Does Conventional Pennzoil cause sludge?

[FowVay]

Originally Posted By: KW
In the 70's 80's PYB would turn to goo, I spooned lots of it out of many oil pans back then.


When I was a youngster I bought a 1985 Honda Accord. The car ran 10W-40 motor oil in the engine and 10W-40 motor oil in the manual gearbox per the owners manual.

The brand of oil I chose for this car was Pennzoil conventional 10W-40 with Z-7 (remember that additive?). The reason for choosing this oil was because I LOVED the 1985 Penske Pennzoil Cosworth Indycar. It was bright yellow in Pennzoil colors and it won races with Al Unser behind the wheel. It was just cool!

That car served me to 180,000 miles and was sold to a co-worker. It served him to greater than 250,000 miles and was traded in at a local dealership and ultimately sent to auction. I saw that car one day sitting in the parking lot of a local Post Office. I approached the owner and asked about the car to which he confirmed it was purchased at the local auto auction. The car had 311,000 miles on it.

I can attest that the first 180,000 miles didn't hurt that car one bit. I was a fan of Pennzoil then and I'm a fan of them now.

 

[fdcg27]

Used as appropriate, no oil will cause sludge, and PYB has held up really well in the UOAs of it on this site.
It is likely the favorite Grp II oil here at the moment.
Put PYB in a typical Honda or Ecotec, run it to the change interval recommended by the car's maintenance reminder system, and it will do just fine, even though this will greatly exceed the OCI most here would use.
Put this same oil in an application requiring a spec oil, like a turbo VAG, a BMW or a Benz, run it out to the car's required change interval, and you're going to have problems.
PYB is like any oil.
Used as intended, it is great stuff.
Used in applications for which it does not meet requirements and for mileages well beyond what most oils can last for, it isn't going to work.
I've used PYB before, and will no doubt use it again.
I'd even use PYB 10W-40 in the BMW, and it would do fine for a 4-5K OCI.

 

[SilverC6]

Poor maintenance causes sludge.

Contaminants cause sludge.

Long oil change intervals cause sludge.

Pennzoil every 5000 miles with a new filter will help keep sludge away.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Poor maintenance causes sludge.


^^Amen!

 

[hemitruck]

Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Poor maintenance causes sludge.

Contaminants cause sludge.

Long oil change intervals cause sludge.

Pennzoil every 5000 miles with a new filter will help keep sludge away.

using penzoil ultra in my new 2011 dodge ram with the hemi engine, owners manual calls for 7500 mile oil change intervals, would you consider this a long oil change interval? should i do 5000 mile oil change as i have always done in the past using mobil 1? tks

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: hemitruck
Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Poor maintenance causes sludge.

Contaminants cause sludge.

Long oil change intervals cause sludge.

Pennzoil every 5000 miles with a new filter will help keep sludge away.

using penzoil ultra in my new 2011 dodge ram with the hemi engine, owners manual calls for 7500 mile oil change intervals, would you consider this a long oil change interval? should i do 5000 mile oil change as i have always done in the past using mobil 1? tks


Regarding Pennzoil’s position on oil drain intervals, we standby the vehicle manufacturer’s recommendation. If the vehicle manufacturer recommends 3,000 miles or 15,000 miles for drain intervals, we are more than confident our products will excel as long as the Pennzoil® oil selected meets the requirements outlined in the owner’s manual.

Yes. Our oils will meet ANY of the drain intervals set by the OEM as long as the Pennzoil® oil meets the viscosity and credentials specified in the owner’s manual.


thats what pennz has to say about it.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: JT1
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
engine heads were poorly designed


Please explain to me the role in which cylinder heads affect sludge deposits.

Heads end up with hot spots that cook the oil as it passes. Dodge 2.2,3.0,3.3,5.2,5.9 are all notorious sludgers.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: hemitruck
Originally Posted By: SilverC6
Poor maintenance causes sludge.

Contaminants cause sludge.

Long oil change intervals cause sludge.

Pennzoil every 5000 miles with a new filter will help keep sludge away.

using penzoil ultra in my new 2011 dodge ram with the hemi engine, owners manual
calls for 7500 mile oil change intervals, would you consider this a long oil change
interval? should i do 5000 mile oil change as i have always done in the past using
mobil 1? tks


The hemi. We tore down a 2009 last week with serious oil related issues. The pushrods were clogged. The cam had 1/16 inch grooves worn into it. That motor has serious design flaws. I suggest using the best possible oil you can find,change it often and if the valvetrain starts making some real funny noises don't even bother trying to fix it. Buy a crate motor and have it dropped in or pour some graphite into it and put the for sale sign on. From what I have personally seen inside those engines they have serious oil starvation problems and I would stay as far from them as you can.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: Clevy

... Dodge 2.2,3.0,3.3,5.2,5.9 are all notorious sludgers.


I find it funny that you left out the 2.7 which is actually a known sludger.

The 3.0 6G72 is not really a known sludger. They're more known for valve-stem seal problems. If you're going to mention the 6G72 might as well throw the 6G74 2.5 under the bus too. It's biggest shortcoming is that people confuse it for the 2.7

The K-car engines? Sludge was not a problem on my 2.2 Turbo1. The head was removed around 110,000 miles. There were cracks between the intake and exhaust valves on 3 of the 4 cylinders but even with a cracked head there was no visible sludge in the head. My mother-in-law's old Sundance never had a visible sludge problem. And it was driven very slowly for very short trips.

The 318 and 360 LA family? Now you are just being a hater.

 

[Scott P]

I was in a local oil change place here (company car, not mine) and while I was waiting, a service guy told a customer to avoid Pennzoil because it was full of wax. the service tech was in his early twenties if that. I told him he was incorrect, but he replied with "When you work here as long as I have, you learn all about these things." If I heard this before the oil change, I would have asked specifically for Pennzoil, with extra wax.

 

[hominid7]

Originally Posted By: FowVay


When I was a youngster I bought a 1985 Honda Accord. The car ran 10W-40 motor oil in the engine and 10W-40 motor oil in the manual gearbox per the owners manual.

The brand of oil I chose for this car was Pennzoil conventional 10W-40 with Z-7 (remember that additive?). The reason for choosing this oil was because I LOVED the 1985 Penske Pennzoil Cosworth Indycar. It was bright yellow in Pennzoil colors and it won races with Al Unser behind the wheel. It was just cool!

That car served me to 180,000 miles and was sold to a co-worker. It served him to greater than 250,000 miles and was traded in at a local dealership and ultimately sent to auction. I saw that car one day sitting in the parking lot of a local Post Office. I approached the owner and asked about the car to which he confirmed it was purchased at the local auto auction. The car had 311,000 miles on it.

I can attest that the first 180,000 miles didn't hurt that car one bit. I was a fan of Pennzoil then and I'm a fan of them now.


Great story. I had an '81 accord that i drove 160,000 miles on Pennzoil 10w40 before i sold it. Was running great and still looking great.

The engine was driven HARD and never any sludge issues.

 

[Scorch]

I don't see where anyone that has any REAL scientific data/UOA's can even come close to saying PYB causes sludge. At the very least PYB has been PROVEN by many people including myself to reduce sludge especially with multiple short OCI's.

The first 48k in my car are unknown OCI's and unknown oils, but once I got it I started running Pennzoil Conventional through it for 40k with 3,000 mile OCI's with not a single issue. Pulling the valve cover revealed beautiful shiny internals with no signs of sludge or discoloration, beautiful pristine metal everywhere.

Then I switched to the new Kendall SynBlend with Liquid Titanium, ran that for 22k and I am now running Castrol SynBlend since I needed oil fast, but will be switching back to Pennzoil Gold/PYB now.

It's all past horror stories and wives tales that keep people from Pennzoil now-a-days.

Oh by the way, this is the Notorious 2.7L v6 Sludge monster that Chrysler created back in 98.

 

[sm00thpapa]

Need some advice. I been using synthetic oil in my 04 Ascender since 3K on. It now has 96K. The owners manaul states to change the oil once a year or until the OLMS light comes on. It doesn't state anything about using synthetic oil unless I have trouble starting it in winter months. I was stationed at Fort Drum, NY where avergae temp in winter is around -20 and sometimes hits -45 degrees. I always used synthetic oil so never had a problem. I have ran the old Amsoil XL 5W-30 which is good for 7.5K till the OLMS light came on and it was at 12K. My question is, since the owners manul doesn't state to use synthetic oil can I use the PYB for a full year or untl the OLMS light comes on?

 

[electrolover]

if it meets the requirements stated in your owners manual yes. but PYB is cheap why not just do 5k ocis or better yet stick to what you have been doing, its served you well so far...

 

[PontiacFan]

Originally Posted By: Nick R
Completely untrue. Maybe it was true in the 60s, 70s when motor oils sucked and engine heads were poorly designed, but no more. Except in special circumstances,like the pre-04' chrysler 2.7L, and a few Toyota engines, primarily. But note that pretty much ANY oil, of the pennz persuasion or not, can sludge in these cases.


Lets not forget the PCV Systems that were not as good as the PCV systems today, let's also not forget that gas was probably not as good as it was today, let us not forget that sludge can happen under certain driving conditions or if you overextend your OCI's. JMO

 

[sm00thpapa]

Originally Posted By: electrolover
if it meets the requirements stated in your owners manual yes. but PYB is cheap why not just do 5k ocis or better yet stick to what you have been doing, its served you well so far...


I actually caught a sale and got 14 quarts of PP 5W-30 for $3.69 a quart. I have been running PP 5W-30 with a P1 oil filter the last 2 years. I normally run 6K OCI with this set up. I have some Napa SYN and Amsoil XL oil in the garage and will start using that when the PP is gone. I run 9K OCI with the Amsoil XL and Royal Purple oil filter. I may try the PYB once my oil stash is consumed.

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: electrolover

just got threw talking to my sister, she was concerned that the pennzoil she had been running for the past 2 years wasnt good enough (her husband is a hillbilly) and she was very concerned because she "missed" an oil change last year and pushed it 6k. car is an 02 4.0 explorer sport trac with 130k. with religious oil changes at 3k just like the oil change shop tells her to do. but her husband insists she needs synthetic.

i simply popped her oil cap off and let her look in at her engine with a flash light. it looked just like mine! 130k and looks like new!!(should have taken a pic but didnt think about it) anyway it put all her husbands theories to bed and she is sticking with PYB. i did tell her she could push it to 5k but she is so happy with the cleanliness she wont go for it. so we compromised and i will be doing her oil changes from now on to save her money.

this fall ill get some pics

 

[Braap]

This info is so old but I'm going to tell you a story about how I use to help my neighbor work on his car engines when I was a kid.

This was in the late 1980s.

He had a Jeep that was his baby and he mailordered some kind of boutique oil exclusively and when we pulled the heads and intake off that motor it looked 100% brand new inside. The jeep had around 70-80K at the time.

Not but a week later we had to remove the valve covers for a leak on his wife's car. It had 65K miles and had regular Pennzoil oil changes exclusively. It was so gunked up that the valve covers were filled w/ black sludge 100% except the area where the rocker arms worked. It was packed w/ black tar inches thick.

I hadn't touched Pennzoil since then until 2 oil changes ago when I bought PU.

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: Braap
This info is so old but I'm going to tell you a story about how I use to help my neighbor work on his car engines when I was a kid.

This was in the late 1980s.

He had a Jeep that was his baby and he mailordered some kind of boutique oil exclusively and when we pulled the heads and intake off that motor it looked 100% brand new inside. The jeep had around 70-80K at the time.

Not but a week later we had to remove the valve covers for a leak on his wife's car. It had 65K miles and had regular Pennzoil oil changes exclusively. It was so gunked up that the valve covers were filled w/ black sludge 100% except the area where the rocker arms worked. It was packed w/ black tar inches thick.

I hadn't touched Pennzoil since then until 2 oil changes ago when I bought PU.



ok guys dont go off on him

there could have been mechanical issues or just pour maintenance habits that caused the sludge

 

[sm00thpapa]

Why is PU still API SM?