Ash in Motor Oil.

Combustion chamber Ash deposits are a big issue in air cooled aviation engines. Primarily, these deposits are sources of retained heat and pre-ignition. Aviation oils are typically low or no ash, (i.e., ashless dispersant”).

However, what the hell is ash doing in our motor oil? The mere thought of it is repulsive. It was in part for that reason that I studied motor oil more in-depth several years ago. There are a number of commercial reporting companies for this, VoxPop is one I recall. All sorts of oil properties are reported on. Oil is a very complex material. Against the face of this complexity, I really wanted a single sensible solution to all my internal combustion engine needs. The solution must be practical and uncomplicated so that the maintenance actually gets done conveniently, and plenty of oil is always readily at-hand.

Engine Reliability is our main concern. Aviation engines and commercial truck engines must be reliable. In my research, these engines shared at least one main key property in their engine oils: Low Ash Content. There are other properties too. However, another main concern is cost. Unless great oil is also made cheap, human nature is not to want to change it due to considerations about costs. Such considerations have a direct tendency to affect the primary concern; reliability.

So, in a nut shell, the low and no ash oil has an incredible record of reliability, and the stuff found at Trak/Autozone as Coastal, Rotella, Delo, Delvac and some other brands, are great oils, plentiful and cheap….and have made my life a little simpler.

Mark Shinnick