Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5w-40 Dark Color -- could it be fake?

E

eastvt

Joined
Jul 14, 2025
Messages
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I've been using this Pennzoil 5w-40 Euro Platinum oil for several years now in my VW TSI. Last batch I bought was from eBay, 3 1.25 gallon jugs.

So this oil has always been super clear and light amber colored out of the bottle. When I did the oil change with this new batch, the new stuff was pretty dark. I had half a quart around from a previous oil change, and that was very clear and light amber as I remember. Big difference.

So I've been driving for about 1000 miles with this in there, and it keep bugging me. Could I have put some fake oil in? These jugs didn't have foil covering sealing the new oil, but the tops do twist off with a crack of plastic seal on the lid, that little strip around the bottom of the cap.

On the one hand, seems like it would be weird for someone to go to the trouble to do this. On the other hand, this oil is expensive, and this ebay deal was much cheaper. (I figured it was because of buying 1.25 gallon jugs instead of quarts.)

I'm just paranoid, right?
 
I have gotten great deals on eBay for jugs of oil...Pennzoil Euro L 5w-30 synthetic ($23 free ship) and Quaker State Euro Synthetic 5w-40 ($18 free ship)...all orders were fulfilled by Walmart, even though the sellers were from NY, Vietnam and Malaysia.
 
JMJNet said:
With Ebay, anything is possible.
It is not Ebay fault either, I don't think they can prevent counterfeit in their site.
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It's "buyer beware"...trust but verify. But the buyer rules on eBay. No matter what the seller policies are for returns, the buyer always has the right to return or refund when the product is counterfeit or not as described in the listing.

I have rolled the dice on a few purchases of motor oil on eBay and they all were authentic product shipped from WalMart...even though in some cases the sellers were overseas. Makes sense...how could they possibly ship motor oil internationally and make any profit?
 
I think the risk is there in every retail scenario. I read recently of a member here buying oil at Walmart, and finding the bottle filled with used oil. Slamazon can be similar.

If you're questioning it, see if you can find a similar batch at an auto parts store to compare. You'll probably need to buy a bottle, but it may be worth it.
 
f355spider said:
It's "buyer beware"...trust but verify. But the buyer rules on eBay. No matter what the seller policies are for returns, the buyer always has the right to return or refund when the product is counterfeit or not as described in the listing.

I have rolled the dice on a few purchases of motor oil on eBay and they all were authentic product shipped from WalMart...even though in some cases the sellers were overseas. Makes sense...how could they possibly ship motor oil internationally and make any profit?
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eBay allows sellers to deduct $$$ from the refund for just about any nonsense. It's happened to me several times now and makes me buy less from there these days. Didn't ship it back in the original packaging... deduction! 🤬
 
fantastic said:
eBay allows sellers to deduct $$$ from the refund for just about any nonsense. It's happened to me several times now and makes me buy less from there these days. Didn't ship it back in the original packaging... deduction! 🤬
Click to expand...
Wow, never heard of that...I sell tens of thousands each year on eBay and get scammed every so often...I have had little recourse. I call eBay customer service, but they always take the side of the buyer...I get it, they need to, in order to keep buyers coming to their site.
 
I've never seen a "pretty dark" oil out of any jug but I've never used Royal Purple either ... I've seen it pretty dark after 700 miles in a DI engine but that's another story.

Just curious, seems like you have been changing oil or been using PP for a long time. No? However you ended up using this oil.
What's your definition of pretty dark? Darker than amber or light amber?
To me pretty dark is dark brown or black basically used oil.
 
TomYoung said:
My reasoning might not be perfect, but I don’t think that eBay would ever be the right place to buy oil. It’s more of a flea market than a retailer.
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It my case, all eBay sellers fulfilled their orders through WalMart...so there is no question to authenticity. There are plenty of car dealers, autoparts retailers, etc all selling motor oil...no issue with them either. Like any purchase on eBay, you need to do a bit of research on the seller and their feedback. But ultimately you run very little risk...because you can always return or refund through eBay's buyer protection policy.

But do what makes you comfortable...if you don't want to buy on eBay, don't.
 
The Pennzoil Euro 5-40 I've been using in the past was definitely very light amber. I had a bit of a stockpile of it, which I used over a couple of years, so maybe they changed the formula lately and it's darker now. Surprised to see people saying it's dark, so maybe it is. I even poured from a half full quart bottle I had around to compare, and my old stock was definitely very light amber. There was a gap in time between ordering and using this new stuff, so I had unboxed it. As I recall, it came in a very weathered looking walmart box. It didn't look like something walmart would ship, but like maybe someone had that box around. But I went back in ebay and looked at the seller, who seems to have a great reputation and a lot of sales. I guess I'll trust it's real.
 
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