Puts Verslagen in good company doesn't it?  

Bill has called both me and you a liar in past oil wars too, if memory serves correctly.

Me, I think good ol' Bullshooter Bill is a lot better moniker for our buddy Bill -- a liar is both malicious and he knows that he is lying, something that you cannot convince me is true about Bill.

   He believes what he says when he says it

I have Rotella 15W-40 conventional oil in my S40, and Rotella 5W-40 synthetic in my 250 Ninja. To be truthful, I cannot tell the difference, if any, from the 10W-40 Havoline I had in them before. I just did the 7500 mile service on the S40, and all the valves were spot on. Unfortunately, I had not written down their clearances when I did them before, so cannot say whether they changed.

I have been thinking about a repeatable test for some time. I have a Craftsman 2500 watt generator with a Briggs 5 hp engine in it. I thought about loading it with 2500 watts of electric heaters, putting a small tank (I have a 1-quart tank from an old Snow Pup) on it, and plugging an electric clock into it. My idea is to put in whatever oil I wanted to test, fill the tank, start the engine and apply the load, then note the total run time as taken from the electric clock (which would stop when the engine ran out of fuel). The idea is that, if there are any frictional differences, the engine will run for more or less time. I also want to figure out a way to measure temperatures, since I don't have an IR temp gun. One thought is to drill a thermometer-stem-sized hole in the plastic fill cap and stick a thermometer through the hole directly into the oil. I am still pondering logistics, including the Briggs instruction saying not to use 10W-40 oils. The obvious criticism is that the engine isn't a motorcycle engine, so the test isn't even applicable.

Your close 710 miles a year.I have a Boulevard S40.

I would say oil temperature because with a better oil (Klotz) you will have higher head temperature because of better piston ring seal.

bill67 wrote on 10/25/10 at 14:03:28:

So with your measurement of what's better... Amsoil wins, hotter is better.  

Bill, that's kinda silly -- how are you going to do the second run of testing in the same engine after you just scrapped it out in the first test?

Either you didn't think it through, or you are just being obstinate and silly.  

Besides, nobody runs an engine w/out oil in it on purpose.  Especially our Savage engine with plain aluminum cam bearings in it (instant stupid death to run w/out oil pressure).

I'd have to say the idea that the best oil is the one which protects an engine for the longest after the oil has been drained is pretty silly - even stupid. After all the oil is designed to protect the engine while still in place. That also tells me there is no point in running any further tests to convince bill(My mind is made up - don't confuse me with facts)67. But I'd be happy to run that test if bill67 will supply the engines.

As a matter of interest, Briggs & Stratton did run a similar test years ago. I don't remember what the additive was, but B&S took two sequential engines off their production line. They ran one with their recommended oil; the other with their oil plus the additive for some period of time (24 hours comes to mind). They then drained the oil from both engines and ran them (to failure? I'm not sure). The engine with the additive showed more damage than the one without. I am sure some research on the Web will find the details.

I was also interested to note bill67's comments that Klotz runs cooler and gives more horsepower, along with his comment that because the Klotz provides a better piston ring seal the head temperature will be higher. There seems to be a contradiction, somewhere.