EdT

What would happen say we used......MOBIL 1?

Mobil 1 is just a trademark, if you compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges they are all the same, just get the stuff thats the cheapest and on sale. There are only around 3 major oil companies that have any significant clout in the world, they produce 99% of all the petro products that you use. All motor oil must meet or exceed SAE/API certification(go look at any bottle of motor oil if you don't believe me !), so the .99c bottle of Walmart liquid gold is just as good as the $2.99 bottle of Castrol$$$ BS sludge ! I guess cool TV commercials(thats where your $2.00 is going to !) really works !

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

This may be an old wive's tale (or would you call this a husband's tale? ) but I use Valvoline or Castrol because they don't contain parafin, which apparently gums up as it breaks down. I guess that won't hurt if you change your oil as regularly as you should, but I really don't know if the other ones contain parafin or if parafin even does such a thing.

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

I do agree that every motor oil must meet certain standards, but I still believe that some companies make better oil than others. Call me naive, I guess. Just as an Evo and a Lancer must both meet certain guidelines, but one is superior.

HobieKopek

iTrader: (8)

5w30 and 10w30 are recommended by the manual. 5w10 for temperate to cold climates, 10w30 for hotter climates.

I used Mobil1 15w50 in my car. It generates extreme heat between the manifold design (it really radiates heat like crazy) and the turbo my undhood temps can get pretty high. Coolant temps stay within normal ranges, but ambient air temp seems to have changed a lot. It runs fine and I have less concern about the oil thinning and coking.

EdT

This may be an old wive's tale (or would you call this a husband's tale? ) but I use Valvoline or Castrol because they don't contain parafin, which apparently gums up as it breaks down. I guess that won't hurt if you change your oil as regularly as you should, but I really don't know if the other ones contain parafin or if parafin even does such a thing.

Its wives tale, like I said before most of the refined oils come from one of the 3 refineries around the world, companies like Castrol, Quaker State, Penn and even Redline are marketing companies and bottlers. Exxon(ESSO) and Shell refines about 90% of the oil in the US.

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

Are you trying to tell me that there is NOTHING inside the oil except for refined oil? The difference between the different companies is not just bottling. They put additives in the oil to make them perform better, and some companies use different additives than the other companies.

I talked to a reputable car guru, and she confirmed the parafin thing I originally heard from my dad. Some oil companies still put parafin in their motor oil, and parafin is a wax, which gets soft when hot and hard when cold. Now when the oil and its additives seperate, the parafin starts to gum up inside different engine components any time the engine is off.

That being said, I'll stick with Valvoline.

If anyone is curious also, all synthetics are parafin free.

Lancer03oz

i have 5w30 synthetic oil in my lancer.

Higgity Hank

It's quite true that there are only 3 major oil companies that refine 99% of the oil going to market. But Valvoline, Castrol, QS, Redline etc, are not just "rebottlers or marketing companies" After refining, the oil gets that companies "special blend" of additive packages. That's where your $2 is going.

Additive Packages include, but aren't limited to:
Friction Modifiers
Detergents
Anti-Coking modifiers
and about 3 others I can't think of right now (it's pretty early on the east coast)

But what I'm getting at here is with oil, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. It's really one of those things. At the 99 cent price point, you're getting 99 cents worth of just oil. Pay a little more, get things like a detergent to keep the engine clean and free of deposits (which is why people have all these myths about Synth oil. Synth Oil doesn't cause leaks, it simply runs a really nasty detergent package to clean out the crap... and a lot of older engines are being held together with that crap... clean it out, and it's gonna leak like a seive.)

Anyhoo... Not all oils are created equal.



Edit: Totally Missed Urban's post. He's right on the money. (except I like Castrol)

Blacksheepdj

iTrader: (88)

Edt, how can you seriously believe that? That's like saying that because Pepsi bottles Pepsi, Mt. Dew and Sierra Mist, they must all be exactly the same drink with different labels.

Just because the same companies refine the oil doesn't mean all oils are the same. Rupert Murdoch owns half of all TV and they have different programs on. Clearchannel owns most of radio, but . . . wait, bad example.

EdT

Edt, how can you seriously believe that? That's like saying that because Pepsi bottles Pepsi, Mt. Dew and Sierra Mist, they must all be exactly the same drink with different labels.

Sorry to burst your bubbles and get your hopes high, but motor oil is motor oil, the additives(detergent and polymer stablizers) is pretty much the same for all brands.
Guyz, I'am a mechanical engineer with over 18 years of industry experience and did my stage in the petro chemical refining field ! and I will share another one of my experiences with you guyz, when I was working at Exxon, the senior chemist and chemical engineers just laughed every time someone asked them if one brand of oil is better than another, they just told me to go down to the bottling plant and you will see we bottle for ourselves ESSO and all the other brands when the ESSO's quotas are done they they start bottling for Walmart, Canadian Tire, Sears etc...
The same goes for gasoline, I now too laugh everytime someone thinks they can increase octane in their gas by pouring a bottle of $10 Octance Boost into their gas tanks, it takes over $6 000 000(1986 figures) to increase 1% of octane at the refinery level.

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

Interesting, I'll see if I can dig up a thread on another forum where some chemistry grad students tested Redline, Royal Purple, and a number of other synthetic and non synthetic oils, and found different materials in them.

EdT

Ok, here IS a posting from Super Honda forums for some of you still non believers, read the article VTecaddict posted:

http://www.superhonda.com/forum/show...ight=motor+oil

urbanknight

iTrader: (14)

2 observations reading that thread...
1) most of the people on that thread seem to disagree with you too.
2) the article that I am assuming you wanted us to read admits that the cars used never really cooled down, which if you read my above post, is where parafin based oils create sludge. The article even addresses that as a flaw in their testing. Also, the article does warn against using oils without the startburst logo. Contrary to what you seem to believe, there is no law that oils have to be SAE approved. That starburst logo which denotes SAE standards is found on less than half of the oils and oil filters on the market today.

In case any of you don't know, SAE is the Society of Automotive Engineers. They create a network of colleges and universities (students, professors, and engineers) to develop better technology in vehicles. They are NOT a government agency and DO NOT dictate all products on the market, but since they are so advanced their approval is sought after by many companies.

For the record, I am a former member if the SAE and read up on some of their tests and publications. Their approval is not required, just a very good idea. Valvoline, Castrol, and Purolator (Pure One only) have SAE approval. Last time I checked, Mobil didn't even have SAE approval. Does that mean it's not as good of an oil? No, but I don't feel like taking chances.

Ed, you may be right, and there is no sure shot guaranteed way to test our opinions, but I personally have seen 2 engines, same year and manufacturer with close to the same mileage, torn down. The car that ran Valvoline exclusively was fairly clean while the one that got Jiffy Lube oil changes (usually Penzoil) had sludge and gummy deopsits all over the thing. Does that prove anything? No. Does it make a strong argument? I think so. I respect your opinion, but I'll keep mine thank you.