2024 test6 productsEngine Oil & Fluids
Which Motor Oil Brand Wins?
We compared 6 motor oil options head to head. Motorcraft came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Motorcraft
Price shown in test: around $20 for a quart
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Runner-up
Mopar
Price shown in test: $15
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Cold flow race, new oil, room temperature (~70F) | Evaporative loss (200g oil, 410F, 2 hrs) | Lubricity / wear scar | Cold flow race, heat-exposed oil, room temperature | Cold flow race, heat-exposed oil chilled to -40F for 10 hours | Oil lab: wear metals/impurities | Oil lab: detergent/dispersant content | Oil lab: anti-wear additive content | Oil lab: total base number (TBN) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Motorcraft Full Syntheticaround $20 for a quart | raced against ACDelco, Mopar, and Mobil 1; Mobil 1 won, ACDelco finished second, Motorcraft crossed the line third and Mopar fourth | started at 429.8 g, ended at 423.62 g, a loss of 6.17 g, the best (lowest) evaporative loss of all six oils at the time it was tested | performed very well on this test (very little noise, good energy use readings) but the narrator says it 'wasn't quite good enough to beat the ACDelco'; no exact wear scar figure in mm is given in the transcript for this oil. Final wear-resistance ranking across all six oils: ACDelco first (smallest wear scar), Honda second, Motorcraft third, Mobil 1 fourth | raced against ACDelco, Mopar, and Mobil 1; described as too close to call a clear winner, resulting in a tie for first between ACDelco and Mobil 1, with Motorcraft tying for third with Mopar | raced against ACDelco, Mopar, and Mobil 1; Mopar won this heat, Mobil 1 finished a close second, Motorcraft third, ACDelco fourth; exact time not given for Motorcraft in the transcript's consolidated top-3 recap (Toyota 41 seconds, Mopar 41.5 seconds, Honda 45.6 seconds) | has more impurities (aluminum, iron, copper, tin) than the other five brands, though the narrator says the oil 'still looks very good with only trace levels' | 2,189 parts per million, the highest of all six oils | transcript states this and most other oils are 'at around 16 to 1700 parts per million' (likely meaning roughly 1,600 to 1,700 ppm, kept close to verbatim given the ambiguous caption rendering), except for the Toyota which is lower | around 6.5, in the same range as most other oils except the Toyota |
| 2Mopar MaxPro Full Synthetic$15 | raced against Motorcraft, ACDelco, and Mobil 1; finished fourth (last) in this heat, behind Mobil 1 (1st), ACDelco (2nd), and Motorcraft (3rd) | started at 404.62 g, ended at 398.38 g, a loss of 6.24 g, second best of the six oils | described as performing well but 'not quite as well as the Honda or the ACDelco'; no exact wear scar figure in mm given for this oil | tied for third with Motorcraft, behind the tied first-place finish of ACDelco and Mobil 1 | won this heat outright ('when it's really cold, the Mopar had more power than the competition'), finishing ahead of Mobil 1 (close second), Motorcraft (third), and ACDelco (fourth); overall consolidated result across both heats: 41.5 seconds, second fastest of all six oils behind only the Toyota's 41 seconds | not tested | not given an exact figure separate from Honda and ACDelco, described only as 'not too far behind' the Motorcraft's 2,189 ppm | in the roughly 1,600 to 1,700 ppm range along with most other oils except the Toyota | around 6.5, in the same range as most other oils except the Toyota |
| 3ACDelco Full Synthetic$18 for a quart | raced against Motorcraft, Mopar, and Mobil 1; finished second behind Mobil 1 | started at 404.64 g, ended at 398.3 g, a loss of 6.34 g, better than the Honda and Toyota results tested earlier | won this test outright against Honda ('a very clear win for the ACDelco'); no exact wear scar figure in mm given for this oil, but it is named as the overall wear-resistance winner across all six oils ('the ACDelco came in on top with the smallest wear scar') | tied for first place with Mobil 1, ahead of Motorcraft and Mopar (tied for third) | finished fourth (last) in this heat, behind Mopar (1st), Mobil 1 (2nd), and Motorcraft (3rd) | not tested | not given an exact figure, described only as 'not too far behind' the Motorcraft's 2,189 ppm, along with the Honda | in the roughly 1,600 to 1,700 ppm range along with most other oils except the Toyota | around 6.5, in the same range as most other oils except the Toyota |
| 4Honda Ultimate Full Synthetic$13 | raced against Toyota and Mobil 1; tied for second place with Toyota, behind Mobil 1 | started at 410.86 g, ended at 403.14 g, a loss of 7.72 g, the worst (highest) evaporative loss of all six oils | 7.41 mm, about 3 percent less wear than the Toyota's 7.6 mm, described as 'an easy win for the Honda' in that head to head; finished second overall in the six-way wear-resistance ranking, behind only the ACDelco | raced against Toyota and Mobil 1; finished second behind Mobil 1, with Toyota a close third | raced against Toyota and Mobil 1; finished second behind Toyota, with Mobil 1 a close third; consolidated result across both heats: 45.6 seconds, third fastest of the six oils overall | not tested | not given an exact figure, described only as 'not too far behind' the Motorcraft's 2,189 ppm, along with the ACDelco | in the roughly 1,600 to 1,700 ppm range along with most other oils except the Toyota | around 6.5, in the same range as most other oils except the Toyota |
| 5Toyota$14 | raced against Honda and Mobil 1; tied for second place with Honda, behind Mobil 1 | started at 394.62 g, ended at 387.95 g, a loss of 6.67 g | 7.6 mm, the worst (largest) wear scar in its direct head to head against the Honda (about 3 percent more wear) | raced against Honda and Mobil 1; finished a close third behind Mobil 1 (1st) and Honda (2nd) | won its heat against Honda and Mobil 1 ('it's Toyota for the win'); consolidated result across both heats: 41 seconds, the fastest of all six oils in this specific test | not tested | along with Mobil 1, about 500 parts per million lower than the Motorcraft's 2,189 ppm, described by the narrator as about 25 percent less | the lowest of the six oils, at less than 1,300 parts per million | around 5.7, the lowest (worst) TBN of the six oils |
| 6Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy$12, the least expensive of the six oils tested | won both heats outright: first against Honda and Toyota, and again first against Motorcraft, ACDelco, and Mopar | started at 418.88 g, ended at 412.49 g, a loss of 6.39 g | no exact wear scar figure in mm given for this oil; finished fourth in the six-way wear-resistance ranking (behind ACDelco, Honda, and Motorcraft) | won both heats: first against Honda and Toyota, and tied for first with ACDelco against Motorcraft and Mopar | finished third against Honda and Toyota (behind Toyota and Honda), and a close second against Motorcraft, ACDelco, and Mopar (behind Mopar) | not tested | along with Toyota, about 500 parts per million lower than the Motorcraft's 2,189 ppm, described by the narrator as about 25 percent less | in the roughly 1,600 to 1,700 ppm range along with most other oils except the Toyota | around 6.5, in the same range as most other oils except the Toyota |
How it was tested
- cold oil flow race, new oil, room temperature (~70F), run in two heats of 3-4 oils each
- Noack-style evaporative loss test: 200g of oil heated to about 410F for 2 hours, weighed before and after
- lubricity / film strength test on the heat-exposed oil, comparing wear scar size on test pins under a microscope
- cold oil flow race repeated using the heat-exposed (cooked) oil, at room temperature
- cold oil flow race repeated using the heat-exposed oil after also being chilled to -40F for 10 hours
- independent oil lab analysis: wear metals/impurities, detergent/dispersant additive package, anti-wear additive package, and total base number (TBN)
“Combining my test results with the oil testing labs results, the Motorcraft oil came out on top with an average finish of 2.2.”