Penzoil

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 7, 2003
Messages
31
Location
Kansas
Here is something i heard years ago and again yesterday. Some people say that penzoil gets gritty and builds up deposits in an engine. A friend of mine took his toyota truck in for a complete tune up which included a valve lash adjustment. (the year was 1988) After the service the mechanic asked if my buddy used penz in his truck because there was lots of varnish, gritty material and a sticky film on the head and under the valve cover. The machanic said to use any oil other than penz to avoid problems in the future. By the way my friend did use penz. Yesterday i told a different friend to use penz instead of valvoline (courtesy of info from this site) because penz is a superior dino oil and he said no way penz gets gritty like sand and leaves heavy deposits of crap in your engine. So where did this folklore come from and is there any truth to it?
 
I heard substantially the same thing from my diesel engine instructor...in 1966. I don't know if it was ever true, and I certainly don't believe its true now. I mean...if it sludged up even one lawyer's engine...you get the idea.
mad.gif


I have no problem using Pennzoil.


Ken

[ July 24, 2003, 11:55 PM: Message edited by: Ken2 ]
 
My experience was with a 87 Nissan V6 3.0L. I used Penzoil for about 110K miles. It had a bit of sludge in the valve covers looking from the oil filler neck. I had never looked before, but was expecting none. I was quite surprised, since almost all miles were 30 mile highway commutes twice a day with little traffic. The oil was changed at 3k, also. I just assumed no sludge would ever happen. So discussing this sludge, I started hearing all the sludge stories. Again, quite surprised to hear this about Penzoil. And felt kind of stupid.

So I changed to Mobil1 5W-30 around 115K unitl it started buring oil around 160k. I just installed a reman Nissan engine at 228k, so the Penzoil did not seemed to really hurt it.

But now, based on this forum, I use Penzoil in an older car and have recommended it to several folks. I think the new Penzoil is a diferent product and a state of the art product today.

[ July 25, 2003, 03:31 AM: Message edited by: Fillherup ]
 
My only Pennzoil experience:
I was changing the oil in a friend's 98 tercel with about 90,000km a couple of years ago. She had Pennzoil 5W-30 dino in there and it came out very sludgy after only about 5000km. I immediately blamed the oil, saying how much nicer the Mobil 1 looks coming out of my 87 Grand Am after 12,000km. A couple of minutes later I discovered that the fram filter internals were loose, and the filter was probably bypassing a lot. So now the blame has shifted to Fram. But that wasn't the only problem. She drives to Mississauga (3000km) and discovers that her car is using oil and coolant. Took it in to the Toyota dealership there and had it rebuilt due to warped heads and seized rings. The mechanics believed it had been run with very low oil level at some point in its life. They checked the records and the previous owner was Budget rent-a-car - we finally figured out why the engine never seemed to idle smoothly. A couple of lessons:
1. Don't immediately blame the oil.
3. Don't use a fram oil filter.
2. Know the history before buying a used vehicle.
 
quote:

1. Don't immediately blame the oil.
3. Don't use a fram oil filter.
2. Know the history before buying a used vehicle.

I agree completely with those 3 rules!

I've heard this "myth" about Pennzoil before, and I've come to conclude that it is just that.... a myth. Any oil will sludge up if you leave it in there too long and you'd be surprised how many people do that.

Since Pennzoil is pretty popular (especially with quick lube places) then it's not surprising that you're going to see alot of engines sludged up that use Pennzoil. Is this because Pennzoil is bad? I would say it's because the owners failed to do proper maintenance.

I'll keep using my Pennzoil.
grin.gif
 
quote:

Originally posted by sprintman:
More Pennzoil users so more Pennzoil 'stories'. IMO one of the very best dino's available from anybody.

Definitely! I recommend it to anyone looking for an easy to find conventional oil.
 
In 1977, my aunt and uncle purchased a brand new Mercury Marquis with the 460 big block. They drove that car until 1992, when they purchased another brand new Marquis. The 77 had 275,000 miles on it, all using Pennzoil 10w40 changed every 5000 to 6000 miles. The dealership wouldn't give them anything for it on trade, so they kept the car and eventually gave it to the Asst Pastor of their church (a young seminary graduate). He drove it for another 8 years and put another 100,000 miles on it. He had to have the transmission rebuilt, but when he sold the car with almost 400,000 miles on it, the engine had never been opened up. The valve covers had never even been removed. (Though I'm not sure what oil he used in it.)

Was their some sludge in that engine after 400,000 miles? Probably. Did it matter? Obviously not.
 
Well I'll add yet another one. I ran mostly Pennzoil in my '69 Camaro. At somewhere over 50K miles I pulled a valve cover to adjust a ticking valve lifter. I recall everything very clean.

On the subject of Pennzoil being superior-I think we just recently say a serious breakdown to a 20 wt after like 2700 miles. I'm too lazy to look for others.

offtopic.gif
We have seemed not to have very many Chevron UOA's lately
dunno.gif
 
And don't discount cars that were rentals either, I have had good luck with them. All comes down to looking closely at what you buy regardless of the source.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top