The increasing demand to replace toxic petroleum products with non-toxic renewable sources has driven the use of environmental-friendly lubricating fluids, particularly vegetable oils with modified or enhanced lubricating properties. However, relatively little has been reported on the use of a plant oil-based lubricant auxiliary, e.g. methyl esters, as an oil component for biolubricant manufacturing, and on the resulting lubricating characteristics. Hence, this article investigates the effect of the presence of methyl esters of palm oil (POME) as a lubricant auxiliary on the lubricating characteristics of palm olein-derived base fluids. Palm olein was fortified and homogenised with 1%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% POME, and the lubricating performance of each base fluid was compared with that of palm olein. Interestingly, the POME-fortified palm olein-derived base fluids were found comparable to, if not better than, the mother fluid (palm olein) in a couple of the properties studied, and some properties were superior to the required SAE standards/specification for commercial petroleum-based lubricants. The changes in lubricating properties were directly related to the proposed structural linkage of POME to the triglyceride molecules in palm olein.