Pennzoil Question from a 1987 experience

[FartSquirrel]

Queen and I married in 1987. Two months prior, her 1979 Cougar ended up needing a rebuild. My family owned a business and we had our own mechanic on site, and he was given the nod by my future FnL to do the rebuild.

Ron called me up to the shop after working on the car a bit. He shows me the oil pan which had a bunch of sludge. He asked if the Queens Dad ran Pennzoil. I told him I didn't know and would find out.

Sure enough. FnL was a diehard Pennzoil fan. Mainly due to NASCAR. Ron said that Pennzoil was great for race motors, but was terrible for street engines.

Yes. That is pushing 40yrs ago. Oil has changed oodles since then. Admittedly, I've never ran Pennzoil because of that experience.

Was Ron right in what he said or is it one of those stories that might have had some validity somewhere, but was mostly false?

Just curious.

 

[oldcodger]

Impossible to give a meaningful answer without knowing the lube history of the car. Any oil can give poor results if not used properly.

 

[PF52]

Mostly false. Notice how he was supposedly a diehard Pennzoil fan. That may be, but I bet he has no idea what had been in his car all those years. Who (besides on here) can honestly say their car had nothing but XXX-brand oil, no other brands ever? That car probably saw a dozen different brands in its lifetime.

 

[Urshurak776]

My understanding was, back in the day: According to another forum I go to sometimes a Pennzoil technical consultant said on a podcast a few years ago that old pennzoil HAD sludge issues. It was due to being a paraffin based crude and put thru a distillation process that made it a group 2 oil. So, the paraffin was there naturally. It was NOT added.

Rest assured, the Pennzoil today is not that Pennzoil.

 

[factorytuned2012]

I think Pennzoil was supposedly known to contain a lot of paraffin wax years back that caused them to get a bad reputation for sludge. Other than that pennzoil at least now is producing great oil.

 

[Glenda W.]

Im dating myself here. As a young tech in 1981, Quaker State recalled some 10w-30 and 10w-40 oils. The oil was solidifying under a certain temperature. Quaker State was our bulk oil and we lost a bunch of engines. Quaker State replaced them all at no charge to the customers. These were the only oil related engine failures I’ve seen in my lifetime. I’m guessing this may have started some Pennzoil rumors.

 

[FartSquirrel]

Thanks all for the replies. I've just been curious all these years. Now that I know, I can get a good nights sleep

 

[k1xv]

Back in 1973, I took a 12,500 mile motorcycle ride with a 4 cylinder 750 Honda. Along the way I did multiple oil changes. One was with Pennzoil Motorcycle Oil. The normal diet was Castrol GTX. While I never burned oil with Castrol, that Pennzoil burned in the Honda and I never used Pennzoil again in any vehicle until Pennzoil became a Shell brand with a GTL base.

 

[PontiacHO]

My understanding was, back in the day: According to another forum I go to sometimes a Pennzoil technical consultant said on a podcast a few years ago that old pennzoil HAD sludge issues. It was due to being a paraffin based crude and put thru a distillation process that made it a group 2 oil. So, the paraffin was there naturally. It was NOT added.

Rest assured, the Pennzoil today is not that Pennzoil.

This. Nothing is as it was 40 years ago.

 

[benjy]

SAMO here! early Pennz was SLUDGY, but valvoline i used left a SPOTLESS engine as i learned on an early 70 thou oil burning 72 307 Chev!!

 

[Boomer]

I believe all of the Pennsylvania crude oils ( usually from south of Titusville) were very high in paraffin content and that is one reason early lubes made from this oil did well in simple lubrication situations. But really anything that is synthesized like GTL, PAOs, etc will do a MUCH better job in complex lubrication situations where almost all of the molecules are almost identical. ICE situations (especially today) are indeed complex situations that require an advanced lube, unlike simple engines that ran at lower temperatures and rpms years ago.

 

[ammolab]

ICE situations (especially today) are indeed complex situations that require an advanced lube, unlike simple engines that ran at lower temperatures and rpms years ago.

I am thinking today’s engines with 8-10 speed auto transmissions and turbos run lower average RPMS compared to the two and three speed automatics of yesteryears

 

[Needleman]

Im dating myself here. As a young tech in 1981, Quaker State recalled some 10w-30 and 10w-40 oils. The oil was solidifying under a certain temperature. Quaker State was our bulk oil and we lost a bunch of engines. Quaker State replaced them all at no charge to the customers. These were the only oil related engine failures I’ve seen in my lifetime. I’m guessing this may have started some Pennzoil rumors.

That issue gave rise to the mrv tp-1 test introduction.

 

[SC Maintenance]

My Dad told me as a kid not to use Penzoil. It was literally the only brand he mentioned at all, said it was not good.

Penzoil was acquired by Shell a couple decades ago, and since Dad had no issues with Rotella, I figured I was OK again. I ran some a few years ago and felt guilty the whole time. Changed it early.

I just buy Quaker state now - also owned by Shell PLC and likely about the same. Ha.

 

[Hirev]

Worked in an automotive machine shop back in the early 1980s seen a lot of sludge engines. Most of the engines back than were from the 1960s - 1970s. Some things I learned were engines that made many short trips such as short drives to work were in general sludge engines. Lots of short trips are a slow engine killer. 160 & 180 degree thermostat used by some didn't help matters. PCV valve in introduced around mid 1960s were a modern day wonder compared to the old road draft tube set up. After working there some time I started using valvoline most of the time. I do think many oils are much better these days.

 

[oil pan 4]

Group 1 oils in the 1980s would definitely sludge up if ran more than 3,000 miles or kept in an engine more than 6 months.

 

[Patman]

I am thinking today’s engines with 8-10 speed auto transmissions and turbos run lower average RPMS compared to the two and three speed automatics of yesteryears

Absolutely! My Corvette runs at about 1200 rpm in 8th gear at 60 mph. My Civic runs at about 1700 rpm at 60 (with a CVT). That’s much lower rpm compared to the Corvettes and Civics of 40 years ago.

 

[4strokes]

Back in 1973, I took a 12,500 mile motorcycle ride with a 4 cylinder 750 Honda. Along the way I did multiple oil changes. One was with Pennzoil Motorcycle Oil. The normal diet was Castrol GTX. While I never burned oil with Castrol, that Pennzoil burned in the Honda and I never used Pennzoil again in any vehicle until Pennzoil became a Shell brand with a GTL base.

Back in 1973, I took a 12,500 mile motorcycle ride with a 4 cylinder 750 Honda. Along the way I did multiple oil changes. One was with Pennzoil Motorcycle Oil. The normal diet was Castrol GTX. While I never burned oil with Castrol, that Pennzoil burned in the Honda and I never used Pennzoil again in any vehicle until Pennzoil became a Shell brand with a GTL base.

You got to love those CB 750s I did a 7000 mile trip on in mine in 1975.

 

[Astro14]

Queen and I married in 1987. Two months prior, her 1979 Cougar ended up needing a rebuild. My family owned a business and we had our own mechanic on site, and he was given the nod by my future FnL to do the rebuild.

Ron called me up to the shop after working on the car a bit. He shows me the oil pan which had a bunch of sludge. He asked if the Queens Dad ran Pennzoil. I told him I didn't know and would find out.

Sure enough. FnL was a diehard Pennzoil fan. Mainly due to NASCAR. Ron said that Pennzoil was great for race motors, but was terrible for street engines.

Yes. That is pushing 40yrs ago. Oil has changed oodles since then. Admittedly, I've never ran Pennzoil because of that experience.

Was Ron right in what he said or is it one of those stories that might have had some validity somewhere, but was mostly false?

Just curious.

Never heard that.

But your question is like asking if IBM makes the best cell phone because in 1979, IBM made the best typewriter….

A lot changed in the past 45 years

 

[TurboZedd-R]

Absolutely! My Corvette runs at about 1200 rpm in 8th gear at 60 mph. My Civic runs at about 1700 rpm at 60 (with a CVT). That’s much lower rpm compared to the Corvettes and Civics of 40 years ago.

It's hard to get my M139 AMG into 8th gear! On the other hand the Type R spins at over 3k on the highway.