Ok - fess up - who has oil-predjudices?

[tec97]

I'm wondering here who has prejudices against which oils and why.

I'm not afraid, so I'll begin!

Prejudiced against:

Castrol - I won't buy Castrol products because of the 'synthetic-is-a-marketing-term' debacle

Exxon - I won't buy Exxon products because I still hold the Exxon Valdez against them

Mobil - I won't buy Mobil products because they are part of Exxon now

Shell - About to be on my $hit-list because of the shenannigans they are fixing to pull in California w/ their refinery

SuperTech - I won't buy SuperTech products because they are the store-brand of the evil empire

I think that sums up my personal oil prejudices. Who's next?

 

[jthorner]

Let's see, Union 76 scammed the entire industry by sitting on a committee to design California reformulated gasoline and then secretly patented the formula and then held the other companies hostage for royalties, so they deserve the **** list. BP bought Union 76, so I guess all BP products are out. Add that to your list above and I guess we have almost no company left to buy fuel from.

The problem with a **** list way of making decisions is that you end up doing business with companies which have done things which would put them on your **** list if you knew about those things, so the only way to not be completely paralyzed is to make sure not to know too much about too many companies

.

VW's original factory was built by concentration camp slave labor and MB was in deep with the Nazi's in the use of slave labor as well. In fact, nearly every large German company which existed pre 1945 was in bed with Hitler. So, rule out all German cars, all Bosch products, etc.

During the Bennett years Ford Motor company was interally a reign of terror and Henry Ford was a noted anti-semite. More recently there were the mid 1980s Ford paint jobs which lasted less than five years in western climates and which Ford avoided responsbility for. Hmm, also the Ford ignition modules and automatic transmissions with 80%+ failure rates by 75,000 miles. Better cross all Ford/Motorcraft product off your list.

Toyota blamed customers for it's sludge prone engines and cost lots of people lots of money. Toyota was also pretty tight with the military during Japan's agression in WWII. Same for Nissan/Datsun. I don't know what Honda was up to then. Well, no Japanese cars then.

GM released unbaked designs like the diesel and continues to sell intake manifold leak prone products. Bzzzt, no GM.

I could go on and on, but will show a little restraint

John

[ May 06, 2004, 05:47 PM: Message edited by: jthorner ]

 

[tec97]

Man, I didn't ask for a critique of having a $hit list - I asked who had one and why... I'm fully congnizant of the issues you raise, but I have one anyway.

 

[Whimsey]

Actually I choose to use an oil based upon it's performance and not perceived corporate responsibility or irresponsibility. Having said that and faced with the choice of so many quality oils I stick with oils proven by myself through use and UOA's from BITOG. Currently Mobil 1, Chevron/Havoline, Motorcraft and Schaeffer's Blends are my oils of choice. Price and performance, or "bang for the buck" means more. I know there are other good oils out there but these satisfy my needs at a price I'm willing to pay. So many oils so few vehicles

. I can honestly say I don't have any prejudice against any major brand oil or even Walmart oil. It's up to us to determine what's best for our own needs.

Whimsey

 

[ALS]

I don't know enough about oil to know what, how, why, and how come, to have a prejudice of any oil brand, type, weight.

 

[Jelly]

I prefer oils that are available widely...have a prejudice against "mail-order" oil.

Only like group IV/V PCEO's and HDEO's...have a prejudice against PCEO mineral oils.

 

[Mark in NY]

I always try to get the best price/performance product. (Motorcraft 5-20 for now).
On the emotional/righteous front I have avoided Castrol products since learning of the "synthetic" issue a few years ago.
...anyone from the Castrol marketing dept. listening?? You lost a customer, possibly for life.

 

[Pick]

Used to be prejudiced against Quaker State. We used to call it "Caker State" because of the brown sludge build up it used to cause under the valve covers. But, those were in the olde days of Pennsylvania crud, er, I mean crude oil being used as the base for oils like Pennzoil, Wolf's Head, Amalie and Kendall.

 

[Mystic]

A long time ago I used to use Pennzoil nearly all the time. And then I heard so many negative things about Pennzoil from people who seem to know what they were talking about that I moved away from Pennzoil and started using other motor oils. But I think all of this stuff about Pennzoil (and sometimes Quaker State) being prone to sludge was caused by mechanics seeing more cars and trucks with sludge where these oils had been used and not taking into consideration how common these oils are. But I had developed a kind of misplaced prejudice against these two oils.

I am somewhat upset with Castrol because of the weird stuff we have had to put up with the German Castrol oil. Long story but to make it short I became very tired of looking for the stuff.

So I have had sort of oil prejudices I guess you could say. But today, I think any name brand oil will get the job done in most vehicles in a normal oil change period. My personal opinion is that there is a difference between motor oils with a few being somewhat higher in quality. When it comes to conventional motor oils, and based on what people have found out here at this web site doing VOAs and UOAs, I would say that Pennzoil, Castrol, and Chevron probably rank at the top or near the top.

 

[427Z06]

Are you defining "prejudice" as, "adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand without knowledge or examination of the facts?"

 

[andyfish]

How about filters and FRAM....

 

[labman]

quote:

---

Originally posted by 427Z06:
Are you defining "prejudice" as, "adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand without knowledge or examination of the facts?"

---

Close enough for me. Sometime in the late 80's I switched to Quaker State SG from Pennzoil. Later, I discovered my Phoenix V-6 was sludged up. I was using longer OCI's then than I interpret the owners' manual calling for now. I have no evidence that the sludge built up faster after I switched to QS. Still, it would be difficult to reach for the green bottle now.

Having seen the inside of a FRAM, I think I have more logic in refusing to use one ever again. Again, I have little evidence that other filters protect better.

I think I also see some here that have great faith in that if it costs more, it must be better.

In this thread, I see other like me that are slow to forgive past misdeeds.

 

[Mystic]

I think you have to be very careful about rumors that can start spreading very quickly in the auto repair business. There are mechanics who will believe all sorts of things. I know of a guy who was supposed to be a professional mechanic who nearly killed himself running a car engine in a closed garage in the wintertime. Both he and another guy who should have known better were pouring antifreeze straight into their cooling systems (or their customers cooling systems) with no water mixed in. You have to follow the directions on the container.

In the case of Pennzoil and Quaker State, I think what happened was mechanics saw a lot of sludged up engines where these oils had been used because both of these oils are so common. 2 + 2 added up to 5 in this case.

There are guys who should know better who do crazy things like putting mothballs in their fuel tanks.

Now, there can of course be a problem with a brand of motor oil. Or maybe just a bad batch of oil. I do think it is likely that some brands are better (at least a little bit) then other brands.

 

[JohnBrowning]

I do. I like the following brands: Mobil Synthetics,Amsoil,Redline,Motul, Chevron Supreme,Delvac Conventional and Synthetic, Delo 400 and Penzoil Long Life. I am not too found of generic products like Walmart brand oil and gear lube or other store brands.

In the end regular maintence with lubricants that match your usage with OCI that match the lubricants life cycle is the key.

 

[Pablo]

I don't like Citgo. Sounds almost like Sh!tgo.

Don't like Crisco either, way over hydrogenated...I mean that stuff won't flow at room temp....

Castrol...well I'm not digging the whole Castration thing, so yeah I know, it doesn't come from castrated sperm whales anymore, rather it now comes from castor bean plants....isn't that where they get ricin? See what I mean, it's one big plot.

 

[mikep]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pablo:
I don't like Citgo. Sounds almost like Sh!tgo.

Don't like Crisco either, way over hydrogenated...I mean that stuff won't flow at room temp....

Castrol...well I'm not digging the whole Castration thing, so yeah I know, it doesn't come from castrated sperm whales anymore, rather it now comes from castor bean plants....isn't that where they get ricin? See what I mean, it's one big plot.

---

 

[T-Keith]

I guess I don't like Quaker State, because they insist on selling snake oil like Sludge 50.

Castrol's got the whole "sythetic" deal.

Actually it's kind of like politics. They're all scumbags, but you have to pick one. Pick which ever one will work best for you. Let's face it there's no such thing as a perfect politician or oil company.

-T

 

[Pablo]

glad you appreciated that, mikep...it was merely the product of my sleep deprived brain....

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jthorner:
VW's original factory was built by concentration camp slave labor and MB was in deep with the Nazi's in the use of slave labor as well. In fact, nearly every large German company which existed pre 1945 was in bed with Hitler. So, rule out all German cars, all Bosch products, etc.

---

Don't forget that Hitler had a picture of Ford on his desk, and Ford had a picture of Hitler.

 

[Stab]

Well I'll chime in.

I hate amsoil. IMO any product that is praised as much as amsoil has to be overrated. I also don't like how someone that becomes a amsoil "dealer" over the phone or by mail seems to consider themselves more "in the know" than others. Everytime I see a car with amsoil stickers I just laugh. Amsoil users kinda look alike to me. Seems like the same type of guy buys amsoil and puts a amsoil sticker on his vehicle. I think they sell a combo pack of stickers with amsoil these days because everytime I see one it is next to a west coast choppers sticker in the back window. 99% of those guys do not even own a motorcycle let alone a $150,000 motorcycle. Also every amsoil "dealer" I have ever talked to in person believed Pennzoil would sludge a motor.

You did ask for prejudicial comments so I just answered honestly. No offense intended to all amsoil "dealers". I only mean to offend the ones I have had personal contact with.

[ May 13, 2004, 02:05 AM: Message edited by: Stab ]