Viscosity Loss and Wear Performance of Engine Oils Tested in a Motorcycle On-Road Test

Abstract

The lubrication performances of three different fully synthetic motorcycle oils have been investigated in an on-road test. One aim of this study is to quantify the viscosity loss due to shear degradation and show that it is a key degradation process for motorcycle engines. A further aim is to compare the wear performance of these three lubricants. It is found that - while shear degradation may be strong for certain oils - an expected immediate and concurrent increase of wear rate is not observed, which might be attributed to well performing anti-wear additive packages. Central to this work is the intention to understand more what constitutes optimal lubrication for an engine.