Engine Protection And Royal Purple Motor Oil

30th June 2010

I MA a skeptical engineer and I have some key questions about Royal Purple Motor Oil . Before I go pouring something into my engine I want to be sure I MA not creating an engine cataclysm in my fear of a catastrophic tossing of rod from a piston seizure . My first priority is my engine is safe and protected then my second priority is the best possible horsepower output and fuel economy .

With that said a few questions come to mind about royal purple motor oil .

The oil is purple! I have read the purple coloured dye does not cause any lubrication issue but does not provide any engine protection benefit. I hope that is the case. Just so you know the oil does not stay purple in your engine and does not turn your engine purple.

If Royal Purple’s #1 priority is to provide the best performance and protection for my engine I would expect the purple dye to be left out.

Why do they put purple dye in their oil ? Marketing and the almighty dollar! I have nothing against savvy marketing or against companies being successful from innovational marketing but my interest is my engine protection and performance. Let’s keep my engine safe and drop the purple dye.

Is this motor oil good for my regular everyday driver and my dragster ? If you search Google on Royal Purple Moly you will find a bunch of claims on the web and some documentation on their website that the oils do have Moly. Moly is a dry graphite like lubricant and can work great by itself and as an additive to liquid oils. The problem is for extended time in an engine it is prone to balling up and fouling filters (so I MA told). This may be why royal purple is popular in some racing circles but that does not mean you can extend drain intervals for everyday use (in fact you might want to shorten them). If you can’t run a synthetic for a little bit longer without losing protection then it is going to be hard to justify $6-$8 per quart.

Bottom line is this skeptical engineer needs to see some more data to make an educated decision on what is best. I get worried when I see the really high levels of Moly being added and purple dye being added as a gimmick. I admit that I MA a bit of preventative maintenance nut but I don’t want the misapplication of a racing tactic to cause long term dMAage to my engine.

Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water here and remember we want engine protection and longevity first and then , and only then, the extra few horsepower.

Oil manufacturers of Mobil 1, Pennzoil, Royal Purple etc… all say they are the best motor oil… but where is the proof ?