Pennzoil - Drain Intervals Q&A

[wwillson]

Hello BITOG Members:

Pennzoil is back with another virtual community event! Continuing our longstanding relationship with the members of the BITOG community, Pennzoil welcomes members to join another Q&A with us. As always, we’re eager to begin a dialogue around some of the automotive industry’s most predominant topics. Pennzoil’s team of experts is excited to some useful insight and answers to what members of the community are curious about. This August, our familiar friend to the community and Pennzoil Scientist and Automotive Lubricant Specialist, Sean Nguyen, will lead the Shell/Pennzoil Technical Team responding to inquiries regarding the following topics:

• Oil Drain Intervals
• The evolving extension of intervals
• The value and importance of following your owner’s manual recommendations

Beginning today with this post, we’ve opened a special thread for all of you to submit your questions to Sean. Sean has been working for Shell for more than 21 years in the downstream technology business, putting his MBA and B.S. in Chemistry from University of Houston, and his B.S. in Biomedical Science from Texas A&M University to the test! In addition to holding various roles at Shell including Lubricant Technical Advisor, Lubricant Product Research and Lubricant Technology Trainer, Sean also holds two patents in Bitumen and in Automotive lubricants. Currently, Sean works at the Shell Technology Center in Houston.


The thread will be open for submissions from 12:00 PM EST on Friday, August 13th until 12:00PM EST on Monday, August 23rd, after which time, Sean Nguyen and our full team of scientists and engineers will work together to provide answers to your questions to be posted on Monday, September 13th.


We are extremely excited for this opportunity, and we have only a few notes:

• Please use this thread only to submit questions. Members of the team have noted that there have been questions posed in various threads, but please repost the question in this thread to help us make sure we address everything.
• Please understand that there will be some questions that we will not be able to answer. We cannot divulge any proprietary information and can only speak about our own products and our areas of expertise.

Thank you all for your understanding and your enthusiasm surrounding our community events, including our last Q&A. Let’s hear your questions!


-The Pennzoil Team

 

[spasm3]

Hi , thank you for fielding questions!

What would your advice be for modern DI engines that do have significant fuel dilution per UOA , and are short tripped?

Grade heavier viscosity? Short change interval in winter, like 2k miles? Both?

Thanks.

 

[BMW Dom]

Why should we extend our drain interval?

 

[addyguy]

Hello, thanks for the Q&A opportunity!
Many other oil manufacturers produce ‘extended drain’ products along with their ‘regular/OEM drain’ products - Mobil 1 Extended Performance, for example. This is usually the highest-tier product they sell.

When Pennzoil FIRST introduced Pennzoil Ultra Platinum oil, this is what it was - an extended drain oil, good for 15k miles. Pennzoil then quickly dropped this claim, and reverted back to OEM drain intervals.

We all know Ultra Platinum could easily be an extended drain oil, but Pennzoil completely shuns this market, making Ultra Platinum a kinda pointless top-tier product. There is really nothing to distinguish it from regular Platinum.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

[Jim Allen]

Been running 5W20 Platinum in our '17 Ford Escape 1.5L EcoBoost since we got it. Ran two 7.5K intervals and did oil analysis both times with stellar results. We drive in pretty much an optimal driving cycle, rural, with virtually no short hops (10 mile one-way run minimum a most often double that or more), mostly at 55-60 mph and easy on the foot feed. I see no reason not to try 10K at this point (bumping back if needed). I chose Platinum because of its high Noack and the effect that could have on avoiding intake valve deposits on the Ford DI engine. Could have gone the Ultra route but see the regular Platinum as a sleeper oil and a good value. Especially now with two great UOAs under its belt.

 

[suburbandoom]

How about an extended interval PUP 0/5/10w40?

Why has Shell limited the variety in the upper registers? Do GTL stocks have a limit when factoring VIs?

 

[jkasch]

Since Stellantis/FCA won't give an explanation, perhaps you can shed light on their requirement for 6 month oil changes regardless of mileage for SRT vehicles using the MS-12633 certification (AFAIK, only Pennzoil Ultra 0w-40 SRT has this cert). My Hellcat is stored for 5 months and the spring oil change is usually at about 600 miles. The fall oc is at about 2,000 miles. Is there a justification for this? Thank you.

 

[wwillson]

Is Pennzoil recommending extended oil drain intervals with higher mileage than the owner's manual recommends? Or, is Pennzoil stating that Pennzoil motor oils are robust enough to handle the long drain intervals recommended by some auto manufacturers?

 

[JC1]

With extended oil change intervals, should the oil filter used be a filter with synthetic media or does that matter? If the application uses a cheaper 3-5k oil filter, should that filter be changed after 5k and a new oil filter installed while using the same oil for the extended drain interval?

 

[wwillson]

Thank you to all those who participated!