Auto teacher steered class from using pennzoil

[MolaKule]

Ask the teacher (in a nice way, of course) if he has any training in metallurgy and chemistry.

If he doesn't anything he says about oil is then speculation/opinion.

 

[Bror Jace]

I think this is an old issue we've discussed before.

Taking advice from a shop-class or BOCES teacher is equivalent to taking advice from your average mechanic. Most mechanics are guys who are good with their hands and feel comfortable taking this apart and putting them back together again.

As MolaKule suggested earlier, that's a far cry from having an interest in chemistry and/or metallurgy ... necessary if you are going to pass along solid information about lubricants.

But, working around a shop and other mechanics they are very willing to pass along horsesense and myths as genuine wisdom ... even if it's completely wrong.

I am pretty sure (old buddy of mine was a school bus fleet manager) that Quaker State had a serious problem about two decades ago ... but I have no first hand knowledge of any problems with Pennzoil.

I think it was about this time that the Quaker-State-sponsored Buick in NASCAR (Ricky Rudd??) had one season of 24 blown engines out of 26 races. That looks pretty bad when you are an oil company and the #1 sponsor of the car.

(And I still don't by QS ... even though I'm sure it's OK stuff today.

)

--- Bror Jace

 

[Bugshu]

Historians might want to comment on Pennsylvania grade crude. If memory serves in olden days Quaker State and Pennzoil were the ones advertising the use of this grade. Im not sure how much wax or pollution was in this grade of crude but there have been lasting rumors of sludged up engines for decades.

Happy Motoring All,

Bugshu

 

[kenw]

technically, California crude is some of the waxiest out there. Seriously. It's death to our pipeline pigs.

 

[Bullet]

You can sludge an engine with any oil, just over extend oil changes. Anyway, a mechanic sees a sludged engine and askes what oil was used. What ever the answer is that oil is labeled "____ will sludge your engine."

 

[sprintman]

And as more people used Pennzoil than anything else there were more sludged engines from Pennzoil users. I just wish they hadn't killed of Performax 100!

 

[Cicero]

When an ace old timer mechanic rebuilt my Toyota 4x4 at 178,000 miles back in 2002, the first thing he said to me when I came by to see how things were going one Saturday was...."You used Pennzoil in this engine, didn't you?" I said yes, every 3 or 4,000 miles since 1990. I ask how he knew that and was something wrong? He said nothing to worry about and showed me "varnish" and "sludge pucky". He said he can always spot a pennzoil engine. (His beer buddies made jokes about Pennzoil, but I can't remember exaclty what.)
He mentioned a bunch of oils he thought were better. I ask him what he used in his cars. He said Castrol in his 914, the Bugs and a '72 Ghia rag top I would have killed for. Mobil 1 in his 944 and 911, which he called his "pigs".

 

[Audi Junkie]

It's bizarre how many random people in the oil isle are groping for the Havoline. Maybe it's becuase of price, I was using Chevron Supreme for that reason. Some people have said, here and elsewhere, that oil companies' motor oil products (Mobil, Texaco, Shell) have a second-rate reputation and blender's oils (Castrol, Pennzoil, Quaker State) are better in terms of reputation. In the past, I sorta took the opposite approach, the economy of scale the oil companies can operate on let's them market a better product at a better price. Chevron Supreme and now Mobil Drive Clean are great examples of that. I only ever heard of sludge with QS, however my grandfather, a 35 year Olds mechanic, used it.

 

[elliorr]

Let's talk about QuakerState from a "few decades ago". I bought a 72 Vette in 1974, I used QS until 1990 when I had the engine rebuilt. One day I went by the shop to check on the progress of the job, they asked what oil I used. They were amazed when I told them. They reported that they had never opened an engine that was that clean. This was after 16 years of QS. Finally, one of the guys said, "it just goes to show that any oil will do if it is changed on a regular basis." It is now 15 years since that rebuild and I still use QS in that engine. So, I can attest to the fact that this engine has lived 31 years on a steady diet of QS. No gumming, no varnish. Long live the Vette!!!!!

 

[Patman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by elliorr:
Let's talk about QuakerState from a "few decades ago". I bought a 72 Vette in 1974, I used QS until 1990 when I had the engine rebuilt. One day I went by the shop to check on the progress of the job, they asked what oil I used. They were amazed when I told them. They reported that they had never opened an engine that was that clean. This was after 16 years of QS. Finally, one of the guys said, "it just goes to show that any oil will do if it is changed on a regular basis." It is now 15 years since that rebuild and I still use QS in that engine. So, I can attest to the fact that this engine has lived 31 years on a steady diet of QS. No gumming, no varnish. Long live the Vette!!!!!

---

Very nice! And thanks for finally making your very first post, even after being here since August 2003!

 

[Mr Nice]

I'm sure if you change Pennzoil every 5000 miles.....you can get over 300,000 miles out of a motor.