Some of you guys correctly called me out for not giving the additives (i.e. Molybdenum) appropriate credit. They’re a small percentage of the volume but I believe do make a real difference in the performance of the name-brand oil, it’s just really complex and outside the scope of what I could manage to test for a quick video like this. I’m going to see if we can figure out a way to really hone in on and test these in a future video. - Jer
What about the lubricity test!? The dollar tree oil did do better than expected though, i was just talking to a friend about it this week before this video came out.
Watching this after all those oil testing vids from project farms. Was already expecting the tests being carried out and even correctly guessed the result.
Donut: "Don't buy dollar store oil!" Also Donut: "As you can see, dollar store oil is fairly comparable to the name-brand stuff and is perfectly usable."
Yeah but not to something like amsoil signature series. That’s top quality oil, it exceeds gym’s dexos gen III specs! I’m switching to that my next oil change. Running Mobil one ESP 5w30 in my car now.
Yea, I was looking at the test results and like "Hey guess what, the difference in price is more than the difference in oil." I was curious because I found it unlikely they'd really see a significant difference.. and yep.
As a master’s chemistry student specialising in engine oil additives and oxidation, I’ve got to say that you absolutely killed it with this video! The chemistry was spot on, and you explained it in a way to keep the video accessible to everyone! Really well done guys! 👏😄
@@rapboyz89 you know that Project Farm didnt invent these tests? He borrowed the idea from the big companies, people have always running tests like these since Oil came out.
I once asked a mechanic at my dad's auto shop what the difference was between Valvoline and Castrol and he said "One's name starts with V and the other starts with a C." Check it, change it, keep it topped off and you'll go many trouble free miles regardless of brand.
I’m a connoisseur and use liqui moly because they have a line of oil that drastically changes color if it comes in contact with coolant! Super nice for a track car with heavy use,save time instead of tearing things down
This is why modern cars has so many oil related problems, many older mechanics just adds stuff that has roughly the right weight and calls it a day. Modern oils are more complex and you need one that suits your car. But it's true that you can get the right oil from many different brands.
I love that channel, idk if I was the only one but I asked him for the test on the drill cutting fluid 😃 and a few weeks later the video came out . He really does take the time to read every comment and he has replied to me every time I've had a question or relevant comment
Title: "Don't Buy Dollar Store Oil". Content: "Absolutely Nothing That Indicates Dollar Store Oil Is Any Worse Than Valvoline. Also, Nolan Needs To Change His Oil"
*To answer your question, the oil found at dollar stores and other cheap places are yes, lower grade, but will get the job done perfectly fine. People use valvoline, from not only the fact of how good the brand looks, but from the fact that most people believe that putting not only cheap parts on your car, but putting cheap fluids in your car are terrible. In a lot of cases, they are absolutely right. In this case though, it depends. Are you just driving a daily? You know..... A to B? Fine use this oil. Are you racing in the track? You know..... Trying to set records and pushing the car to the limit? Use valvoline and other oils with true quality to be safe in the case of malfunction. Good day!*
@@NadorFootage There are also racing oils that you cant find in the market like redline, tribodyn performance or royal purple. That are "slightly" better than the oils with "true quality" you mentioned. Tribodyn performance 20W50 for example performed 2000% better than Valvoline VR1 Racing 20W50 in lubricity test.
@@DuBstep115 never said they didn't exist. What I met by "true quality" was oil with a reputation and stand alone history of being healthy for cars with horses made to gallop. When driving around in a track car that you run multiple laps while pushing it to the limit, you must be absolutely sure that your car is fully equipped. This doesn't only mean potentially a roll cage, but proper tires, wheels, suspension, intercooler, and all sorts of stuff that are needed for not only proper function in these sessions of pushing the car to the limit, but incase of failure. Oil is no acception. You must make sure the oil you are using has a garantee that it works well with such activities. If your driving a wagon though, using oil that isn't that expensive doesn't matter. Your not running it hard. That was my point. I don't know if you were trying to pick an argument because I didn't mention other oil brands even thought that wouldn't have changed nor helped my statement. I gave an answer because donut didn't give a straight on answer nor answer it at all.
Project Farm does a great couple of videos on cheap oil. Oil is oil. The additives are a lot cheaper than the advertising. That's what you pay for with brand names. Sam's Club and Costco oil is dirt cheap and very high quality.
The dollar store oil is high zinc, you don't want to use it in a vehicle that has a catalytic converter on the exhaust manifold, otherwise by the very limited info he showed of the valvoline oil we can deduce that the dollar store oil is actually on par with the valvoline synthetic
What I've been asking forever about Squatch is...Yes it got natural ingredients like walnuts, grass, butter and tree bark. But what does it actually have if anything that CLEANS yourself???
@@highthai7 the products smells good. The body soap smells really good but doesn't last long. Their morning toothpaste is okay. Their night toothpaste is way better. I took a chance and bought a bundle. Pretty cool stuff man.
This episode was great as I work at an oil and fuel analysis laboratory and I check all of these things like viscosity density gravity flashpoints distillation pour points Millipore which is a filtration test. I also use a spectrometry machine to check out all the elements and parts per million as well as a particle counter and sizer and the list goes on even check for glycol and sugar if the client asks for it
Check the labeling to see if it says conventional, semisynthetic or full synthetic. Then look for the API donut on the back. For 95% of cars, that is all you need. Some vehicles may of other ratings, but if you are driving a car that requires other ratings, you probably know more about cars or are paying someone else to service your car.
@@tomc8829 and Mobil 1 uses a higher percentage of group 4 than some other brands. But it’s still labeled full synthetic since the base oil has some group 3 as well.
Just to understand this better, our gas and oil prices went up until we started producing more oil here which didn’t happen until recently. So why is oil the reason everyone thinks we went into the Middle East? Not trying to argue on the internet with strangers, I just actually want to understand the logic of that statement. It doesn’t seem like we benefited from Iraqi oil in any measurable way.
@@SemperVeritas. I'd guess that 1. We plebs don't know what really happens behind the scenes and 2. The stability of long-term oil production benefits the companies that sell oil, they sell oil to everyone: not just to the United States, the oil lobbies the US Government and it's not a huge stretch to imagine that the US military upper brass cares about the oil companies interests. "Defense" is not the military's only objective.
The simple visual example of the two pieces of metal not moving, then moving with oil was actually super helpful. Showed this video to my mom who buys her oil at CVS... and she had a “OH NOW I GET IT” moment. Many mahalos
That dollar store oil actually looks really good for the price, as long as you change it regularly. The TBN is pretty low, so you wouldn’t want to leave it in your engine long term
I used dollar store oil often before I replaced the engine in my miata. Main changes were with mobil1 but as oil left, I’d replace with whatever cheap stuff I could grab.
I don't want to change my oil regularly. I have better things to do with my time. Calculate time spent changing oil and the amount of oil used compared to using high end synthetic oil that guarantees 25k miles, or once a year and I'm certain racing oil is better.
@@chaoswitch1974 It takes no time to change oil first... I buy high end oil for my car and still do regular intervals as recommended. The point isnt to do less oil changes because some stupid bottle said you could but to keep your car running better and longer, especially if it has a turbo.
@@goatsnguns211 Amsoil says to change yearly or every 25k, whichever happens first. It's clean every time I change it. I'd rather not have to change it every 3 months, or every 3,500 miles as is required for cheap oil.
@@chaoswitch1974 If it works it works. I would say its generally a good idea to follow manufacturer recommendations. I just buy oil that says it can do 20,000/2years and change it every 10,000/year as recommended by my manufacturer.
It's the same bs, worked as a contractor for a major brand that takes their entry level oil and pumps them into a ton custom brands labels that 1/2 to 3/4 cheaper then their name brand bottles.
This is actually a collab video, it's just going to be another year before we see Project Farm's side of it since he's going to run it through his farm truck for 2 years to see what happens.
Cheap engine oil may not be good for your car, but it's great for many workshop/tinkering jobs, so I always keep some in my shed. You can use it for lubricating all sorts of hand tools, low speed mechanisms and even some small engine garden tools, protecting fence posts and other exposed surfaces that would be too expansive to treat with dedicated products and many other odd jobs around the house.
What's crazy is I remember when I was in HS, I had an old truck that burned/leaked about a quart of oil every tank or two of gas. I didn't care because I could get a decent quart of Valvoline 10W30 for a little more than a dollar.
There is a story that a WWII C-47 (aka DC-3, Dakota, Skytrain, etc.) had its crankcase filled with Wesson oil (yes, the cooking oil!) because the unit was short of motor oil. And it flew good (but aircraft engines get a LOT of maintenance).
I agree. It is the only reason i subscribed to this channel. Theres alot of cool new videos don't get me wrong. But don't stop making the content that made this channel gain popularity!!
From my experience at first cheap generic oil is just as good as Valvoline, Pennzoil, etc. fresh out of the bottle. But over time it breaks down a lot quicker and causes you to need an oil change sooner and it tends to be harder on your engine because the base isn’t as uniformly processed. So if you’re just needing to change your oil in a pinch once or twice go ahead and buy the cheap stuff. But as a chemical engineer and a car guy I wouldn’t use the cheap stuff for more than a couple oil changes during the life of your car. Unless you’re looking to be like Nolan and neglect your engine.
@@srilankansavage2573 long story short, yeah I’d be much more willing to use cheap motor oil on a rotary. It may come with its own set of problems I’m not totally aware of.
So why is the video titled "dont buy dollar store oil"....there was no reasons given... What i got out of it was that its better then conventional valvoline... Right?
@@chapmanhere3397 erm your the type not to change a diesel fuel filter at a 15,000 miles. Or I change my 03 f150 fuel filter every 50.000 miles because it’s just easy
I'm a full time driver. I drive for uber 5 nights a week, I have a 3day paper route, and a 7day paper route. All said, I can drive between a thousand and fifteen hundred miles a WEEK. I only use Mobil 1 oil and filters. Their extended life high mileage oil allows me to confidently drive ten thousand miles between oil changes, saving me TONS of money over the year.
For a way more indepth oil testing, Project Farm did a "engine oil shootout" 17 oil brands, and the top 3 brands are, Amsoil Signature Series Synthetic Red Line Synthetic Pennzoil Ultra Platnium Synthetic Valvoline Synthetic came in at 7th place, and Mobil 1 Synthetic came in at 12th place
we were traveling in east texas about 4 years ago when we experienced oil guage dropping pressure...we pulled over at a dollar general..the oil drain plug was not tightened properly the last time it was changed..so we tightened it up & had to use 99 cent oil from the store..we traveled to the next city & had the oil changed being that we knew that oil was not good to keep in engine
He isn't wrong, worked as a contractor at a major oil brands plant that bottles their same oil into a dozen other off brand bottles. Also the bread companies do the same thing, same batch of bread bagged into dozen of other lables. People are paying for the name.
@@zack9912000 my cousin works in a food processing plant so I know about the bread. And also yogurt, milk, shredded cheese, ketchup, mustard, mayo, ect. You really do pay for the name on the package.
@@mklinger23 Yep worked for a very large air compressors company, we repaired and maintained very large industrial air compressors and it is rare if companies that everyone claimed to be the very best didn't do this.
@@mklinger23 I agree with everything, but the mayo. Duke's is not even comparable to other brands, and me buying it has nothing to do with the name. Cheese, milk etc. I get, tho.
As most trained mechanics will tell you, as long as it has that API sticker and you change oil every 3K - 5K miles, you’re good to go. Now that said, there is a huge debate in the motorcycle community over using “motorcycle oil” (specifically Motul) vs anything else. Motorcycles usually have lubrication systems that use the engine oil to also lubricate the gear box. Would be cool to see THAT comparison.
Gotta love English Vowels. "So, what do you want your vowels to sound like?" "Like each other" "I... what? Like all of them have the same sound?" "Yes and no." "...uhhh... what?"
Personally I use Amsoil. That being said I grew up using Quaker State. My parents sold a car to my half brother, hate claiming that much relation to him, and while he was driving the oil pump shaft broke. Instead of turning it off he drove around 100 miles and then brought it out to the house and demand that we fix it for free, did I mention he hadn't paid for the car yet. Well long story short I personally pulled the oil pan and the rod and main bearings and they looked fine. Think the car had circa 70-80k on it and that's what they looked like. I was amazed because the lifters were loud and I really thought the engine was toast after over 100 miles with zero oil pressure.
As a diesel mechanic I use engine oil quite a lot to determine how engines are performing. Aswell as using them as a diagnostic tool! Say a engine has a low oil pressure problem, you can use a oil sample to see how much metal is in the oil to determine if there is excessive bearing material in it. There’s way more things that oil can be used for but that can all be done in another video! Overall great video look forward to seeing more!!!
I'm a cheap oil guy. I buy super tech from Walmart and I get their 10,000 mile synthetic. It has the letters API SN stamp on it. And you know that one of these other guys on the shelf is actually bottling it for them. In reality it is probably Castrol or Pennzoil. But I will not used unmarked gas station oil or dollar store oil. Some of those brands don't even have an API sticker. I saw something years ago where they tested a lot of it and it actually made engines wear much faster.
Idk, I may not have gotten it, but I found that to be a pretty lame/mediocre-at-best joke, especially if it had others dying like yourself. Was it the corniness? Sexual innuendo?
That dollar store oil’s virgin oil analysis was really nice. Good additive package too. Anyone who knows how to read an oil analysis would see that it outperformed the valvoline lmao
Exactly. It's almost like once they saw it was as good or better than valvoline they just shifted gears to something else and then ended the video. They also forgot to change the title to "Dollar store oil is actually pretty good"
Not sure what series it would fit under but I and I’m sure others too would love to see a tour of all donut members vehicles! Keep up the great work :) Stay Safe!
Maybe I missed something, but I watched the entire video and I didn't see where it says why you shouldn't buy oil from a dollar store. Most store brands have contracts with other larger, more well-known brands and I'd be willing to bet that this is what the dollar stores do for their oil as well. I've always gotten my oil from Walmart, but this video doesn't deter me from buying it from a dollar store if I was in a pinch.
Also, I have to plug Project Farm's tests here. He has a whole series including actual synthetic oils which include chemical breakdowns, how much evaporation occurs when hot, cold temperature liquidity and wear testing. He also has no affiliations with any brands and he does what he does really well. In fact, it seems that you took quite a bit of pointers from his tests to produce this video including the liquidity, composition and heat evaporation tests.
"the additives are comparable" Did you not look at moly, boron, and magnesium? the cheap stuff had almost NO moly, little more than half the boron and practically no magnesium.
I used to work in an oil testing lab! We had an automated viscometer. Two tall, thin glass funnels with the stems submerged in an oil bath keeping the temp stable. Squirt the sample in the top, it runs to the bottom of the pipe…and spits out a number. Spectrometer for metal levels finds levels of engine component wear going on, etc. Flashpoint tests for firrrre.
I know super tech (walmart) was sent to the lab by project farm and tested. It is a great oil. I hope y'all are going to have some lab results on the $ store oil. A few years ago they were selling oil that only met requirements for cars made before 1988 and there was a huge class action.
