I've only owned two Apple products in my lifetime. An old school iPod, and an iPod touch. Never been into the phones.
Does anyone else not like Mobil 1 for no real reason?
- Thread starter Johnny248
- Start date
And lets not forget the Valdez. That was allon Exxon.
I've used Mobil 1 exclusively for at least 15 years in a variety of vehicles 2 Honda's, Mercedes, Mazda, etc... About a week ago I decided to try Pennzoil Ultra Platinum but no reason to do this other than been curious on Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and Valvoline Restore and Protect so the Valvoline may get a run as well in the future. So even though I've been running Mobil 1 for 15+ years straight I'm fine with trying other things as my maintenance patterns are well above the recommended so I have no fear anything bad will happen just from changing the oil brand.
Advertising and marketing power is very very real.
Remember Sony BEtaMax and VHS tapes? Who won? VHS. Why? BetaMax was smaller, far superior image quality, cheaper and in just about every metric was superior in every way. Yet we all went with VHS.
I'm not saying it's the same with oil, but Mobil 1 has a big reputation that a lot of other oils just don't have. Certainly doesn't mean their oil is superior.
Remember Sony BEtaMax and VHS tapes? Who won? VHS. Why? BetaMax was smaller, far superior image quality, cheaper and in just about every metric was superior in every way. Yet we all went with VHS.
I'm not saying it's the same with oil, but Mobil 1 has a big reputation that a lot of other oils just don't have. Certainly doesn't mean their oil is superior.
Do people "love" motor oil ? Oh wait, never mind....
Betamax lost because it was proprietary. Only one source lead to way more support for VHS. Had Sony opened it up they probably would have won.
Being first to the market establishes a number 1 product that is hard if not impossible to overcome. Mobil 1 was the first mass marketed full synthetic.
though its (Mobil) a reasonably good oil, I have noticed that the fan boys here as reflecting it's the best ,which its not or even close, or its NASCAR listed makes it better? , the darling Mobil 1 ESP on here is a decent oil,,(for Euro purposes) though some just dont get it and what it is formulated for,,other than that the Mobil 1 Extended Performance or Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy is a useable oil. Look around and you can find a bit better oil than Mobil.
I'm not a mobil fanboy, although my Trailblazer is currently running some of their 0w30. Is it bad? No, just not worth the cost. Same with Rotella, its just not a good value in these parts
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Always been a fan of Mobil 1 and it's my default for anything I'm not putting HPL into. The approach HPL uses for their blending, pioneered by Dr. Les Rudnick, is an evolutionary spin on his original tri-syn formula that he developed when working for Mobil.
I think I got hooked on Mobil 1 after my '86 Vette, or was it the '90, used Mobil 1 from the factory and had a manifold sticker. Dunno for sure...
Mobil 1 and I have a jaded history.
An overworked Honda mower developed silver sparkles on Mobil 1 5w30 and startup smoke got worse and worse until I switched to Mobil 1 10w30, when the sparkles stopped happening and the startup smoke stopped progressively getting worse. 5-30 Mobil 1 was clearly not up to the task under those conditions.
Otoh, Mobil 1 5w20 in my early 2000s accord seemed to hold up better than the other 5-20s i tried. Following a 7500M oci, new Mobil 1 5w20 sounded the same as what came out, whereas other 5-20 oils were noisier at the end of the OCI and quieter when fresh - Mobil 1 was simply consistently quiet.
The 5-20 also was incredibly consistent in its consumption. When I had 5-30 in a 2.2L Subaru, the consumption was wildly inconsistent and completely unpredictable. Other oils in that vehicle were more consistent. But that 5-20 seemed very stout and robust.
But I later switched to Pennzoil Platinum and used that in everything. One thing Mobil 1 has going for it is that it is reviewed here as thicker in grade than Pennzoil Platinum. at one point I caught a Mobil 1 sale and bought many gallons of it, instead of Pennzoil Platinum. as I swapped the fleet (our 2 cars and the kids various 3), most of them developed a smell like leaky/burny oil for a few weeks after a week had gone by, which later resolved. That had me a little concerned because it was several vehicles switching from one chemistry to another and then all but one had the same affect. The next oil change was normal for all of them and did not have the smell. However, all vehicles consumed more oil during the interval than they had on Pennzoil Platinum.
Someone else on BITOG reported the same experience.
Mobil1 uses different formulations of their additives, base oils and even type IV if I recall based on grade and formulation. (Discussed on BITOG), for that reason it became clear that it’s not just the brand, it’s also the grade. 5-20 for me was a great oil. 5-30 was not. I never had issues with 10-30. But I found the brand in general unpredictable; inconsistent.
While I like the thicker Mobil 1 viscosity, I’ve since gone back to Pennzoil Platinum. no smells, and consumption reduced.
Now, with both of our vehicles targeting a 10k factory OCI, I’m going with either the Toyota Genuine Motor Oil, which has very good VOA results here, or perhaps later something boutique. Both do auto-stop-start and the AW additives are probably good to have.
I know this is a lot of detail. I’ve been changing oil now for about 47 years.
An overworked Honda mower developed silver sparkles on Mobil 1 5w30 and startup smoke got worse and worse until I switched to Mobil 1 10w30, when the sparkles stopped happening and the startup smoke stopped progressively getting worse. 5-30 Mobil 1 was clearly not up to the task under those conditions.
Otoh, Mobil 1 5w20 in my early 2000s accord seemed to hold up better than the other 5-20s i tried. Following a 7500M oci, new Mobil 1 5w20 sounded the same as what came out, whereas other 5-20 oils were noisier at the end of the OCI and quieter when fresh - Mobil 1 was simply consistently quiet.
The 5-20 also was incredibly consistent in its consumption. When I had 5-30 in a 2.2L Subaru, the consumption was wildly inconsistent and completely unpredictable. Other oils in that vehicle were more consistent. But that 5-20 seemed very stout and robust.
But I later switched to Pennzoil Platinum and used that in everything. One thing Mobil 1 has going for it is that it is reviewed here as thicker in grade than Pennzoil Platinum. at one point I caught a Mobil 1 sale and bought many gallons of it, instead of Pennzoil Platinum. as I swapped the fleet (our 2 cars and the kids various 3), most of them developed a smell like leaky/burny oil for a few weeks after a week had gone by, which later resolved. That had me a little concerned because it was several vehicles switching from one chemistry to another and then all but one had the same affect. The next oil change was normal for all of them and did not have the smell. However, all vehicles consumed more oil during the interval than they had on Pennzoil Platinum.
Someone else on BITOG reported the same experience.
Mobil1 uses different formulations of their additives, base oils and even type IV if I recall based on grade and formulation. (Discussed on BITOG), for that reason it became clear that it’s not just the brand, it’s also the grade. 5-20 for me was a great oil. 5-30 was not. I never had issues with 10-30. But I found the brand in general unpredictable; inconsistent.
While I like the thicker Mobil 1 viscosity, I’ve since gone back to Pennzoil Platinum. no smells, and consumption reduced.
Now, with both of our vehicles targeting a 10k factory OCI, I’m going with either the Toyota Genuine Motor Oil, which has very good VOA results here, or perhaps later something boutique. Both do auto-stop-start and the AW additives are probably good to have.
I know this is a lot of detail. I’ve been changing oil now for about 47 years.
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May he rest in peace.
I am a fan of Pennzoil, but Mobil 1 and Valvoline definitely have some good products. Mobil 1 feels like ' you cannot go wrong with" brand. My only complaint is, their product line is rather confusing. Valvoline and Pennzoil have an easy to understand product hierarchy. Whereas with Mobil 1 has various products at the same level.
And name the oil that protects the best as "emission system protection?"
C'mone
- Joined
- May 28, 2014
- Messages
- 2,596
I quit using Mobil around hurricane Katrina. I've seen it used in several engines during the time I was involved in dirt track racing. I have no intentions of ever running it again myself.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
The name "Emission System Protection" (Mobil 1 ESP) came about because the oil was originally designed to exceed C3 requirements for DPFs and the then coming GPFs in Euro vehicles. MB was directly involved in the development. Dual Diesel/Gas ratings is rationalization of being able to use MB229.5x and LL04 in cars previously spec'd for MB229.5 and LL01 when ULS fuels are used. Euro oils generally are "high protection" oils. American companies jumping on the bandwagon and wanting Mobil 1 ESP for high performance engines came afterward. It wasn't intended to imply the best in Mobil's lineup.
Some of us Euro car owners were using it years before people who own American and Japanese cars ever heard of it.
Some of us Euro car owners were using it years before people who own American and Japanese cars ever heard of it.
Patman
Staff member
I may have been the first one on here to start using Mobil 1 ESP in an American car. I first started using it in early 2018 in my Corvette when it was called Mobil 1 ESP Formula 5w-30.
I've used plenty of Mobil1 products such at their heavier 0W30 & 0W40 grade motor oils, 75w90 LSD gear lube and their synthetic Dex/Merc ATF and like'em all. However there are some 5W20 & 5W30 oils(compared to other 5W20/30) that make some of my engines more audible so I just don't use those.
Agreed that people are not living in reality if they don’t like Mobil 1 0W-40 or Mobil 1 ESP 0w30 “for no real reason”.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
At one time, I was very interested in the newer PENNZOIL products Made from Natural gas with the thinking that motor oil created in that process may actually contribute to cleaner engines or even prevent the usual gunk that can happen, especially in the GDI engines of today. I spoke with an engineer friend about this and he felt that it probably does not really make a big difference with the design of those engines with the way the fuel/air is introduced into the combustion chambers.About same here, I'm buying oil to put into engine and mostly pay attention to what the oil offers and also price. I even bought and used Castrol for the oil while not a fan of the company and I'm generally avoid buying anything British if possible.
I think Shell is mostly owned by Brits now, so I'm slowly clearing my Pennzoil stock and switching to Mobil 1. Whenever I was buying Pennzoil Euro LX oil I was telling myself it was made and bottled in Germany to chase Brits shadow away
Similar has happened to other once extremely popular oils. CASTROL is the latest I know of. From as far back as the glory days of the wildly popular So-Cal road and track racing days, CASTROL eventually found a massive world wide loyalty from every day street drivers along with the professionals on the tracks.
YET, just as it is with so many national and international companies since about the 1980s , it is very hard for the customers like us to keep up with and have any idea if the so called "name brands" were have been loyal to even really exist anymore.
I stopped the use of ROYAL PURPLE because of the same. At first, I had seen amazing things happen thru using it on the job. It proved to save the company lots of money thru extended run time of major equipment that I once had to do annual overhauls on. ROYAL PURPLE use extended those to 2 years with bearings still looking new when opened up. So I used it for over 15 years in the Honda Accords. One we kept for 18 years. I stopped using it once I found the company had been sold to someone who instantly changed the formulas. More concerned with profit than results and reputation. Same thing seems to keep happening with CASTROL as of late. I have been trying to determine exactly WHAT is even going on with that company lately. The CASTROL motor oil was founded in England and was highly sought after by all forms of racing. The most popular that folks looked for was manufactured and or blended in England + Germany and even in Belgium. It was eventually made/blended/packaged in the USA and Canada for a time. CATROL to this day is very secretive about it ownership and manufacturing. It has even gone from being all over Tv and other media advertising as well as crowding many store shelves to almost vanishing lately. Supposedly the company has been sold or merged two to three times in the last few years. Those things and the silence from the corporate level made it kind of hard for me to have much faith in it since about 2022. I have gone back to one of my old faithful's Amsoil and a new one, thanks to BITOG, HPL brand for our current vehicles. While they are both not cheap, I have never felt I should use the cheapest products for use in the second most expensive purchases many of us will make besides a home. Being our vehicles that keep getting more and more expensive every year.
I find it funny about how a certain great oil has been treated here at BITOG recently. For all my driving years, until sometime around the late 1990s, I always used a very popular oil with most mechanics I have known. Valvoline. Strange that I have very rarely heard any praise for the Valvoline line UNTIL they came out with the new - (people say amazing) Valvoline Restore and Protect product. Just find it strange.