engine work and oil change now loud valve train

[TheProdigy001]

hello,

i had my water pump and thermostat replaced and i also had a oil change.they used mobile oil from a big drum.i asked what kind of mobile oil it was and they said they dont know exactly what kind of mobile oil because they get in bulk.my car runs great just alot of noise coming from that area.
i checked the oil and it seems very very thin and watery.it just leaks off the stick like water.

any ideas

 

[bullwinkle]

Low oil pressure on gauge or "idiot" light flickering??

 

[TheProdigy001]

oil pressure is fine and no lights on

 

[jim302]

If the oil seems thin, it may mean it is a 5w-20. Some people consider that watery, though I personally don't.

What kind of car is it? Which Engine? How many miles are on it and how old is it?

It is very unlikely that the oil is the cause of any major noise if it is even remotely close to the specs that your engine calls for.

In some rare cases, a bad oil filter can cause noise (more often than not, it is just at startup)... or a mechanical problem could be developing. You may want to see if you can get a proper oil pressure gauge on there since the lights aren't all that helpful unless something really major is wrong (no or almost no oil flow).

 

[tig1]

I doubt that it's M1 if it came from a drum. Most small shops that carry M1 oils will sell it by the QT.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: tig1
I doubt that it's M1 if it came from a drum. Most small shops that carry M1 oils will sell it by the QT.


Probably Mobil Clean if it was a Mobil product.

 

[TheProdigy001]

i started my car again and it is running fine now.runs real smooth now.
he said it was from mobile and he gets it in a big drum.but he is not sure exactly what kind of mobile it is.and he said he put 10w30 in.

 

[OVERKILL]

FYI:

It is "MOBIL" not "MOBILE".

 

[addyguy]

It's just 10W-30 Mobil Drive Clean oil.

Good oil, though, no worries.

 

[Newtonville]

When you buy the Mobile oil in a drum, you just get it and they don't tell you what kind of Mobile oil is in it? I hate Mobile oil even more now for pulling that. Just because they are rich they can do anything and the government should break them up into lttle bits.

 

[cchase]

Originally Posted By: Newtonville
When you buy the Mobile oil in a drum, you just get it and they don't tell you what kind of Mobile oil is in it? I hate Mobile oil even more now for pulling that. Just because they are rich they can do anything and the government should break them up into lttle bits.

Mobil. Not Mobile. Unless there's a refinery in Mobile, Alabama and that's what you're talking about.

When shops buy oil in bulk, they rarely know what it is. That's the fault of the shop employees, not the manufacturer.

Great to see you make your opinions known based on good, solid facts.

 

[saberz]

I find that most oils new when checking the dipstick will run a bit like water. As it ages its less likely to do that.

 

[eljefino]

Mobil Clean bulk oil != Mobil Clean 5000.

It is very close to or = exxon superflo.

 

[jim302]

Originally Posted By: Newtonville
When you buy the Mobile oil in a drum, you just get it and they don't tell you what kind of Mobile oil is in it? I hate Mobile oil even more now for pulling that. Just because they are rich they can do anything and the government should break them up into lttle bits.

The service center or dealer's lack of knowledge about what they bought is not the fault of ExxonMobil.

Also most places just buy what the best deal is... not a specific brand (unless they have an existing contract or agreement). Next time, they could using be a SOPUS or ConocoPhillips product... or maybe even something else.

 

[SteveSRT8]

You bought Mobile oil?

Is that from Alabama?

 

[mechtech2]

So the noise is also gone now?
If not, bring it back and have them fix what they broke.

 

[Newtonville]

Good morning folks, my post was sarcasm/humor, or supposed to be, too subtle I guess. Seriously, the barrels of oil I have seen and there haven't been a lot, have a label. I was pokin' fun at the poster using Mobile and that a shop doesn't know what they buy. And pokin' fun at the negative reaction to everything Mobil I so often see.

I know this because where I worked a guy took care of the diesel generators, WWII vintage from a ship, and he started buying a different Chevron multi grade oil. He bought a new diesel car at the time, and I noticed him siphoning off for himself, and asked why we were using the thinner oil now in the gens. Next day the Chevron label was off the barrel.

 

[cchase]

Well, good show. I walked right into it.

 

[Craig in Canada]

I don't know just how well this thread is progressing to resolution.

What kind of car?

If they don't even know what "kind" of Mobil, do you think they know what "grade" of Mobil?

I'll point out that M1 was significantly noisier in several of my engines, including valvetrain noise. I was a long time M1 user and switching away from it was a very pronounced reduction in noise. Going the other way would have been perceived as a very pronounced increase in noise.

This noise didn't seem to do any harm - UOAs were good, cleanliness was typically excellent.

Maybe you got Mobil1 and you have an engine model which is noisy on M1?

Regardless of my observations/assertions about M1 - if the place doing the work doesn't even know what they put in your car, you might want to change it out just because of that. I certainly wouldn't accept that kind of behaviour with any of my cars.

 

[cchase]

It still seems unlikely that changing out the water pump and thermostat would impact engine oil lubrication.

The safest thing to do would be to change the oil or run an analysis to make sure it is not being contaminated.

Other than that, it's unlikely that the shop would have an engine oil that would be so far out of spec that it would cause problems as you describe unless it's specced for something like a 50- or 60-weight and it has a 20-weight oil in it, and even under those circumstances I can't imagine the oil would be too thin cold.