll-free at 888-382-6300. Oftentimes, when a customer is not satisfied with RP product, it was contaminated by an aftermarket additive or other fluid, or it was not the correct product for the application. I hope this was of help.

Regards,

Chris Barker
Tech Services
Royal Purple Inc.
www.royalpurple.com