It’s all about synthetic engine oil

Established in 1995, Royal Precision Lubricants are manufactured to a high standard that utilises cutting edge additive technology and formulates finished products using premium mineral, synthetic and PAO/Ester base oils, blending in excess of 18 full synthetic engine oils.

The primary performance advantage of synthetic base oils is their ability to cope with an extended range of temperatures. They also exhibit outstanding flow characteristics at extremely low temperatures and their stability at extremely high temperatures make these oils preferable over Group 1 and 2 oils in high performance, high temperate applications and application in very cold start climatic conditions. Additionally, as engine tolerances continue to reduce, these fluids will offer the cold flow fluidity to be preferred in performance by modern Group 1 Original Equipment Manufacturers.

Base oils can be segmented into three basic varieties – fully synthetic oil, synthetic blends, and mineral oil.

Full synthetic oils are derived from crude oil or byproducts. They have gone through a chemical process rather than conventional refinement used for mineral oil. Fully synthetic oil molecules are more uniform in shape with fewer impurities and better properties, they have much better extreme high temperature and low temperature performance.

Synthetic oils are generally formulated with higher performing additives. The base oils are categorised by American Petroleum Institute into API Groups III, IV & V. PAO is designated at API Group IV and are a 100 percent synthetic chemical compound. Esters are the most famous synthetics in Group V, which are 100 percent synthetic chemical compounds consisting of a carbonyl adjacent to an ether linkage.

Semi-synthetic oils are a mixture of mineral oil and synthetic oil, with no more than 30 percent synthetic base oil, which are engineered to have many of the benefits of full synthetic oil without the cost.

However, beware, because many blenders pass off lower levels of synthetic base oils in formulations and even go as far as calling Group 2 base oil semi-synthetic. These are done to create cheap price point or improved profits.

Traditional oil, or mineral oil, is what it sounds, oil from deep down in the earth’s crust. The crude oil is refined in a process that removes unwanted impurities such as phosphorus, sulphur, and metals.

However, conventional refinement will not remove all unwanted chemicals that can affect the size and structural arrangement of the molecules. As a result, the molecule chains may break and degrade the ability of the oil film to perform all of the critical tasks within an engine. Modern car engines are built with extreme tolerances and the traditional oil simply cannot deliver the lubrication they need.

What next? Royal Nexgen 5W-30 is a full synthetic motor oil exceeding GM Dexos 1TM Gen 2 and is formulated to provide low speed preignition protection and the latest GM requirements. Nexgen 5W-30 meets the highest API SN and ILSAC GF-5+ performance level.

Low speed pre-ignition or LSPI has been identified in high output, modern petrol engines and is an abnormal combustion event in which the fuel-air mixture ignites before intended, causing excessive pressures inside the engine’s cylinders which can cause engine damage. There are several factors that contribute to LSPI, of which lubricating oil has been observed to be one.

LSPI is most common in turbocharged, direct injection engines operating in low speed and high load driving conditions but unlike conventional knock, an LSPI event cannot be predicted and corrected by adjusting spark timing. As such, mitigating pre-ignition has been achieved by altering the composition of the lubricant’s additives to help avoid this issue.

Royal Nexgen is available through Partmaster branches nationwide. www.partmaster.kiwi