Lubricants

The Vital Role of High-Quality Motor Oil in Commercial Operations

It’s often said that oil is the lifeblood of an engine, so it makes sense that you’d want to invest in a good, high-performance oil for your fleet.

Using the highest quality motor oil for your commercial vehicles is essential for achieving peak performance, fuel efficiency and even environmental benefits.

Does Motor Oil Quality Matter?

To put it simply, yes. Quality absolutely matters, and the reason becomes clear when you consider what engine oil does:

Lubricates the engine: Motor oil creates a lubricating film that prevents direct contact between the engine’s internal metal parts, which helps reduce friction and slow wear.
Removes impurities: As the oil flows through your engine, it picks up microscopic debris and carries them into the oil filter to prevent a blockage.
Seals clearances: Motor oil with the right viscosity forms a protective layer between moving parts such as pistons and cylinders, effectively sealing clearances and preventing contaminants from getting in.
Protects against corrosion: Combustion generates corrosive acid that can damage your engine’s metal components, and additive-enhanced motor oil can help slow corrosion even more.
Cools the engine: Although coolant is the main substance that keeps the engine from overheating, motor oil also plays a role in cooling the engine. It absorbs heat as it flows and carries that energy through the lubrication circuit to supplement the coolant.

Although it may cost more in the short term, investing in high-quality motor oil is the best choice you can make for your fleet. Poor-quality oils will lubricate the engine, but they can often introduce additional problems that negate any of the other benefits you might gain.

Benefits of Using High-Quality Oil in Your Vehicles

Using a good motor oil is one of the easiest ways to keep the vehicles in your fleet in good condition for as long as possible. Plus, it comes with certain business advantages that you won’t get from lower-quality oils.

Here are some of the most significant benefits you can gain from choosing high-performance motor oils:

Longer engine lifespan: Motor oil lubricates the engine’s internal mechanical parts, which reduces friction and prevents them from wearing out too soon.
Cost savings: In addition to ensuring your engine lasts longer, motor oil helps reduce maintenance and repair costs by keeping wear to a minimum and preventing corrosion.
Improved vehicle performance: Adding oil to your engine ensures it works properly, which ensures high performance over longer periods of time.
Reduced emissions: High-performance oils can help your business work towards sustainability goals. By carrying contaminants out of the exhaust gases and into the oil filter, motor oil reduces the amount of emissions that enter the atmosphere during operation.

What to Consider When Selecting Motor Oil for Your Fleet

No two motor oils are created equal, which is why it’s important to find the right one for your commercial vehicles. Here are some of the most important factors to evaluate before you choose a specific motor oil.

Oil Type

There are four types of commercial motor oil you can choose from:

Mineral: As the most basic type of motor oil, mineral oil is also the least expensive. However, it does not undergo filtering and therefore contains impurities that can harm your engine.
Synthetic: Synthetic oils go through special treatment to remove impurities, which helps improve performance and reduces the risk of damaging your engine. However, this extra step adds to the cost, making synthetic the most expensive motor oil option.
Synthetic blend: Semi-synthetic oils are a middle ground between mineral and synthetic oils that are higher in quality than mineral oils but less costly than synthetic options.
High-mileage: This type is a synthetic oil that is designed specifically for vehicles that have traveled long distances.

Viscosity

Viscosity is a measure of how thick an oil is at different temperatures, which directly impacts engine performance as well as:

Film strength: Higher-viscosity oils create a thicker, stronger film than low-viscosity oils. As a result, they’re better suited for use in heavy-duty vehicles that operate under high-stress conditions.
Lubricant life expectancy: All motor oil breaks down over time, though high-viscosity oil tends to last slightly longer due to its higher film strength.
Energy efficiency: An oil with the correct viscosity will effectively reduce mechanical friction within your engine, which eliminates excess energy consumption.
Fluidity: The right motor oil for your vehicle will flow well at the engine’s typical operating temperature, which ensures it reaches all friction-generating engine components.

The specific viscosity you should use varies depending on your vehicle’s engine design, which is why it’s best to check the owner’s manual first.

Oil Brand

Using generic or unbranded motor oils can save you some money, but it’s less likely to deliver the performance you’re looking for. Generic oils are more likely to be mineral oils, which can minimize the protective qualities of the oils and introduce harmful contaminants into your engine.

It’s a better idea to opt for an established, reputable brand with a history of performance and quality. In addition to providing better results overall, many brand-name engine oils come with certain guarantees and customer service perks that generics lack, which can help maximize their value.

Supplier

Shopping for motor oil involves more than simply selecting a product. You also want to make sure you’re getting your oil from a reliable company.

Essentially, it’s best to treat your supplier like a business partner. To get the most out of that partnership, you should look for a supplier that offers perks like:

Discounts on bulk orders
Same-day service
Rapid delivery
Service bundles

While you’re doing research on suppliers, make a shortlist and contact any that stand out to you. Ask what kinds of products they carry as well as the types of services they offer, and use that information to determine whether they would be a good fit for your business.

Choose Foster Fuels as Your Bulk Motor Oil Supplier

At Foster Fuels, we’re proud to be your company’s one-stop shop for commercial fuel and lubricant products and services. We have nearly a century of experience in the business, so you can count on us to provide you with the products and expertise you need to keep operations running strong.

We carry a wide selection of top motor oil and commercial lubricant brands, such as Pennzoil, Sunoco, Petro-Canada, Shell and more. Our knowledgeable team of experts can help you find the right match for your fleet — and we can bundle other commercial services to give you the best price possible.

Bailey Klocko