The statement that the uninterrupted operation of an automobile engine depends on the use of only high-quality oil is an axiom and does not require proof. An error in the selection of lubricant will undoubtedly cause some damage to the power unit, accelerating the wear of parts and significantly bringing the day of overhaul closer. However, all this will seem only an unfortunate misunderstanding compared to the harm that counterfeit engine oil can cause to a car. The consequences of using a counterfeit are, as a rule, very serious, since the role of a lubricant here is a liquid that resembles oil only in color and consistency.

Naturally, most motorists treat their "iron horse" as a faithful comrade and do not save on its maintenance, trying to "feed" only good, expensive fuels and lubricants. All this, no doubt, is very commendable, but you should always remember that the high cost or a well-known brand of goods does not yet guarantee one hundred percent protection of the buyer from acquiring a fake.

The composition of the counterfeit

As a rule, counterfeit motor oil consists of a mixture of industrial "spindle" oil with its cheapest, low-quality grades intended for use in tractor or heavy-duty vehicle engines. Very often come across liquids, which include regenerated (restored) "working out". Counterfeit oil in its viscosity only approximately resembles the original product. The necessary additives, which are the most expensive component of real engine oil, are either completely absent in a fake, or are in very low concentration.

The consequences of using a fake

The conversation on how to identify a fake engine oil should start by finding out the degree of damage that will be caused to the engine when using counterfeit lubricants:

How to distinguish a fake from the original

Statistics say that about 40% of automotive lubricants on the domestic market are counterfeit products. What can be done to avoid falling for the "bait" of an unscrupulous seller? The answer is simple - you need to clearly know how to distinguish real motor oil from a fake. Of course, it is very difficult for a simple buyer to immediately determine the “branded” origin of a product, but expert advice can be of great help in this matter. So, what you need to pay attention to when purchasing a lubricating fluid.

Appearance

The liquid canister should not have dents or severe abrasions that indicate its reuse. The lid of the container must be screwed very tightly to the filler neck. The sealing ring must necessarily have "antennae" that firmly fix the cork.

Attention! When buying engine oil, be sure to check the integrity of the package.

Label

The sticker on the container in which the engine oil is packed has information about the date the lubricant was produced, the time it was filled, and the batch number. It must be remembered that the same data must be stamped on the canister itself.

Attention! The difference between the digital marking on the label and the packaging of the oil indicates the counterfeit origin of the contents.

Price

Many people ask how you can distinguish the original motor oil from a fake at its cost. The answer is obvious - high-quality branded grease cannot be sold at too low a price.

Attention! The clearly underestimated cost of oil is a sure sign that the product is a fake.

Place of sale

Buying a lubricant in a company store that sells goods that have passed mandatory certification and provided with all the necessary documents will significantly reduce the risk of acquiring a fake. In addition, in case of detection of counterfeit, the licensed seller will be obliged to issue its return and return the money.

Attention! More than 50% of motor oil that is sold in car markets or spontaneous "collapses" is a gross fake that can cause serious damage to engine parts.

How to check oil after purchase

Let's say that the purchased product fully met all of the above requirements, and its happy owner was already preparing to pour lubricant into the motor. In no case should you rush into this! First you need to find out how the contents of the package correspond to its label.

Self-checking engine oil for authenticity does not take too much time, does not require much effort or the use of sophisticated equipment. To detect a fake, it will be enough to perform a number of simple steps:

Summarizing

In conclusion, it is worth recalling once again the basic rules that must be observed when purchasing oil for a car engine:

• you should not buy cheap motor lubricant in small shops, stalls, spontaneous markets or roadsides;
• it is necessary to pay attention to the integrity and appearance of the package, check the information on the label, and also compare it with the data on the container itself;
• before pouring engine oil into the engine, it must be checked for authenticity;
• when starting the engine after changing the lubricant, pay special attention to the readings of the pressure sensor.

We hope that our information will tell you how to distinguish a fake engine oil from a real quality product. Watching this video can also be of great help in this matter:

Finally, I would like to give all motorists one simple, but very important advice. When buying engine lubricant, be sure to ask for a sales receipt or cash receipt. Only on the basis of this document can an unscrupulous seller be presented with a claim in case of acquiring a fake.

A car is like a family member that periodically requires attention to its “health”. In addition to fuel, another “blood” flows in its veins - oil. It is responsible for the uniform operation of all engine parts, their resistance to corrosion, and a number of other parameters. And pouring fake oil into the engine compartment almost always means sending the car to an automobile doctor - a car mechanic. How to avoid it? There are several ways to solve the problem.

Tasks for the use of automotive oils

There are several types of motor oil. In addition, each of them performs its task:

• Mineral oil. Quite inexpensive, quickly loses its performance. With a high degree of viscosity. Designed for engines over 10 years old.
• Synthetic. This type of engine oil has a lower viscosity, retains its properties for a long time. It is obtained artificially by subjecting petroleum products to a series of chemical reactions.
• Semi-synthetic. It consists of synthetic and mineral bases in a ratio of 30:50 or 50:70. The scope of their application is modern engines, which are characterized by high mileage.

Direct responsibilities, for example, oils for Nissan 5W40, are:

Consequences of pouring counterfeit

It is impossible to overestimate the damage from adulterated engine oil. Why? First of all, due to the lack of defining characteristics. And these are the necessary additives, viscosity. As a result, in addition to the failure to fulfill the above tasks, the following are manifested:

All together, it threatens either with a complete failure of the engine, or with partial troubles in the form of the impossibility of starting it in winter. The cost of "treating" the heart of a car will be prompted at any service station. Approximate mileage to overhaul - 20-30 thousand km. So it's up to you to risk the motor or not.

How not to buy fake: checking for veracity

How to identify counterfeit in the market of fuels and lubricants filled with a huge number of brands? The task is not easy, but quite solvable. Let's start by understanding which products are particularly prone to counterfeiting. Of course, these are the most popular brands, in inexpensive containers. Expensive canisters are more difficult to get, and even to establish their production. However, if you pack fake motor oil in very cheap containers, no one will believe in his "honesty".

You need to be very careful about the brand - Mobil, Shell, Castrol, Motul and their "classmates" are always at the sight of counterfeiters. Let's take a look at it in order.

Label

Go to the store only after studying the label on the canister posted on the Internet. You can even print it on a printer. You can already distinguish fake car oil by the fact of the criminal’s dishonest attitude to the information that should be on the label. By the way, this information necessarily indicates the applicability of the product that they are trying to falsify:

Color

The color of the oil is the determining factor. Especially after the packaging is opened and the product can be examined more closely. Inspection is best done in a transparent container in sunlight. You can also examine a few drops on a white sheet of paper. A fake is determined by a darker color, while the “official” has a yellow, honey tint. The reason is that the oil is produced at the plant by chemical methods with the adoption of complex measures for its purification. Whereas criminals prefer to mix a variety of cheaper varieties. And in many cases, they prefer to fake a quality product using used oil. Low-quality additives are also darker in themselves.

Paper test

You need to take a small amount of oil and pour it onto a clean white sheet. After tilting the paper, the substance will flow down, and it will become clear whether the product is fake or not. If you see a dark trace from the drained liquid, such a lubricant should be discarded. Thus, fake additives spoil the presentation and performance of the selected fuels and lubricants.

Checking the oil structure

It is clear that you visually checked the absence of sediment even with an unopened canister. Now you need to make sure its purity and uniformity of structure. A fake will be different even with a simple rubbing of a drop of liquid between your fingertips. It will leave small tangible microparticles on the skin. You can also feel the non-uniform oiliness of the drop.

Another option: pour a certain amount of liquid into a transparent container and leave for about 15 minutes in a dark place. Negative result on inspection - delamination of the structure, visible foreign particles. If each client can conduct such a test drive, this can wean even experienced “alchemists” from forging car oil.

Viscosity testing

This is one of the most effective methods for identifying a fake product. However, it is the most difficult, because it is necessary to provide a temperature of -20 ° C to freeze engine oil. Which is not very convenient in the summer in areas where there are no refrigeration units. The counterfeit will have a certain sediment after defrosting, while the “official” will remain clean and uniform. However, professional auto mechanics, not without reason, assure that this method is effective for oils of the 10W30 class. Lubricants with a lower viscosity will behave almost unchanged.

Adequacy

Motorists using this method usually own expensive cars or treat them very sparingly, so they rarely get faked. When asked about, for example, how to distinguish original Nissan oil from a fake, they will answer that this lubricant is not cheap, it is not sold by hand at a price several times lower than that of the officials. You will not find the original in untidy stalls far from car service centers and specialized shopping centers.

It is important to understand why there is counterfeit on the market. Of course, fake motor oils take place due to the big difference in the price of the official and fake product. Please note: 10% of additives by volume are more than 50% of the price of a canister. It makes sense for criminals to save on additives.

Motor oil is one of the main consumables that car owners regularly buy. And dishonest sellers do not miss the opportunity to make money on such a hot commodity. You can run into a fake when buying both expensive and cheap oil.

The main danger lies in the reduction of the motor resource of the engine due to the inconsistency of the counterfeit with the declared characteristics. To make a fake, scammers most often use the cheapest mineral oil with a minimum amount of additives, or even without them at all.

The resulting product, which already does not meet the manufacturer's tolerances, becomes too liquid when the temperature rises and, conversely, thickens when it is lowered. In both cases, this leads to insufficient lubrication of loaded units, increased friction in them and premature failure.

It is quite difficult to distinguish the original oil from a fake in appearance, but there are still several ways. Here's what you need to pay special attention to when choosing and buying.

What to look for when buying engine oil

1. Price

A price tag lowered by 10–20% almost certainly indicates a fake. Even large dealers with large sales volumes, oil producers provide a discount of only a few percent. Small stores are out of the question: all promotions and sales in them are nothing but fiction.

You can also run into a fake in a large distribution network that sells original oils and has all the necessary certificates. In this case, the blame falls on unscrupulous sellers who add a certain amount of counterfeit oil to a batch of real oil.

In order not to arouse suspicion, scammers most often sell fake oil for only a little cheaper than the original. Therefore, in addition to price, you need to look at other factors.

2. Place of purchase

In dubious places like the market or little-known online stores, you are more likely to run into a fake, although here everything is not so clear. In large retail chains, the risk of buying an incomprehensible body product at the price of the original is much lower, but, unfortunately, it cannot be completely ruled out.

Use common sense when choosing where to shop. Give preference to proven stores and car services that value their reputation. When problems arise, decent dealers usually go forward.

3. Packing

This is the main way to combat counterfeiting. Manufacturers create multi-stage protection with holograms, two-layer labels, lids with complex seals. The design of canisters is constantly changing, and with all the variety of oils, it is simply impossible to distinguish the differences between each of them. Let's dwell on common signs that will help.

canister

The original packaging is made of high-quality plastic (sometimes interspersed), shimmering in the light, like metallic paint. The surface of the canisters must be smooth, with even seams, and also free of burrs, shells and any other casting defects.

For fakes, the plastic of canisters is often heterogeneous. The walls of the container are translucent, the places of adhesion of the two halves are clearly visible. In especially advanced cases, an unpleasant odor may even be present. Unlike the original, handicraft canisters suffer from uneven markings on the oil level scale or the use of colored marks instead of casting.

Lid

Lids on canisters also have several ways to protect. The first is a sealing ring with antennae, which fixes the lid on the neck and breaks when opened. Some manufacturers additionally apply a barcode or logo on the side surface of the lid and seal. It is impossible to re-combine both parts of the inscription, and this clearly indicates that the canister was opened.

It does not do without protective holograms, which are glued to the lid and shimmer in the light. From different angles, you can see changing symbols on them, inscriptions original or genuine, indicating the authenticity of the product. Some of the holograms are destroyed when the canister is opened.

The fake holograms are either absent or static.

Often scammers do not bother with repeating the relief of the edges of the cover, making them narrower, or they forget to engrave. On fakes, the lid is often held not due to the retaining ring on the seal, but simply with the help of glue. It may also be the other way around - when the lid dangles and oil starts to drip if you turn the canister upside down.

Label

The most complex element of packaging, equally serving both for information and for protection. The appearance of the label should not cause any suspicion. All manufacturers of original oils use labels with high-quality printing. They are glued evenly and without bubbles, and prying them off with a fingernail is not so easy.

A fake will be issued by a poor-quality label with poor printing, uneven fonts, or even spelling. Images and colors on counterfeit products look faded and washed out. There are no gradients and color transitions in them.

Date of manufacture

Other important signs that will immediately give out a fake are the date of manufacture, batch number and expiration date. For original oils, the production date breaks down to the nearest second and cannot be the same on different canisters. The date stamp must be legible, no scuffs or other flaws are allowed on it.

At the bottom of the canister, the date of manufacture of the container itself is usually indicated. Of course, it must be earlier than the date of manufacture of the oil, and match the one indicated on the label. It is also worth paying attention to the presence of expiration dates and batch numbers. Often on fakes they are absent.

How not to run into a fake

It is best to buy oil from official representatives and large stores that work directly with oil manufacturers and their distributors.

You can find regional dealers and official points of sale on the website of the oil manufacturer. It is also easy to check whether the selected store is an authorized partner or not. Relevant information is available on the websites of Shell, Mobil, Castrol, Liqui Moly, ZIC, Elf, Total and other oil manufacturers.

When buying, it will be useful to check with the seller a dealer certificate confirming the originality of the product. The document is certified by the manufacturer's seal and may contain holograms. Usually such certificates are kept in the store's office in a frame in a conspicuous place.

If doubts arose after the purchase, then for authentication, you can use the special services provided by the manufacturers themselves. For example, Castrol will allow you to punch a unique twelve-digit code from a hologram on a canister via SMS, through a mobile application, on a website, or by calling a hotline. Other companies operate in a similar way.

How to understand that you bought fake motor oil

1. Difficult start engine . Poor quality oil thickens excessively at low temperatures. In addition to difficult starting, this entails insufficient lubrication and failure of loaded engine components.
2. Increased oil consumption. The need for constant topping up also indicates a fake, especially if this was not observed before replacement. The reason lies in the banal oil burnout during operation due to inconsistencies with the parameters.
3. Consistency change when frozen. Old-fashioned method that allows you to check a fake. If in doubt, you can take some butter and put it in the freezer for several hours. Nothing will happen to the original oil, but the counterfeit one will simply freeze and become viscous.

Be that as it may, in case of any suspicion, it is better to drain the doubtful oil and replace it with a good one. The cost of buying another canister will be an order of magnitude less than repairing an engine.

How to distinguish popular oils from fakes

Finally, consider the key features of the original oils of popular manufacturers and the types of protection that they use.

Castrol

At Castrol, canisters and even barrels for wholesalers are numbered with unique codes on holograms that allow you to check the oil for originality through the official

The modern market for automotive components and technical fluids, unfortunately, is replete with fakes of various quality. Motor oils are one of the most frequently counterfeited automotive products, and the use of low-quality lubricants can lead to very negative consequences, up to engine overhaul.

In this regard, every motorist should know the answers to the following questions: How to distinguish branded oil from a fake? Is it possible to detect low-quality oil even before it enters the engine? Is it possible to distinguish a fake without special skills?

The answers to these and many other questions can be found in this article.

Ways to recognize fake oil

It is possible to determine the quality of the oil in "home conditions" only with a high degree of probability, but not with a 100% guarantee.

Important! Only specialists can give a 100% guarantee on the quality of the oil, and even then not without the help of special devices..

The methods for determining the authenticity of a branded oil can be divided into the following three types:

• Before purchase;

• After the purchase;

• After an oil change.

Next, we bring to your attention directly methods for determining the quality of engine oil.

Determination of authenticity before buying oil

While the oil is still on the shelf or in a barrel in the oil change center, all that is available to the buyer is:

• Inspection of the canister;

• Possibility to put a few drops on the fingers.

If you plan to buy oils in a canister, then you need to inspect the container itself and the label attached to it. First of all, everything should be neat, the canister soldering seams should be even, etc.

In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the markings that are applied to both the label and the canister. It indicates the date and time of production, as well as the batch number. If the data indicated on the canister and the label diverge, then you are almost guaranteed to have a fake.

Important! If these data are not indicated on the label or canister, then this may be provided by the manufacturer. In this case, it is advisable to look at the availability of this information on canisters of the same oil in other stores.. Quite often you can come across advice that it is necessary to check the oiliness of the liquid by simply dropping a little on your fingers. However, it is worth noting that such advice is only suitable if:

• The buyer is an experienced motorist;

• We are talking about spilled oil from barrels.

Important! The fact that the oil is bottled from branded barrels does not yet speak of its authenticity. Quite often, unscrupulous sellers buy a fake product and dilute branded oil with it, pumping the fake into a barrel.


Price and place of purchase also play an important role. By purchasing motor oil at average prices in centers with a good reputation and brand accreditation, you significantly reduce the likelihood of buying a fake product.

Determination of oil quality after purchase

After the oil has been purchased, it is possible to conduct experiments that will reveal a better fake. To do this, you will need some of the available devices:

• Sheet of white paper A4;

• Small transparent container.

Consistency and color

To check the color and consistency, you will need to pour the oil into a small transparent cup. After that, the liquid must be put in a dark place for 10-15 minutes. After the time has elapsed, no sedimentation, separation into layers and other structural disturbances should be observed. The oil should be homogeneous, and its color should be light, amber (not orange, much less dark brown).

As a rule, the consistency of fake motor oil is practically the same as branded. In this regard, it is possible to check the consistency only for winter oil if this experiment is carried out in winter or if there is access to a freezer with a maintained temperature of about -15 degrees Celsius.

It is enough to put the container with the liquid outside the window or in the freezer for several hours. If after that the consistency remains almost unchanged, then with a high degree of probability you have a quality oil.

Additive quality

Another experiment that can be done at home will determine the quality of the additives used in the oil.

Important! The composition of any oil necessarily includes additives that provide the technical fluid with certain properties. In many ways, the quality of additives determines the quality of engine oil..

To do this, just hold a sheet of ordinary white paper at an angle and pour oil on it. After the oil runs off, there should not be any dark dots left, which with a certain probability will indicate the use of high-quality additives by the manufacturer.

Determination of oil quality after replacement

Even if the oil has already been filled into the engine, its quality control will not be superfluous. Of course, it’s a shame to carry out a repeated oil change, but still it is more profitable than engine repair.

As already mentioned, the oil should retain almost the same consistency at any point in the temperature regime for which it is designed. In this regard, the following check can be carried out: immediately after changing the oil, let the machine run for about an hour and then check the consistency of the liquid. To do this, just take out the “dipstick” and look at the fluid properties of the engine oil - it should not become too liquid.


It is also necessary to monitor the color of the oil, but the reason for the rapid darkening of the liquid can be not only poor quality. It is possible that when changing the engine oil, the engine was cleaned poorly or there are any defects in the engine.

After changing the oil to a new and high-quality car engine starts to run a little quieter. If the reverse situation has occurred and the sound of the machine has become louder, then this is an alarm signal.

Conclusion

The use of high-quality engine oil is an absolute factor for the normal operation of the engine and prolonging its service life. The above methods for detecting fake oil do not guarantee quality, but still allow you to identify a fake with a high degree of probability.

The service life of an automobile engine directly depends on the quality of consumables that are used during its operation. Everything is important: the purity of gasoline, the quality of those used, as well as many other liquids, including engine oil. It is required not only, but also to choose it correctly so that it fully performs the functions assigned to it.

Many motorists do not understand the importance of buying quality engine oil and try to get cheaper options. You can approach the choice of engine oil in this way, but it is worth remembering that only the purchase of a certified product is justified. Almost any well-known brand of oil is counterfeited, and it becomes more difficult to buy high-quality consumables.

The main task of the oil in the engine is to reduce the wear of parts as a result of their friction against each other. Each major manufacturer of such consumables has several types of oil on sale, which differ in viscosity, chemical composition and mass of other parameters. At the same time, all motor oils can be canonically divided into 3 types:

Before reaching the store shelves, the oil undergoes quality control and certification. Based on the conclusion of the commission, the oil manufacturer indicates its viscosity, properties and other parameters on the packaging. This requirement is mandatory, and if there is no data on its properties on the oil bottle, then you have a low-quality fake that is dangerous to pour into the engine.

Drivers who care about their car are advised to choose one type of oil that they plan to fill in the car throughout its "life". However, there are a lot of fake oils on the market, and buying a familiar consumable from an unknown store can be fraught with danger. We strongly recommend that before filling the engine with oil, check it. Below are 6 ways to check oil, and it's best to use all of them to make sure the quality of the goods.

Manufacturers of the lowest quality counterfeit products do not even care about the label, forgetting to put information on it, without which the oils would not be allowed to be sold. Before buying oil on the Internet, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with how the packaging of a product from a particular brand should look like.

• Viscosity class, which is determined by the SAE J 300 classification;
• Engine type - gasoline or diesel;
• Oil base: synthetic, mineral, semi-synthetic;
• International standards, such as ACEA A3/B3/B4 API SL/SF;
• Certification marks, for example, information that the oil has certification from specific manufacturers can be applied.

Don't forget to look at the date of manufacture on the oil. Not only the date must be indicated, but also the specific time, as well as the batch number of this product.

Method two: Checking the color

The color of the oil can say a lot. To check it, pour the oil into a transparent container or onto a white sheet of paper. High-quality oil gives off yellowness, while products made without observing technological processes are much darker.

Determining the presence of harmful additives in engine oil is quite simple if you conduct a "paper test". To do this, you will need a blank sheet of paper and a small amount of oil. Take it and pour it on the paper, then put it at an angle and watch how the oil flows. There should be a practically invisible band behind the product. If the trace of the oil is dark, then there are a lot of additives in it, it must be discarded - this is a low-quality product.

In high-quality oil, sediments should not remain, and it must have a homogeneous structure. You can check this in two ways:

• The easiest way is to put a little oil on your fingers and rub it. If you feel the presence of small impurities, particles or uneven oiliness, you should refuse such a product;
• Experts also recommend a second way to check the structure of the oil. To do this, it must be poured into a transparent container and left in a dark place for 10-15 minutes. After that, in the light, analyze the product for the amount of additives. If the quality of the oil is low, then it will begin to delaminate. Foreign particles can be seen in the container. When the structure of the oil after such a test remains homogeneous, this indicates its high quality.

It is extremely dangerous to pour oil with exfoliating particles of additives into the engine. They can settle on the engine parts and lead to increased wear.

Viscosity is one of the main criteria for oil, but it is quite difficult to check the product for it, especially for motorists with little experience. In addition, different oils behave differently depending on temperature. You can visually check the viscosity of the oil if you freeze it, for example, to minus 20 degrees Celsius, and then look at its “behavior”. Under such conditions, it is easiest to determine the quality of oils by viscosity 10W-30 and higher, less viscous options will behave almost unchanged.