Featured Motor-oil shortage on the horizon

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by Gokhan, May 3, 2026.

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  1. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    It's not mentioned, but it also affected GM's OEM filters.
     
    #21 El Dobro, May 8, 2026 at 7:16 PM
  2. xw20_driver

    xw20_driver Member

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    Pennzoil Ultra Platinum is made from GTL. I grabbed two 5 QT jugs back in late March when this news broke. Walmart had these priced at $26.48 per jug and there is a $30 rebate.

    $23 for 10 quarts of high quality full synthetic 5w30 or $11.50 per jug. That's cheaper than store branded oil.
     
    #22 xw20_driver, May 10, 2026 at 11:35 AM
    Gokhan, hill and bisco like this.
  3. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Being strategic always beats the alternative

    .
     
    #23 hill, May 10, 2026 at 2:18 PM
  4. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    Just to reiterate, GTL base oils are second only to those made from Group IV (PAO) and Group V (POE, AN, etc.) base stocks in base-oil quality. The Shell Pearl GTL facility was one of a kind in terms of capacity, and it’s a pity it will be decommissioned for a while.

    In the curve below, for a given CCS (cold-cranking start) viscosity, the lower the Noack volatility, the higher the base-oil quality, resulting in a higher viscosity index, a lower oxidation rate, and so on. As you see, natural-gas-based GTL is roughly equal to Group IV (PAO) in base-oil quality, and it far surpasses petroleum-based Group III base oils. As you can also see in the figure, it is even hard to meet the GM dexos1 Gen 2 spec—the horizontal line that indicates a 13% maximum Noack volatility, which has actually been even further reduced to 12.5% in GM dexos1 Gen 3—without using some percentage of GTL base stock in the base-oil blend. So, the problem is not limited to European specs, such as the Mercedes–Benz (MB) specs, which specify a maximum Noack volatility as low as 11%.

    [​IMG]
     
    #24 Gokhan, May 10, 2026 at 6:09 PM
    Last edited: May 10, 2026 at 6:18 PM
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