I took over my dad's 99' Mercury Sable after they bought a new Mercury Hybrid. The car runs like a top and is under the mileage average for its age (103,6XX). I decided to buy it since it rides great, is well equipped, and was one of my mother's favorite cars of all time, and it's not much fun to drive an F350 everywhere.
I've been doing the oil changes on the car since they bought it used ten years ago or so. My mother used the car as a daily driver for a while until they purchased a newer 06' Taurus. I recall the oil initially being very black and it looked like the previous owner, an older woman IIRC, didn't keep up on the oil changes. I think I used a mix of lubricants in the car from Motorcraft syn blend to MaxLife, to all the SOPUS offerings including Shell 5W-30, the final change a before I bought it and installed Mobil 1 10W-30 High Mileage (the older formula from about 2009 or early 2010 featuring ca rather than mg, I think). I changed the oil over the past ten years never letting the car go over 5K OCI's. My father doesn't drive much anymore so he only put on 3K a year, so often it was probably done at 3-4K.
After 4,800 miles or so, the Mobil 1 HM was blackened and spent and had sort of a strange texture I've never seen before. When I did a blotter test by touching the oil stick on paper towels, I noticed the oil corona was still a dark amber, but there were black blotches in the center of what I took to be bits of sludge or other deposits. I was shocked when pulling off the old filter as to how heavy it was, even after piercing the Motorcraft oil filter and draining out all the oil - it was still unusually heavy. Unfortunately I don't have a Dremel and didn't feel like hack-sawing it open. I guess the point is that I firmly believe Mobil 1's claims for it's High Mileage oil's ability to clean. My post here is obviously anecdotal and empirical I don't have any evidence, but there is no questions that the M1 HM removed substantial deposits from my engine and think it's a great oil for a used car with a history one is unsure of.
Next up is three-and-a-half year old Pennzoil ultra 5W-30 SM I installed yesterday, and the car "feels" peppier, but I hate saying things like that since I'm skeptical of others making similar statements regarding noise levels or engine efficiency...
After 4,800 miles or so, the Mobil 1 HM was blackened and spent and had sort of a strange texture I've never seen before. When I did a blotter test by touching the oil stick on paper towels, I noticed the oil corona was still a dark amber, but there were black blotches in the center of what I took to be bits of sludge or other deposits. I was shocked when pulling off the old filter as to how heavy it was, even after piercing the Motorcraft oil filter and draining out all the oil - it was still unusually heavy. Unfortunately I don't have a Dremel and didn't feel like hack-sawing it open. I guess the point is that I firmly believe Mobil 1's claims for it's High Mileage oil's ability to clean. My post here is obviously anecdotal and empirical I don't have any evidence, but there is no questions that the M1 HM removed substantial deposits from my engine and think it's a great oil for a used car with a history one is unsure of.
Next up is three-and-a-half year old Pennzoil ultra 5W-30 SM I installed yesterday, and the car "feels" peppier, but I hate saying things like that since I'm skeptical of others making similar statements regarding noise levels or engine efficiency...
