Pennzoil vs Castrol vs Havoline

[kingrob]

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You don't say what engines you are working with, but you were probably seeing the internal sealant (Bar's Leak) which is factory installed and a key component of the design. This sludging is normal and perfectly harmless. You apparently managed to remove all of it in your G-05 engine. Good luck with your "reverse engineering".

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The engines I'm refering to are the 3.1's found in 7 of my vehicles- 96-99 buicks, olds, and a chevy. The shop manuals on the buicks and olds state nothing about adding any kind of leak sealant when servicing the coolant. Seems to me that if Dex-cool is as good as it's supposed to be it wouldn't need any knd of sealant, nor would it leave a lot of sludge.

Also since switching to the G-05 I've had zero water pump or thermostat failures, which I was experiencing on everything but the Impala at the rate of once a year. The inside of the water pump housing was always full of sludgey anti-freeze, not Bar's sealant. I popped one loose the other day and it looks very good inside, nothing like it did with the Dex cool.

So yes, my reverse engineering has saved me quite a bit of money and time, not to mention I have a **** and span cooling system and zero leaks. When it comes to GM, it pays to rectify their design flaws early as I did with the intake manifold gaskets.

 

[JohnnyG]

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Seems to me that if Dex-cool is as good as it's supposed to be it wouldn't need any knd of sealant, nor would it leave a lot of sludge

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Has nothing to do with the Dexcool, and everything to do with aluminum blocks being slightly porous. This was some "extra insurance" that GM added to prevent the occasional failure. Still harmless, though I realize that's hard to believe. In the end, not all blocks need the sealant as the casting processes were greatly improved from '99 on. Just as not all 4.3 intake gaskets fail, (see "manufacturing tolerances") so sometimes you get lucky. I can't tell you why it is not in the manuals. In fact it is not in my '99 Cadillac's manual either, but it still should be there.

 

[JohnnyG]

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As for my comments about it burning more oil initially, I didn't mean on a NEW car. I meant for the period of time I was driving a 97 Deville, it initially burned more oil when I drove it hard.

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Thanks Alex, and thanks for clearing up your statement for me. I suppose that more oil would be used if the rings were already stuck. It took about a year for me to clear mine up, using different kinds of oil and advice from this board. I would have liked to try an AutoRX treatment, but couldn't find it and couldn't justify the cost. I think we have strayed off topic far enough with the Dexcool thing, so we better end this thread. I guess the point to all this (if there is one) is it pays to get good sound technical advice before going out and changing things on your own. Cars today are too expensive to expieriment with.

 

[johnnyo4]

I am using Havoline. It's one of the best VOA's arround for car motor oil. Good detergency.

 

[peterr]

Not totally off topic but I was wondering a similar thing today. I was at Walmart looking for some Conventional oil for a short OCI for Auto-RX rinse.

Wally had Castrol 5w30 on sale for $9.17 CDN for the 4 litre jug (or about $7.50 US for 4.25 quarts to convert into America terms) except they were sold out.

I hemmed and hawed. The WallyBrand (I think they call it Tech2000 in canada instead of Supertech) was even cheaper. Under $7 for 4 litres.

I tend to see Havoline hit and miss. Last time i bought some in canada was in an A&P grocery store. I did not see it at Wally's. Most of the other normal Conventionals were at least 50% more money than the Castrol.

Then I saw some Pennzoil. They did have some weird sized jugs, at least weird to me. Really they were 5 quart jugs (4.73 litres) for somewhere just under $10 CDN (
Then I remembered I was only going to have it in my engine for less than 2000 miles. Sometimes this oil bug makes you think crazy. I am sure they are all fine oils used in normal engines with regular OCIs and good filters.

 

[goodvibes]

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Originally posted by Triple_Se7en:

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What year is that 350 engine? Seldom use at one point or the amount of years that have lapsed with little engine use could explain that reddish-brown 'rust" color. LC would fix that... stop interior rust. It's sold here. I seriously doubt Pennzoil caused the reddish brown by itself. Moly in the Pennzoil that's introduced to rust or moisture may have caused that.... I dunno! The Mobil removed it because it has no moly & the leftover deposits were washed out. Moisture got in there somehow... maybe a antifreeze leak at one time - then the engine sat thru various weather conditions... who knows? Was it the Pennzoil?.... No! There was something else in that engine too. [/QUOTE]
M1 has had a good dose of Moly for some time. I don't understand what it has to do with helping create the deposits. He didn't say the oil turned reddish brown but left that color varnish on the motor. I suspect he made a good call and the oil was at fault in this app. though he may be comparing SL Pennzoil to SM Havoline.