Originally Posted By: Pig
Originally Posted By: Thax
Originally Posted By: Pig
Amsoil is not available in my area and I am of the impatient type not to wait for oil to be snail mailed on the back of a 3 legged horse just cause they deem engine oil to be hazmat.
I know there are various engine oils out there that have the ZDDP in it, but it's more scarce than hens teeth. Hence why I am looking for a compatible full synthetic that will blend well with the ZDDP.
As an ASE Master Cert Tech with Factory Certs, I can tell you from personal exp. that Pennzoil was the sole cause of launched engines due to excessive wax build up. The VW/Audi 1.8Turbos do not like this oil and I have seen wax build up on the heads and I worked at a dealer where we had over 180 engines nuke. About 10% were Pennzoil cars based off of maintenance records and VW engineers said it wasn't oil but wax. Personally rebuilding engines cause of Pennzoil has made me distrust the brand.
Well you said it yourself , improper maintenance. The VW/Audi 1.8T require vw 502spec oils. These are thicker synthetics , thick 30 weight to 40 weight oils with a HTHS of 3.5 or greater. Of course a conventional oil which is run to a VW oci is going to sludge , especially on the sludge prone 1.8T. Any conventional oil stessed in such a environment will sludge be it Castrol , Valvoline or Pennzoil . It is not Pennzoil the oils fault rather the maintenance neglect, further more if you really want to get into it Pennzoil is perhaps the best conventional oil on the market. Instead of distrusting the oil for blown motors , distrust the engineers who spec such long oil change intervals or the consumer/dealers for not using the correct oil.Pennzoil aint the problem Sir.
Never said it was improper maintenance. The vehicles that got engines all had proper maintenance records. Had they not had the proper records, then VW/Audi would not warranty the engines. Since 180 cars at the time needed engines, I would venture a guess that these people had done the services as required by the manufacturer.
BTW, the cause of the sludge build up was conventional engine oil in a 4 qt system on an engine that is turbocharged. Those engines regularly push 200F and the placement of the oil feed line to the turbo right above the exhaust manifold led much to the problem. The fix was a larger oil filter and a switch to full synthetic as per the TSB issued as of the direct result of this.
If this is the case it is the fault of the manufacturer to spec a conventional in such a engine , conventional oil is a poor choice for this engine regardless of the brand. Incorrectly specified oil at too long of a drain interval will surely result in a sludged motor. If as you say 10% of these blown motors were using Pennzoil , then Pennzoil is doing something okay considering that it is by far the highest sold and used crankcase oil in North America, what oil was the other 90% ?