Engine Noise And Oil Brand
- Thread starter Charmet37
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4WD
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That's not it.Mobil supplies base stock to over two dozen blenders. They make so many different formulas of their own that members here complain …
They are co owners of an additive company that others use - and they buy additional additives from the same companies that all the others do.
It must be the decal
Everyone knows that ever since Mobil stopped using ground up bits of gargoyle meat in their formulas engines using their oil are noisier than shaking a box of rocks.
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
Gosh - would that have been Magnolia ?
CRAZY!
You defenders of the human ear as an instrument always make me laugh. You're talking about 2 completely different things. In one case something is failing and sounds completely different than it's supposed to. In the other you are splitting hairs on 2 fluids in a big noise machine that are both working properly.
Amazing! You know my vehicle better than I do….
Again if your not in tune with your vehicle doesn’t mean others are not. Tell a musician it’s impossible to tune by ear. When something sounds different it sounds different regardless of what kind of noise machine it is.
The part I struggle with is the idea that someone is able to remember what the oil sounded like at the beginning of the previous OC and then compare that against the new oil. I certainly believe that new, cold oil is quieter than the warm old oil you just drained, but to make an accurate comparison between brands you have to reference what the oil sounded like months ago when it was new. Being able to do that in a quantitative way is quite the "acoustic memory".
Patman
Staff member
Exactly! I’m about to change the oil in my Civic today and I’m sure that before the change when I’m idling the engine with oil that is around 8cst at 100c, it would make the engine sound different than when I first fire it up with the new oil that will likely have a viscosity closer to 40cst
This will be the name of the official BITOG band. ..when one is formed.
I certainly don’t disagree with you. Only engine I’ve ever experienced this with is my current Subaru. I drive 30k per year so a lot of seat time. Have only used two oils from 0-100k miles.
Engines could noticeably sound different based on many factors. Oil temp, ambient temp, dirty oil, etc. Maybe oil type and composition affects it - I don’t know. The real question is does it actually matter?
Might make you feel better if the engine seems/is quieter with X vs Y oil, but does that actually translate to being better. Seems similar to the anthropomorphism thing when people say their engine “loves” a particular oil. Your feelings are probably affecting this more than anything.
Might make you feel better if the engine seems/is quieter with X vs Y oil, but does that actually translate to being better. Seems similar to the anthropomorphism thing when people say their engine “loves” a particular oil. Your feelings are probably affecting this more than anything.
Say what you want, but I KNOW my engine ran noisier with Mobil 1 EP than it did with Valvoline, Pennzoil, and Quaker State. Does it mean those oils are "better" than Mobil 1? Absolutely not, but if they all protect the same (and they all have the certs, so I assume they do) then I am going to go with the ones that keep my engine quiet because I like having a quieter engine.
Patman
Staff member
One of the only ways that people can legitimately say that their engine loves any particular oil is if the rate of consumption is less. (And that only counts if the oils they are comparing it to all are the same viscosity)
I ran Mobil 1 EP and my Coyote was loud as hell. I ran Quaker State, quiet. I ran Valvoline, quiet. I ran Pennzoil, quiet. I ran Mobil 1 EP again, noisy. Mobil 1 was louder in my engine. Period. Why? I don't know. Is Mobil 1 protecting less? I doubt it, but it definitely is noisier.
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It's like talking to a person with CVD and trying to convince them that red and green colors really do exist. If you don't see it, you will remain skeptical but that is separate from whether others can see/hear it.
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It's simpler than you're making it out to be. In most cases these are reports of sounds that are present in one oil and missing in a second.
Hemis are notoriously noisy and you can actually hear videos of sounds that are gone/quieter on one oil vs another.
A great example (though more extreme) is my lawn mower and how the guy who "serviced" it didn't lube the bearings for the blades. After 2 months the noise was getting deafening (slowly getting worse with time, like a frog in hot water I did not notice it getting worse, just one day I clued in and thought "this thing is loud"); I lubed it myself and it was instantly quiet(er). Technically that's "quantifying" and "acoustical memory" but in reality its not rocket science because the contrast is quite noticeable.
Ticks, rattles, knocks, none of these require any real exceptional hearing ability to note when they are severely reduced or eliminated, even in perfectly well running equipment that is otherwise not considered damaged.
You can believe you're special all day long, that's your prerogative. But I prefer logic and science when it comes to technical topics.
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