Pennzoil YB Past & Present - Rumors/Facts

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When did this stuff go from utter [censored] to the high-water mark for conventional oils?

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Has Pennzoil changed it up that much over the last 10-12 yrs, or was it undeserved bad rep.? I'm sure I'm not the only one who heard horror stories. It was partially (or even directly) blamed for engines sludging up & catastrophic engine failures back in the day, rightfully so or not.

But then I read about recent Oil analysis with YB in newer motors saying it's good to 5-6k, whats really going on? Was it really improved that much?

And yes, I realize there's a former Pennzoil employee on this board. Maybe he can shed some light... or maybe that's why members on here are buying up YB in the first place? I haven't seen a frenzy for YB (or AutoRX) on other automotive forums.


Inquiring minds want to know... my case specifically would be a '93 Nissan KA24DE in Houston summer (6-month summer) @ 95*/Gridlock traffic daily to Dusty job-sites @ 3-4 OCIs, synthetic is not an option. Pretty much worst-case scenario
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I'm thinking 10w30 or a thick 5w
 
Yep, they all love it just because of little old me.
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I will just make two statements about Pennzoil.

1. I lived in Texas for 40 years and used nothing but Pennzoil YB and my family has been using Pennzoil YB/YC since the 40's in Texas and Oklahoma without any of those pesky sludge issues.

2. Pennzoil was using Group II and II+ base stocks 8-years before anyone else did.

Use it with confidence in Baytown, TX. The 5W-30 would work great in your Nissan.
 
Face the facts. Your assumption that Pennzoil was garbage in the past is just wrong. It's a myth. Always was a myth. Some fairly ignorant people just keep passing it off as some type "I know [censored]" fact.

Originally Posted By: OldDirtyBaytown
It was partially (or even directly) blamed for engines sludging up & catastrophic engine failures back in the day, rightfully so or not.


There you go again. There are no truths, no science, no pictures, no hard evidence. I understand it was "blamed".....

Yes some engines sludged in the past. Engines sludge today. Not the oil, but the owner and the design. Happens with most any brand of conventional oil given the right conditions.
 
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Face the facts. Your assumption that Pennzoil was garbage in the past is just wrong. It's a myth. Always was a myth. Some fairly ignorant people just keep passing it off as some type "I know [censored]" fact.

Originally Posted By: OldDirtyBaytown
It was partially (or even directly) blamed for engines sludging up & catastrophic engine failures back in the day, rightfully so or not.


There you go again. There are no truths, no science, no pictures, no hard evidence. I understand it was "blamed".....

Yes some engines sludged in the past. Engines sludge today. Not the oil, but the owner and the design. Happens with most any brand of conventional oil given the right conditions.


I vote for this post to be a sticky!
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Agree with Pabs 1000%!

Bill
 
You want facts?

Fact: Way back when, many engines sludged using Pennzoil YB.

Fact: So did many engines using Valvoline...and Havoline...and Mobil...and Esso...and Quaker State...and Castrol...

Get the picture? The problem wasn't that Pennzoil was worse than any other oil; they were ALL mediocre, especially in the most popular grade: 10W-40. They were Group 1 oils loaded with viscosity index improvers. There's your sludge.

I agree with Pablo and Bill: MAKE THIS A STICKY!
 
I believe we BITOGers underestimate the level of ignorance that exists beyond our safe haven here.

Buckle yourself into your seat and visit this 2005 discussion regarding Pennzoil and "perafin" wax:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...t%3D54%26um%3D1

"Unfortuanatly you will notice that it has a Penzoil filter on it. I can only assum that if it has a penzoil filter that it had Penzoil in it."
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"Pezoil and Quaker state (from what I am told) are Perafin wax based oils (made from dead plants instead of dinasours) These oils are notoriouse for building up perafin wax sludge."
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I, on the other hand, believe that Pennzoil is the cure for all that ails your engine:

PENNZOIL%20LUBRICATION%20(3).jpg


PERFORMED BY

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Paging...Al BendOva, Al Bendova, please step forward for this discussion.
 
The curious thing to me is how these rumors got started and why they persist today? I was surprised the other day when my boss overheard me recommending YB to a friend. He asked me when did they fix the sludging problems? He said he's pulled apart engines before that ran YB and saw the sludge first hand. (I know he restores old cars for a hobby and has worked as a backyard mechanic all his life).

Is it really just because YB was so widely used that the chances were that a sludged engine ran on it? I ran the stuff back in High school and it worked great for me! Strange situation these persistent rumors.
 
The only engine I pulled apart that had sludge was filled with Castrol since day one.

Dude - it's anecdotal evidence. Scary stuff.

Quote:
He said he's pulled apart engines before that ran YB...


She said she loved me!
 
The only engine I se
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
I believe we BITOGers underestimate the level of ignorance that exists beyond our safe haven here.

Buckle yourself into your seat and visit this 2005 discussion regarding Pennzoil and "perafin" wax:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=h...t%3D54%26um%3D1

"Unfortuanatly you will notice that it has a Penzoil filter on it. I can only assum that if it has a penzoil filter that it had Penzoil in it."
351%20STAND.jpg



And if you look Pennzoil even made the shoes have sludge on the soles!
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Bill

PS: Some type of Ford motor? late 80's 2.8l V6 out of a Ranger or Bronco?? (air injection with FI)
 
Originally Posted By: RF Overlord
You want facts?

Fact: Way back when, many engines sludged using Pennzoil YB.

Fact: So did many engines using Valvoline...and Havoline...and Mobil...and Esso...and Quaker State...and Castrol...



Bingo, and I believe Pennzoil was and still has the highest market share of the passenger car oil market. So any problems that arouse due to neglect, or a bad engine, were attributed to Pennzoil.

There was a guy here who used nothing but Pennzoil conventional 5w-30 winter/10w-30 summer with I believe a Chevy Beretta with the 3.1L intake gasket blower - he posted pics under the valve cover with > 300,000 miles and it was clean.
 
There is only one thing I feel that causes sludge,owner neglect. I`ve known people who are like,"You mean you`re supposed to CHANGE your oil????????"
 
"Pezoil and Quaker state (from what I am told) are Perafin wax based oils (made from dead plants instead of dinasours) These oils are notoriouse for building up perafin wax sludge."

This is rather amusing.
 
Originally Posted By: MarkC
"Pezoil and Quaker state (from what I am told) are Perafin wax based oils (made from dead plants instead of dinasours) These oils are notoriouse for building up perafin wax sludge."

This is rather amusing.


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Ok, MarkC takes the cake this week, who will post this next week?

God this just doesn't die, does it?
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BTW: MarkC, you need to hit the SAP button on your signature, it's in Spanish I think and I can't understand it!
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J/K
 
Crude oil comes from dead organic matter (mostly prehistoric zooplankton and algae) that settled at the bottom of oceans or other wet lands, mixed with mud, and was buried under heavy layers of sediment resulting in high levels of heat and pressure, and that were subsequently trapped in porous rock formations underneath non-porous rock.

Crude oil does not come from dinosaurs.

The remains of prehistoric plant matter tended to form coal.
 
Originally Posted By: Mark888
Crude oil comes from dead organic matter (mostly prehistoric zooplankton and algae) that settled at the bottom of oceans or other wet lands, mixed with mud, and was buried under heavy layers of sediment resulting in high levels of heat and pressure, and that were subsequently trapped in porous rock formations underneath non-porous rock.

Crude oil does not come from dinosaurs.

The remains of prehistoric plant matter tended to form coal.
Im runnin a crankcase full of T-rex right now!
 
Wow, 2 pages already.

The reason I started this thread was specifically to ask if they were rumors - notice I said "...rightfully so or not"

I guess what throws me off is I've never heard anything particularly good about Pennzoil in the yellow bottle until I came on this forum, only bad. So maybe you can understand why I was skeptical. I started driving/doing oil changes in the mid-90s @ 15 and that's when I heard the stories. How were the 'avoid the cheap pennzoil' rumor & catastrophe stories still around 10-15 years ago if the problems with sub-par oils were dealt with (by all companies) long before? It must be a [censored] persistent rumor.

Especially considering YB 10w30 is used by pretty much everyone who goes to Jiffy Lube, etc --whether they know it or not-- I was already assuming it was one of the highest-use oils in the US... And the sheep going to jl probably aren't racing or stretching their OCIs since they'll do whatever the little sticker tells them to. I don't have a bachelors degree in oil, or particularly want one, I'm just a guy that does his own oil changes.
 
Originally Posted By: OldDirtyBaytown
It must be a [censored] persistent rumor.

And the sheep going to jl probably aren't racing or stretching their OCIs since they'll do whatever the little sticker tells them to.

I don't have a bachelors degree in oil, or particularly want one, I'm just a guy that does his own oil changes.


Most automotive "tales" are exactly that. I used to sell stuff to mechanics that wouldnt use anything but a certain oil brand because of blah blah blah and this brand oil filter because of blah blah blah. Its all based off opinion and rumor.

In my experience most sheep that go to the quick change places have a bad problem with stretching their oil changes. The good thing is that the sticker says 3000 and they probably get it changed before or right around 5000 anyway.

And I applaud you for doing your own work AND reading up about the stuff you might want to use.
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Originally Posted By: Drew99GT


There was a guy here who used nothing but Pennzoil conventional 5w-30 winter/10w-30 summer with I believe a Chevy Beretta with the 3.1L intake gasket blower - he posted pics under the valve cover with > 300,000 miles and it was clean.


That was me! I guess I'm famous LOL.

Yep I started using Pennzoil when I was maybe 17 or 18 just because it was priced right and I liked the bottles. No other reason. Years later, I got on the "internets" and read the rumors and myths and knew they couldn't be true since I'd run all my vehicles with Pennzoil and never had any oil related problems. The Beretta was the best example of that as it was the first one I'd bought new and so I knew exactly every quart that went into it.

These pics are from 2004, at perhaps 305,000 miles or maybe a little more. I retired the car at 318,000 when I got rear-ended while stopped in traffic by a kid doing about 40 in a big truck.

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By the way, this was the MPFI engine; the notorious intake-gasket-blowing engines were the later SFI 3100 and 3400 engines.
 
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