Mobil 1 - HTO-06 & Seq IVA

[UNC017]

Originally Posted By: tig1



What engines have you torn down that used Mobil 1? What was their condition?


I'm not the one you directed that question at, but FWIW I did a re-gasket on my wife's former 1993 Chrysler 3.5L (first-gen) v6 a couple of years ago. We recently sold it with 257,000 on the clock, and at the time I did the re-gasket it had about 225,000 on it. I ran it on Mobil 1 10w30 from the time it had about 15,000 miles onward. The internals were very clean- not even any yellowish discoloration on the top end. Visible head casting material was still white/silver aluminum, iron parts were still grey/black, wear areas silver, cams were spotless. Even the casting areas directly atop the exhaust ports were not yellowed as I've seen on many engines and older non-synthetic oils. On the bottom end- same story. Looking at the cylinder walls there was no scoring or glazing, and the factory honing cross-hatch was still visible. Tempted as I was, I didn't pop off a bearing cap to take a look there since oil pressure was still fine, and I wasn't planning to keep it long enough to bother rolling in new bearing shells even if they were worn out. Oil consumption was about 1 quart per 5k miles when we sold it last fall.

I'm not saying that it wouldn't have been just the same on another oil, just a single data point- nothing to draw a "trend" through, that's for sure! One thing that has been in Mobil 1's favor, at least for me, is that they've been around a long time. Many oils on the market now (eg. PP) didn't even exist when we bought that car. The other side of the coin is that the Mobil 1 10w30 I started that car on in 1993 was a different substance from the last batch I poured into it in 2008. Would it have performed the same if it had run its entire life on 2008-vintage Mobil 1? Who knows. Oils change a heck of a lot faster than I wear out engines, so drawing meaningful conclusions about today's oil from engine longevity is dicey at best.

 

[SnakeOil]

Well said

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

I've been using Mobil 1 in all of my Cars,Motorcycles, & lawn tractors, since my teens, in in my 40's & can easlily say that Mobil 1 has NEVER LET ME DOWN!....

 

[tig1]

440Magnum,
Iv'e said before M1 may not be the very best oil,if there is such a thing, but like you It has served me well for 3 decads now with very clean engines and never a failure.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Tig1,

Most of the teardowns in the past 7 or 8 years have shown a marked improvement compared to the “old” days of the 70’s and 80’s. The oils that we use now have great additive packages and the engines being built seem to have a better design and production tolerance than before. That being said, the following observations are based upon visual inspection and limited measurement on several engines.

Ford modular 4.6 and 5.4 engines. Tough as nails design and teardowns consisted of mainly gasket changes to the top end and oil pan. Never have seen one blow despite being abused. The worst case had 197,000 miles and had minimal upkeep. The pan had a slight amount of sludge and the oil used consisted of mostly Castrol 10w30. The rest of the engine looked nice with minimal deposits although some scoring of the cylinder walls had occurred and the main and rod bearings had significant wear. NOTE! This was not from the oil used but the owner’s lackadaisical attitude about vehicle maintenance.

The others of this series all looked nice, no deposits, aluminum had a nice coating of oil, oil pans were clean and good-looking internals (did not use the micrometer on these, just gaskets only). These engines had run the same brand the entire time they had been serviced. The brands used were Havoline dino, Mobil 1 and Pennzoil conventional (guess who had the Expedition running Mobil 1…).

Assorted Ford OHV V8’s (302 and 351), V6 (3.0L Duratec) and I-6 (pickup trucks) are the bulk of the engine inspection/teardowns. They all looked remarkably nice inside with a few exceptions. The engines ran everything from Motocraft, Castrol, Pennzoil, Havoline, Mobil and Quaker State. All of the oils in this bunch were dino except for the Castrol engine and the Mobil 1 user. As above, uniform wear patterns, minimal (if any) deposits and nice looking internals without any scoring. The exceptions were two farm trucks belonging to an uncle of mine. His idea of an “oil change” was to add a few quarts when the light came on…..All I can say is that Ford’s straight 6 engines are a GOOD design….

Four Honda I-4 and V-6 engines (2 each) all showed minimal wear when doing gasket replacements, timing belt replacements, oil pan gaskets, etc. Never had a problem out of these engines as they just keep on running. All of these use Mobil 1 5W-20 and range in mileage from 230,000 to my daughters Accord with just over 95,000 on the clock. All have their nice, bright aluminum color intact with no deposits whatsoever except for a slight discoloration on the underside of the cam cover on one.

The race engines are always clean. Fresh oil after every race and a teardown inspection at least twice a season does not give anything time to cause a problem.

In case you were wondering, I wrenched for a living in my youth (back in the 70’s and 80’s) and currently work on my families and friends cars just for fun. It’s my “escape” from work during the week, keeps me out of trouble (and away from chores) and allows me to keep up with what is going on in the automotive world. Needless to say, we all run Honda or Ford vehicles (except for my Toyota Camry hybrid) and Dad pushed and pulled me into using Mobil 1 years ago (ran Castrol back then). I just trust it to do the job but to be honest about it; ANY good oil will do the job.

 

[tig1]

Thanks a lot for all the information. No doubt engines and oil has come a long way in my lifetime. Dads cars in the 40s and 50s were lucky to make 80,000 miles, now days that's just getting started. I have a 4.6 im my 96 Merc Grand Marq. 206,000 miles still runs great and with good upkeep I hope it goes another 100,000 miles. Thanks again for your post.


Mobil 1 5w30

 

[steve20]

guess M-1 must have benn good at one time or another. What's up with all of these gasket replacements? M-1 causing gasket leaks now??


Steve

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Steve,

I usually pull the cam cover(s) just for a "piece of mind" check when changing timing belts. The 3.0 Duratec has a habit of blowing the oil pan gasket out the side when the owner never changes the PCV valve. My 5.4 Triton also had the oil pan changed along with the gasket (an Expedition is NOT an extreme rock crawler during hunting season despite Ford's claims)

The 4.6 had to have the knock sensor changed and I replaced the cams, injectors, fuel rails, ignition system, intake, throttle body and several other items at the same time (niece wanted to make her Mustang "faster".

The other 5.4 with 197,000 miles would lose oil pressure when hot. Understandable when you consider the last 26,000+ miles on the engine was without an oil change. It didn't take long to figure out why, the first main bearing we looked at explained that one...which then required a crank kit, rings, oil pump, cam bearings, cams, etc...

On the two farm trucks one had the oil pump replaced at who knows how many miles (1978 F150) and the other had a run-in with a stock pond. A 14 year old cousin learning to drive found out that engines prefer to burn air instead of water. Pulled the pan and head, flushed and checked it out and put it back together. It still ran OK and we didn't replace anything other than plugs, gaskets, filters and oil.

For the Honda's, my sisters Accord V6 started leaking oil from the rear cam cover and the oil pan at about 225,000 or so. She lives about 3 hours away so I just fixed it this past Christmas when she had the time.

Edit: The only engine that WAS running Mobil 1 above that required a repair was my Expedition. I don't think I can blame XOM for my stupidity although I wish I could.