Would be interesting to group-pay for some kind of evaluation of base oil, if that's even possible in a complete oil formulation.
It's possible to reverse a fully formulated lubricant into its base components, including base oils and additives. Of course, certain aspects of the formulation cannot be reverse-engineered, like chemical reactions that occur with the help of a catalyst and such. I doubt it's worth it, though, as I, for one am not curious at all what's in RedLine Oil High-Performance lubricants. After I received the following reply from Mr. David Granquest at RedLine Oil, I shook my head in disbelief:
"A few of the HP Motor Oils are being reformulated specifically to address LSPI concerns, products recommended in late model direct injection, forced induction engines. These HP oils are not submitted and approved, they use packages that are."
I asked about the upcoming reformulation and if they subject their HP oils (the ones which you all use) to engine sequence testing. As Lubrizol is their motor oil additive supplier, it is easy to understand how his reply is weird and hard to comprehend. See, Lubrizol is formulating and testing their additive packages by the book, precisely as required by OEMs, API, and ACEA standards. That means that they formulate their synthetic oil additive packages for Group III, IV, and V. The catch is that in their book, group V base oils are ANs. So when Mr. Granquist tells me that they don't subject their oils to engine sequence testing, that raises at least one eyebrow, if not both. Because the additive package was not sequence tested with POE and other Esters, I have no clue about Lubrizol, but rather with the groups I mentioned above, of which Group V consists of alkylated naphthalenes. Now, alkylated naphthalenes are the ideal base oil. Every motor oil mass producer loves them. They offer good additive solvency and an extraordinary temperature range, and unlike POE and other Esters, they offer high oxidative stability and don't interfere with the additive package. In other words, when you have a space of 50 to 150 microns in boundary lubrication situations, you don't want that space to be taken up by POE instead of saying ZDDP. Hence the higher concentration of additives in RedLine. Not because they do more, but because they need more of them to do what other oils do with less. Anyway, my point is that their motor oils are highly untested, and that is the cause of concern. I remember over a year ago, when someone running RedLine Oil 5W-20 in his 5.7 HEMI experienced thickening to about 12 cSt @ 100C after a moderate OCI, and RedLine couldn't come up with a reasonable answer. I'll post the thread if you want to read it. Either way, I am not running untested motor oil in my expensive engine, no matter what the forum lore says. I believe that as an engineer, you understand. Bottom line: Lubrizol tests their additive packages with different base oils than RedLine Oil blends with, and the final result is an untested product. Even Tom Schaefer, who worked for Hatco Corporation for several decades, and formulated many of RedLine's esters, said that he is not using RedLine Oil in his own vehicles due to their lack of engine sequence testing. You can ask him yourself if you want to. He also knows the former owners of RedLine Oil personally. From RedLine's point of view, their HP line is for enthusiasts, and they offer absolutely no warranty for it, unlike AMSOIL for example.
Lawyers could have a payday with weasel-word twisting...
If their products were API licensed then they would have to back up each and every one of the claims you listed with actual tests and evidence. Since their HP oils aren't, they can claim away. It's kind of how Lucas Oil gets away with selling Group I bright stock at a 5000% profit margin making all kinds of wild claims, yet no one has been able to take them down, though I'm sure that Lucas Oil Stabilizer took down many good engines. I'm not lumping Lucas in with RedLine, as RedLine Oil is clearly a reputable company, I'm just using Lucas as an illustrative example.
