Johnny, Is Pennzoil 25% better than Formula Shell ?

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Pennzoil oil today is NOT the same Pennzoil of yesterday, just as Quaker State today is NOT the same Quaker State of yesterday, oil have changed but as companys go, Shell is still Shell along with Pennz and Quaker State both being part of Shell also now! S O P U S This is like arguing about the difference between Texaco and Chevron today(and Shell a few years ago when Texaco was partnered up with them-Equalon) they are now the same company and has anyone really found much difference in their oils now to justify the difference in price or brand? Personally I have never used Pennzoil(yes to QS) after all the sludging I saw in the 60/70's with the customers who used it(and yes they for the most part swar by it-in fact my dad was not allowed to even sell it because of his lease with Richfeild/ARCO and hid it in the back room out of sight so we could have it on hand for the diehards that wanted to buy it) that came into my dad's gas station along with the bad Pennzoil I found that had seperated in their cans around 1967-68. Sure Pennzoil made good on it to us by replacing the bad can we saved to show them with 6 new cans but they never did tell us what had happened and I swar I would NEVER use the stuff which I never have. I have never seen anyone else's oil seperate like it did and yes I have seen left over residues in freshly emptied qts but never clear fluid coming out with a honey colored thick(appox 2 to 3in thick)paste left in the bottom- we had 2 to 3 cases that we had not opened yet(back when cases were still 24 cans each) -10w30- that they also replaced one for one. Pennzoil - NOT ME!!!!
 
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GrtArtiste, I have had many American cars with over 150,000 with no engine problems. I bought my 88 Lesabre with 210,000 miles and it was obvious the maintenance had not been done in a long time, but still no problems. You can find pics of the heads in the picture section.

While oils today are probably more equal then ever, some stand out, like Chevron/Havoline. You'll shouldn't have a hard time trying to find proof, there are plenty of UOAs showing how some oils(formulations) just plain do better then others.

-T
 
quote:

Originally posted by doitmyself:
Disregarding the few "OK" oils that ToyotaNSaturn describes above, the following statement made by most oil analysis labs seems to fall on deaf ears at BITOG:

"under normal conditions, we fail to see significant differences between brands of oil for engine use".

It's hard to argue with hundreds of thousands of UOA's.


Labs are good for what labs are good for....get the results and send them to the doctor.
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What qualifies the lab tech's to diagnose?? I take their commentary with a grain of salt. Sorry if I offended anyone.
 
Terry,

The problem for the lay person is to sift through all this information and try to make an educated guess. I trust less than ten member's opinions on this board (You and Johnny included). In fact, I use Pennzoil in my own car because of what I have learned here (of course, people are getting excellent results with Valvoline and Fram too).

Anecdotal stories can't be trusted and avoiding the "group think" scenario is hard to do. Gundmunds post is evidence of what happens.

My question to you is, at what point is it cost effective to do oil analysis/interpretation on a family car? Where I live, most people sell their cars within 6 years or 200,000 miles.

And, is one analysis a year enough to "tune" your oil choice to your particular vehicle?

Please don't think I discount the value of your service or the value of Johhny's comments. You guys are two of the most professional acting members here and you display great integrity in spite of the bone-head statements many of us make. Again, it is hard for the lay person to make an educated guess from all the information that is presented from all directions.

So, now I learned to question the validity of any oil lab's initial interpretation. I should know this - I interpret soil testing reports and I often disagree with the lab recommendations!

Thanks!
 
doitmyself wrote
"My question to you is, at what point is it cost effective to do oil analysis/interpretation on a family car? Where I live, most people sell their cars within 6 years or 200,000 miles."

I'd like to hear the answer to this too. I'd take it a step further and ask is it worthwhile at all when the expected purchase is a GM V-6 in a $25k vehicle that likely will be owned 5 years or less?
 
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Originally posted by Johnny:
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No worries Johnny. I saw my Dad's 4.3L opened up for intake gasket surgery. Nothing but Pennz 5w-30 up to that point (around 150K worth of Pennz 5w-30). Granted, 3,000 mile change interval. Motor was SPOTLESS; metal wasn't even stained hardly. Same with my Mom's Olds 88; got Pennz 10w-30 for it's first 80K or so, and it too is SPOTLESS; no staining hardly at all.
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Pennzoil preferred. But Shell pricing is hard to beat. If your OCI is moderate then I would go with Shell and save the $$$ (Shell is much cheaper than Penn in my area).
 
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