You may have asked yourself the question in the past, but people everywhere need to decide if they plan to use non detergent oil or oil with higher levels of detergent. Detergent oil has been used for more than 60 years, and is still a great lubricant for specific engines today. Oil manufacturers often label their application specifications to say that their non detergent oil may be used in certain internal combustion engines.
The amount of detergent included in detergent oil is often up for debate with many engine oil experts. Oil specialists often disagree about the content of detergent oil, whether or not detergent is actually present in oil is not the issue, however what is important is the engine deposits remain suspended in the oil and do not stick together to create a problem for oil distribution. The oil filter would then remove the bits of carbon before they became a problem for the performance of the engine.
Non detergent oil may also be an effective gear lubricants for certain types of gear boxes currently in use today. As standard operating procedure, reference your engine’s owner’s manual before using a new or untested lubricant, as the impact of a new lubricant can be serious. Information regarding the engine oils is usually found in owner’s manuals or in information guides found on manufacturers’ web sites.
Within the spectrum of lubricants that you may choose from for your selected application, high detergent motor oil is also another option. Higher amounts of detergent are present in high detergent motor oil as one may suspect. High detergent motor oil is a great way to clean engine sludge, but it is not for everyone, verify your lubricants first. It varies by auto tech, but high detergent oil can be used as a viable solution for some engines. As a preliminary step in changing an engine’s oil, some guys like to use HD oil or high detergent oil to help cleansing an engine of dirty carbon buildup. Other options to using a higher detergent motor oil is to simply change engine oil more frequently to drain out the bits of carbon more often.