Choosing the Proper Motor Oil for your Engine

Many people do not know how the engine oil that will help them get optimum performance from their cars to select. People often select the oil their father used, or they can follow the suggestion of a counter person at an auto parts store who may not know more about cars than they do take.

There are significant differences in motor oils and choosing the right one can have a major impact on how well your vehicle runs. Selecting the right oil is often the quickest and cheapest way to get your car's performance and improve reliability. Two components determine how well motor oil will perform in your car. One factor is the base oil and the other is the combination of chemicals (additives) that are added to the base oil.

Base oils
The two primary types of base oils used are mineral and synthetic. Mineral oils are by-products of refined crude oil. Refining helps reduce the impurities but leaves molecules of all shapes and sizes. Synthetic oils are manmade compounds whose molecules are all the same size and shape and therefore a synthetic oil has less friction and performs significantly better than mineral oils.
What to choose
The easiest way to select motor oil is to follow the good, better best model:

GOOD - based on minerals (regular) motor oils. These are the cheapest and most available oil. They typically use standard additive packages that minimum levels of performance and protection.

BETTER - synthetic motor oils. These synthetic oils are more expensive than mineral oil, but still widely available. Their performance advantages come predominantly from the synthetic base oil used. They have a longer life and offer some improvements in protection.

BEST - High-performance synthetic motor oil. These motor oils are the most technologically advanced oils. Although they significantly outperform mineral or synthetic motor oils, they are about the same price as standard synthetic motor oil. They are usually only available through auto parts stores and select oil change centers. These oils primarily differ in their use of more advanced, proprietary additive technologies.
Additives
Regardless of the base oil, chemicals should be added to give motor oil the characteristics needed to do its job. Typical additives that can be added to base oil include detergents to the formation of the residue delay to reduce the absorption of air, anti-wear, anti-oxidants and deter others.
Although additives are typically only 15 to 25 percent of the makeup of the engine oil, they can impact a lubricant's performance much more than the base oil. For example mineral oil with a very good additive package easily outperform synthetic motor oil with a mediocre additive package.
There is no easy way for a consumer to the quality of an engine oil additive package to be determined. Price is often an indicator of quality because the more advanced additive technologies cost more to produce. Performance is the ultimate measure of quality.

Then there is the question of what viscosity oil. Viscosity is the measure of how thick an oil. This is the most important feature for an engine. It is a measure of the resistance of the oil to flow. the more resistant or "heavy" oil, the higher the viscosity. An oil with too low a viscosity can shear and loose film strength at high temperatures. An oil with too high viscosity may not pump at the right parts at low temperatures and the film may tear at high rpm.
A system for assessing the viscosity of oil was formed many years ago by the SAE. An oil viscosity number is often referred to as the "grade" (or from the past, the 'weight'). An oil flows faster has a lower viscosity and therefore receives a lower rating. Voice numbers are assigned to certain viscosity ratings. Example, an SAE 30 grade covers a lower range than an SAE 40 viscosity grade.
Multigrade oils, such as a 10W30 oil, are designed to quickly flow to areas lubrication when the engine is cold, but also to retain enough viscosity to protect the engine at higher temperatures and operating expenses. The number for the "W" (for winter), the oil viscosity at cold. The number after the 'W' is the viscosity at operating temperature.

I recommend following the engine manufacturer's suggestions for choosing a viscosity oil for normal driving. In particular, keep in mind that when driving in a cold climate, an oil with a good start-up and flow behavior is preferred, such as a 5W30 or 10W30. An older, more worn engine can be better protected by a higher viscosity oil, such as a 10W40 or 20W50. Engines operate in a hot climate, only a higher viscosity, single grade engine oil, SAE 30 or 40 for example. Turbo-charged and high-performance engines may require an oil that lubricates well at startup, but still protect the engine is warm, maybe a 15W40 or even 20W50 in warmer weather.
Viscosity index or VI is a measure of how much an oil viscosity changes with temperature changes. The higher the VI, the less change occurs and the better the protection.

Then there is the oil rating system, ie how a certain oil companies evaluated by the American Petroleum Institute. The groups that the oil-standardized rating system, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Petroleum Institute (API). These three entities together to provide the rating system as it is today.

The current service rating was achieved by testing conducted by the American Petroleum Institute (API). The service begins with SA rating assessments and proceeds to SM 2005. According to the engine oil Guide APIs SM, SL & SJ are the current rating levels used for gasoline powered vehicles. SJ ratings below are considered obsolete which means they are for older vehicles. API advises motorists Refer to the owner before deciding which service figure is correct for their vehicle. API has a different guide for diesel powered engines

Then there are multigrade oils. These are oils that can be used for either a diesel or a petrol engine. They may well identify my reading of the dual nature of the oil in the API ratings for a diesel and a petrol engine.eg SM / CF, but recommended to a genre-based oil.

I hope this guide helps all those people who have difficulties in choosing the right oil for their cars and would just stop going for brands such as Shell and colors yellow or blue. casue I personally think that here the shell oil in Pakistan arent really that good you can get a better oil at the same price.

All positive feedback will be appreciated and so are any mistakes I had made

PS, it is also noted that some comapnies your warranty when you use a synthetic oil, Khair, which is a huge debate and just stubborn companies say however that there are problems right here in the suit. It is also recommended that no mineral oil based on over 3500 just to use to run 4000 km in Pakistan if you want to keep in optimum condition and a overaul dont want to get as 10000 km and a maximum of manufactureres guess you can say 8 to 10 K for a synthetic oil changign the oil filter at 5K absolutely not