OK, everyone soft stepped around this but I'll come right out and say what I didn't like about Mobil 1 and that is I thought its barrier anti-wear package was minmal/marginal.
I used Mobil 1 (mostly Tri-Syn) in my '95 Honda Civic with 6,000 mile oil & filter intervals since about the 10,000 mile mark and by 80,000 miles, the car emitted the much-dreaded “piston-slap” sound at start-up on cold mornings. Based on my conversations with other Civic owners, this is the AVERAGE point on the odometer that this car will exhibit this symptom. Now, I realize that sort of wear is inherent with the Honda (and some other makes) short piston skirt design but shouldn’t my using a “super-premium” synthetic oil like Mobil 1 (and reasonable change intervals) have delayed its onset significantly? After all, they advertised the oil as having kept an engine alive for over a MILLION miles with some parts showing almost NO wear.
When the oil companies switched from SH to SJ class oils, they reduced the amount of ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate) in their formulas. This stuff can harm catalytic converters over time and the EPA was pressuring the automakers to increase the warranty on their emissions equipment from 50,000 to 100,000 miles. Mobil 1 went
even further in reducing this compound than any other oil I know of, dropping their level to 0.075% while most SH & SJ oils were 1.0% to 1.5% and racing formulations could have 2.0% or more. I think that Mobil 1 over-estimated the protective benefits of their Tri-Synthetic formula base oil when they went the extremely low ZDDP additive route and the result is a lower than anticipated level of protection in real world conditions. Nothing catastrophic, but lower protection is the opposite of the benefits they advertise.
I’ve seen the lab test results from
WTD who used Mobil 1 10W30 in his 2 year-old Chevy V8 pick-up and the results were alarming. Lead particle levels were elevated as well as other problems like a low TBN (Total Base Number) which suggests that the anti-corrosion protection was dangerously low. The sample tested only had 5,000 miles on it and the vehicle had only 20,000 miles on it when he started testing its oil. I find it unlikely that the engine could still be “breaking in” at this stage. He used Mobil 1 again and tested a second sample after only 3,000 miles. Results were improved but could only be described as merely average. Am I wrong to expect more than ‘average’ results from an oil retailing for $4.50 per quart after only 3,000 miles of use?
Most recently, I used Mobil 1 Tri-Syn 10W30 in my Honda push mower (3.5hp, I think). I left it in for two years of moderate use ... maybe 30 hours each year/season and probably never for more than an hour at a time. When I drained the oil, it had a great deal of "glitter" in it.
GLITTER? This machine almost always got annual oil changes and the oil was still a golden color (which is why I left it in a 2nd year) so I can't really blame that glitter on old deposits ... especially since I used Mobil 1 in this thing throughout its life and it never went more than 2 years between changes.
Lastly, if you look at all the M1 UOAs on this site, you'll see a marked improvement when owners switched form Tri-Syn to SuperSyn ... I bet 100% of the time ... and SuperSyn, while providing some really good UOAs, is not providing the absolute BEST (elite) results from all the oils tested to date (here).
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Bror Jace
