I’m afraid I have some bad news . . . and no, it’s not about the economy. It’s about what I often call “imaginary additives”. These are the additives that seem to exist in the minds of many lubrication practitioners but don’t exist in the physical world of lubrication reality. They seem to provide solace to those who pay the bills of machinery unreliability. As good as modern lubricants may be, they are never a panacea for bad lubrication practices.

Conversely, real additives can be real problem-solvers that enhance the performance and reliability of both the machine and the lubricant. So, there’s a difference between the real and imaginary. I want you to know the difference. This column will go down the list of imaginary additives and discuss the many misconceptions that pervade the lubrication community. I hate to be a myth-buster, but reality is reality, so let’s get started:

ANTI-DIRT The only remedy for dirty oil is a filter or an oil change. Even better is not having dirty oil in the first place (via routine contaminant exclusion). Don’t imagine that there is some virulent, dirt-curing additive in your lubricant’s formulation. Dirt doesn’t care how sophisticated your lubricant’s chemistry might be. Whether your lubricant emerged from a backroom or a space-age laboratory, dirt will spare no effort to cut, abrade, dent and score your machine surfaces.

LUBE TIP by Jim Fitch of Noria Corporation