Pennzoil: 'burned' on extended drains?

[addyguy]

Pennzoil has their newest oil out, Ultra, which 'looks' like it could easily do exteneded drains, and be competition for Mobil 1 Extended Performance and Castrol Edge in the '15k or one year' market.

But, Pennzoil is adament that they aren't marketing this as an exttended drain oil, they want you to follow the manufacturer OCI, or 4k miles. So Pennzoil doesn't technically have an 'exteneded drain oil' at all.

But this wasn't always the case. Way back, in the 1970's, Pennzoil marketed an oil called 'PZL', which was a semi-synthetic oil that was designed for extended drains. It came in 10W-40 and 10W-50, and was recommended for 15k or one year, whichever came first.

I'm wondering if Pennzoils aversion to blanket exteneded drain intervals come from experience with this oil - was this oil such a failure that Pennzoil said 'never again' to the extended drain market? All the 'sludge myths' about Pennzoil, did they come from this oil? Did people try 15k with it, and enough ended up with a sludgy mess that Pennzoil got a bad rep?

There were other '15k' conventional oils out at the same time - STP 10W-50, Gulf had a 'Multi-G' 15k oil, and QS 'Sterling' 15k oil. They all disappeared pretty quick, probably b/c of problems - does Pennzoil just have a long memory of what happened?

Johnny? You marketed Pennzoil around this time...what was happening?

 

[hate2work]

 

[Bill in Utah]

Man... Been discussed too much here.

There is NO way an reputable company is going to come out and say go ahead and run this oil 15k and have a nice day.

Amsoil does not, Mobil does not (to a point) and Pennzoil does not. Pennzoil SMARTLY says run your oil as recommended by the MFG who built the engine. If they say 15k our oil can do it. If they say 3k our oil can do it.

Pennzoil also says if (for example my Corolla) the MFG says 5000 miles or 6 month WHY do you think Pennzoil would say go ahead and run it to 15k? Esp when they are marketing it for Ultra clean and keeping your engine factory clean (both are a joke IMO)

Even Amsoil says don't do extended OCIs with my engine. WHY? Because they are reputable and don't want the customer to risk their engine.

I respect Amsoil and Pennzoil for using common sense even in marketing. (to that point)

Okay rant off...

Bill

 

[buster]

Nah Pennzoil is tied in with the QuickLube market. They also prefer letting the OEM's dictate drain intervals.

Same with Ashland although Ashland is beyond ridiculous pushing 3,000 mile drains in 2010. What a joke.

 

[addyguy]

Bill, relax.

I didn't really intend this to be a debate about the 'coditions' different companies set for exteneded drain oils.

It was actually a lot simpler than that - were the 'extended drain oils' of the 1970's (those listed above, including PZL) such problem-prone products, that Pennzoil took from that that exteneded drains were a bad idea?

You'll notice some of those oils aren't around anymore (original Gulf and STP), and the ones that ARE still around (Pennzoil and QS) DON'T offer or espouse exteneded drains.

Was a 'lesson learned' here, which dictates SOPUS's current approach on the subject?

 

[Johnny]

1. SOPUS is not saying what the OEM recommends or 4K. Forget about the 4K, that is only if you want to take advantage of the SOPUS warranty. What SOPUS says is change your oil even if the OEM recommendation is 15K. Do what the OEM says, if you have one go by the OLM.

2. Nothing that happened back in the early 80's with Pennzoil dictates anything to Shell.

3. The Pennzoil 10w40 you are referring to was a Group I - Group IV blend and was totally rejected by the consumer market. It was a marketing dud. Like todays long drain oils, most who tried it did not do long drains with it.

 

[Thermo1223]

There is nothing wrong with keeping an engine clean btw Bill.

Shiny metal makes lots of people happy

 

[daman]

I think all synthetics are of great quality today and will/can do EOCI it's just the manufacture is not willing to go out on a limb and say it at the risk of well you know.

PP,PU is a fine oil if Mobil hasn't been good to me in the last 20+ years i'd be a SOPUS man!!!!

my sig would read "ALWAYS"...P/U

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Thermo1223
There is nothing wrong with keeping an engine clean btw Bill.

Shiny metal makes lots of people happy

I think that's why Harley sells a lot of bikes... They have lots of shiny parts.

 

[addyguy]

I just think it's an interesting coinsidence that Pennzoil offered a long-drain oil at one point, it was a complete dud, and now they are avoiding the blanket long-drain market like the plague.

You even start talking extended drains, and they are like 'follow the manual, follow the manual'......it looks somewaht like they have no faith in the product they produced, even though they say it is the best synthetic out there.

At least Amsoil does. At least they have the 'guts' to stand by blanket long drain intervals, knowing that they will get 'burned' by a few, like the guy with the Camry that went 25k or so and seized the motor. Amsoil took it in stride and ate the cost of the engine.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
I just think it's an interesting coinsidence that Pennzoil offered a long-drain oil at one point, it was a complete dud, and now they are avoiding the blanket long-drain market like the plague.

You even start talking extended drains, and they are like 'follow the manual, follow the manual'......it looks somewaht like they have no faith in the product they produced, even though they say it is the best synthetic out there.

At least Amsoil does. At least they have the 'guts' to stand by blanket long drain intervals, knowing that they will get 'burned' by a few, like the guy with the Camry that went 25k or so and seized the motor. Amsoil took it in stride and ate the cost of the engine.


Considering the guy clearly admitted he didn't check his oil, I'll say.

I'll just speculate on the original question and answer by saying Pennzoil doesn't want to "manage such an endeavor" and it's all about selling (more) oil.