Fuel Quality Laboratory
Motor Oil Testing
John Bell, Chemist
Presented by Ron Hayes
Why do we need motor oil testing?
 MDA Mission statement:
 To serve, promote, and protect the agricultural
producers, processors, and consumers of Missouri’s
food, fuel, and fiber products.
 Customer knowledge and trust
 Today there are a lot of different types of lubricating
oils on the market
Motor, Gear, Hydraulic, etc.,
When it comes to Motor Oil,
why is MDA concerned?
To Protect the Consumer
• Our primary concern is with the finished product in
bulk tanks and pre-packaged one quart containers
installed in consumer vehicles.
• Correct Labeling
•
•
•
•
Brand (Shell, Valvoline, Castrol, etc.)
Type of oil (Conventional, Synthetic, Blend, etc.)
Viscosity Grade (single or multi) SAE J300
Service Category (current or obsolete) SAE J183
• This ensures a level playing field for all companies
There is a variety of bulk tank types
Tank
Eco Box
Tote
Barrel / Drum
How many locations sell motor
oil from bulk tanks in Missouri?
 Manufacturers produce base stocks, additives and
finished products and sell to distributors and/or
directly to installers.
Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, etc.,

Approximately 55 motor oil distributors in and around
Missouri.
 Installers - Quick Lubes, Vehicle Dealerships, Mom & Pop
Garages, etc., (estimated to be about 4000 in Missouri)
 What part of Missouri law gives the
Department of Agriculture the
authority to sample?
 Chapter 414.112.2. No person shall store, sell, expose for sale, or
offer for sale, any reclaimed motor or lubricating oils; except that all
drums, cans, or other containers, holding such reclaimed motor or
lubricating oils before being offered for sale, shall have imprinted
thereon, in contrasting color with the other surface of the container,
in letters not less than one-half inch in height, wording specifying
"reclaimed" motor or lubricating oil.
 Chapter 413.105. A person commits a crime of false or misleading
advertising if, in connection with the promotion of the sale of, or to
increase the consumption of any commodity or service, sold,
offered, exposed or advertised for sale, rent or lease by weight,
measure or count, he or she recklessly makes or causes to be made
any statement or representation which is false, calculated to, or
tends to mislead or in any way deceive a person.
Missouri Department of Agriculture
Motor oil testing progression
 2008 : Sent 25 prepackaged motor oils purchased in
St. Louis to a secondary laboratory. These samples
were out-of-specification and/or used oil being sold
cheap in the inner city to appear affordable.
Apex, Super XXX, US Super XX
 2009
 Tested approx. 87 prepackaged samples
including motor oil, gear oil, ATF, tractor
fluid and hydraulic oil.
 35 motor oil samples sent to CA Dept. of Food & Ag.
 30 passed
 5 exceeded max limit 6600@-30C but within the 6%
reproducibility for 5W-30
 24 Suspicious motor oils sent to secondary laboratory
 19 found to be used, 3 likely had no additives, and 2 passed
 Gear oil, ATF, Tractor and Hydraulic oils were tested for
Cloud/Pour points, Specific Gravity, and Kinematic
Viscosity at 100°C (No pass/fail assigned)
2010
 Various businesses were contacted for voluntary
sample submission and testing.
 223 Motor oils sampled (29 prepackaged)

21 samples failed either CCS or KV and 1 sample
failed both. 9.4% fail rate
2011

Sampled statewide
 Jefferson City, Columbia, Springfield, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Sikeston
 Voluntary submission
 274 Samples were tested – 35 failed specification (13%)
 89 locations sampled


49 car dealers – 12 (24%) businesses had at least one
product grade that failed.
40 quick lube facilities – 13 (33%) businesses had at least
one product grade that failed
 35 locations sampled for the 1st time – 9 failed (26%)
 5 locations had previously failed and were re-sampled
 4 failed the second time (80%)
2012
 1228 samples tested
 CCS 21 KV 18 KV,CCS 3 KV,Used 5 Used 5
 Failed 52 (4.23%)
 Pass 1163 (95.77%)
 Total 1215
 Bulk - 1165 (94.87%), 42 failed (3.42%)
 Prepackaged - 63 (5.13%), 10 failed (0.81%)
 13 samples of ATF or Tractor Fluid (no pass/fail)
 2013
 Total number of samples as of 9/5/2013

767
Bulk = 678
 Fail = 32 (4.2%)


Most were delivery issues but also had mislabeled and bad
products .
Prepackaged = 89
 Fail = 8 (1.0%)

Samples from St. Louis that were out-of-spec. and/or used.
Total Fail Rate for 2013 thus far = 5.2%
2008 – 2013 Laboratory Updates
 New equipment purchased for testing:
 Cold Crank (Dec. 2010)
 Kinematic Viscometer (Mar. 2011)
 Noack Evaporation Loss (July 2012)
 2012 hired Chemist specifically for motor oil testing.
 Over this time we developed:
 Labeling: Sample # / bottle # and tests to be ran
 Sampling: Inspection forms and procedures
 Testing: Sample rotation through the lab
 Reporting: Supplier/Retailer and Pass/Fail report forms
March 2012 Stakeholders Meeting
 In order to have agreement throughout the industry
for MDA sampling/testing/reporting, many groups
were brought together for this discussion
 American Petroleum Institute (API)
 Industry Manufacturers and Distributors
 MO State Oil Lobbyist / Lawyers
Modification of Handbook 130
 National Institute for Standards and Technology
(NIST) introduced changes in Handbook 130 for bulk
tank labeling and receipt information not only for the
end user but also for bulk deliveries. (2013)
 Give consumers more confidence
 Help ensure tracking of product from manufacturer to
the end user
 While some states automatically adopt Handbook 130
into their regulations, Missouri has an approval process.
Creation of M.O.S.S.
 Motor Oil Sampling System (implemented 2013)
 Previously used Excel but data storage would be too excessive
 Working with IT the MOSS was created to streamline
motor oil sampling, testing and reporting. All data is
stored in the database and three applications are utilized
for this process.
 The Inspector App. for sampling
 the Chemist App. for testing and reporting and
 the Manager App. for searches and exporting data to
excel for analysis.
 The fuel quality laboratory decided to concentrate its
efforts on passenger car motor oil
• 0W-20, 5W-20, 5W-30, 10W-30, 10W-40, and 15W-40, but
may encounter other grades
• Inspectors are encouraged to:


Collect as much information as possible about samples and
locations
To inform the public of the importance of motor testing and
labeling.



NIST Handbook 130 changes for labeling and receipt information
API’s, Motor Oil Matters, PQIA’s and MDA’s websites
Not only collecting bulk tank samples but also prepackaged
samples if they are suspicious.
Tests Performed
 MDA performs several of the same routine tests that
the API certification program uses:
 Kinematic Viscosity
 Cold Crank Simulator
 Noack Evaporation Loss
 MDA can also perform Pour, Cloud, and Flash Points,
Density, and a variety of other tests.
Kinematic
Viscometer
Cold Crank Simulator
Noack Evaporation Loss
What if you encounter used motor
oil being sold?
 Must be labeled “Reclaimed” (414.112.2)
 Sent to outside laboratories or manufacturers
 Test for wear metals and other contaminants
 Additives
 Total Base Number
 Water
Items that are not classified as “Reclaimed”
Rerefined base stock – Base stock manufactured from reclaimed oil and is substantially
free from materials introduced through manufacturing, contamination, or previous
use.
Rerefined (recycled) oil – Oil manufactured or partially manufactured from rerefined
base stock.
 Along with Petroleum Quality
Institute of America (PQIA), the
Missouri Department of
Agriculture has developed its
own informative Notice on
consistently out-of-specification
motor oil.
Lube Report Email from Lubes ‘N’ Greases Magazine
API Aims Lawsuit at Bullseye
By Joe Beeton
The American Petroleum Institute is suing Bullseye Lubricants for alleged
counterfeiting, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising,
and unfair competition … cont.
Websites for additional
information
 API - www.api.org
 MOM - www.motoroilmatters.org
 PQIA - www.pqiamerica.com
 ACEA - www.acea.be
 ILMA - www.ilma.org
 Bobistheoilguy.com
Program Future
 The Fuel Quality Program hopes to purchase more
instrumentation for further testing
 Hire more inspectors for motor oil sampling
 Continue Round Robin testing ensure compliance and
uniformity
 Continue to inform the public through our inspectors,
phone calls, and website.
Wrap It Up
 Testing to ensure compliance in order to protect
consumers.
 Work with industry experts, laboratories, and other
state agencies
 Continue to sample and test motor oil throughout
Missouri and possibly expand into other lubricating
oils.
Thank you
Questions?
 John Bell
Missouri Department of Agriculture
Fuel Quality Program
Motor Oil Chemist
(573) 751-8599
Johnny.bell@mda.mo.gov