Compressor Oil

Bird · Aug 13, 2012

dconine said:
Kohler Engine Company makes & bottles their own oil. At this time, they do not have a synthetic oil but are currently working on some different weights & a synthetic line-up to put out on the market as well. The Kohler command engines have hydraulic valve lifters & the Kohler oil has additives to make those lifters run quieter. We notice there is certain brands of oil that our customers run & you can hear more of "lifter ticking". It really is a great oil & is even diesel rated as well!

Well, these discussions about who makes the Kohler motor oil made me curious, especially since I can't imagine Kohler having their own refinery. The Kohler website and PDF download on the oil has an 800 phone number, so I decided to try it. The second person I talked to didn't hesitate at all before telling me the Kohler oil is made for Kohler by Quaker State. He said Kohler gives them the formula they want and Quaker State makes and bottles it for them. I asked him if he was sure and he said that the last thing he heard.:laughing:

Now that's certainly not definitive proof of who actually makes and bottles it, but I do think if a product is made to your specifications, you can say you made it. And in this case, I do think it's a good oil and at $4.95 a quart for no more than 2 quarts a year, I'll keep using it.:laughing:

Soundguy · Aug 13, 2012

actually.. it sound slike it's specifically mad BY quakerstate.. and bottled by them.

anyone can send a spec sheet and get a custom blend from a packaging refinery. the 'maker' is just that. who made it. lable on the bottl emenas nothing.

I don't 'make' any oil.. but if I called QS and had them bottle me 1millin bottles of oil.. it'd still be 1 million bottles of QS, custom bottled for me..

just the way I see it anyway...

cqaigy2 · Aug 13, 2012

Bird said:
Well, these discussions about who makes the Kohler motor oil made me curious, especially since I can't imagine Kohler having their own refinery. The Kohler website and PDF download on the oil has an 800 phone number, so I decided to try it. The second person I talked to didn't hesitate at all before telling me the Kohler oil is made for Kohler by Quaker State. He said Kohler gives them the formula they want and Quaker State makes and bottles it for them. I asked him if he was sure and he said that the last thing he heard.:laughing:

Now that's certainly not definitive proof of who actually makes and bottles it, but I do think if a product is made to your specifications, you can say you made it. And in this case, I do think it's a good oil and at $4.95 a quart for no more than 2 quarts a year, I'll keep using it.:laughing:

Seems pretty simplistic to use the argument about whether someone has a refinery or not. Almost as bad as saying it's made from a specific well. It can't be to hard to imagine that the oil is only a portion of what goes into what you use, possibly the additives may have some value as well.

Bird · Aug 13, 2012

Soundguy said:
actually.. it sound slike it's specifically mad BY quakerstate.. and bottled by them.

anyone can send a spec sheet and get a custom blend from a packaging refinery. the 'maker' is just that. who made it. lable on the bottl emenas nothing.

I don't 'make' any oil.. but if I called QS and had them bottle me 1millin bottles of oil.. it'd still be 1 million bottles of QS, custom bottled for me..

just the way I see it anyway...

But would you just ask them to bottle a million bottles for you, or would you specify the formula you wanted them to mix before bottling. So yes, you can say they "made" it, but to your specifications, which might be different from their normal run.

You know in 1980-81, the manual with Mercedes diesel cars listed oils by name that were acceptable, including Quaker State. Our Isuzu sedan manual didn't list brand name, but specified CC, CD, etc. Quaker State was an oil that carried that rating, so I used it in both gasoline and diesel engines until 1995, when I bought the Kubota and noticed that the Quaker State bottles no longer had the diesel rating. I called Quaker State's tech department and the guy said it no longer had the diesel rating, but would be OK in diesels, except that you should change it more often. Needless to say, that's when I quit using Quaker State. But now the Kohler oil does have the diesel rating so it would be my guess that it's not the same as the oils with the Quaker State label, even if they are the ones who "make" it.

Soundguy · Aug 13, 2012

who made it is just a statment of origin. how it was made is irrelevant to the issue.. IE.. just looking for origin, it's clear. quaker state.

Bird · Aug 13, 2012

just looking for origin, it's clear. quaker state.

OK, but of course that's just what a guy who seemed to know what he was talking about told me. I cannot vouch for the authenticity of his information.:laughing: