The article below will describe for you one of six incredibly valuable engine oil tests that you can use to quickly evaluate the condition of your oil, without ever paying a single dime to an oil analysis lab.

The crackle test is valuable for determining whether water build-up from condensation problems is an issue. Typically, you’ll be most susceptible to water in your motor oil if you are a short trip driver and/or if your vehicle’s engine is started only on occasion.

Of course, it would be reasonable to wonder why you would need to check for water ingression, and the answer, to put it simply, is that, water build-up leads to acid build-up. Acid build-up leads to corrosion, and pitting is caused by corrosion. Pitting is BAD, and, even a premium, extended drain synthetic oil like AMSOIL can eventually be overcome with water/acid build-up. So, you should perform a crackle test to find out if water is building up in your oil BEFORE acid build-up depletes the acid fighting additives in your oil and corrosion begins.

However, if performing the blotter spot test prior to the crackle test shows that there is fuel in your motor oil, performing the crackle test will likely be of little use, since the fuel in your oil will skew your results. This is the reason that the blotter spot test (business card test) is generally performed BEFORE the crackle test. If there’s fuel in your oil, you may already need to change out your oil, and the results of the crackle test will not be clear anyway.

So, what do you do? Easy. Find a hotplate of some kind. Set it to a temp between 250 and 300 degrees F . Then, place a few drops of oil on the plate.

At that temp, when you place the oil on the hot plate, you will hear a crackle as the water boils off. You should hear it very quickly as long as you use only a small amount of oil. Of course, if there is no water in your motor oil, you will hear no crackle.

Paying for a professional oil analysis will tell you not only IF water has contaminated your oil, but also how much contamination has occurred. Nevertheless, even though the crackle test is not quite as informative, it’s nice that you can use this DIY test to at least tell you if there is water in your oil.

Once an individual becomes educated enough about lubrication to realize that there can be a significant difference between the various brands and types of oil on the market, a quest begins to find the best motor oil to fit their application(s). This article and those that follow are designed to shed just a bit of light on how to progress in order to REALLY find the best oil for YOU.

Extraordinary Engine Oil Paradise

Of course, many people make the assumption, as they pursue their “ultimate motor oil” that there must be a “best oil” that will fit everyone’s needs. Some SUPER oil that will serve everyone perfectly. But, the extraordinary engine oil paradise that they are looking for is a legend at best. It simply doesn’t exist|cannot be found.

Despite the desire of of oil companies or distributors to indicate otherwise, it is not at all possible for ANY single brand of oil to be a perfect fit for every application, no matter how wide the product range may be. There will ALWAYS be certain applications and situations which require a switch to a different brand. As an example, even though AMSOIL, NEO and Redline are of much higher quality than many other motor oil brands, NONE of them can meet the needs of all applications.

You need to understand the needs of your application if you are ever to find the BEST motor oil for your application. Then you need to take advantage of the valuable motor oil information that can be found around the net (being careful not to just blindly accept everything you read) and then you must use that info to establish which oils fit your needs best.

Only by following this pattern can you really make an educated decision regarding what oil will be able serve the needs of your application(s) and keep your vehicles and equipment running well in the long term.

The choices that you make (synthetic, blend or petroleum, 5w40 or 15w40, CJ-4 or CI-4) are likely of little importance, no matter what any oil distributor tells you, except in the sense that those choices should be ones that will best meet the needs of your application. As long as they do, it really doesn’t matter what oil or brand you choose.