Laboratory Evaluation of Commercial Engine Oil Quality
Abstract
Defense General Supply Center was considering initiating a Paperless Ordering Procurement System (POPS) for commercial off-the-shelf engine oils for administrative service. Currently, administrative engine oils (MIL-L- 46152) of assured quality are procured under an oil qualification process that generates a list of approved products (Qualified Products List). There is currently no formal qualification procedure for commercial gasoline engine oils. During 1979- 80, the Army surveyed commercial engine oil quality and found several instances where commercial rebranded products had questionable quality relative to their stated quality level. The objective of the current project was to determine the quality of commercial oils in the marketplace and determine if the overall quality was sufficient to allow a POPS-type system. To make this determination, 41 commercial engine oils were purchased in the Washington, DC and San Antonio, Texas areas and then analyzed using standard test procedures to determine oil quality versus the physical/chemical requirements of MIL-L-46152. The program results show that 57.5 percent of the samples failed one or more of the physical/chemical requirements of MIL-L-46152 Although 17.5 percent of the failures were considered borderline, 40 percent of the samples clearly failed at least one test. Foam test and low-temperature viscosity were the requirements most frequently failed. Thus, based on the percentage of samples that failed property tests, it is not advisable for the U.S. Army to procure commercially available rebranded oils for administrative service.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA210987
Entities
People
- A. F. Montemayor
- E. A. Frame
- Edwin C. Owens
Organizations
- Southwest Research Institute