Phaser rattle with pennzoil

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DillonHendrix

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Hi I'm new to the forum and I just wanted to share my experience running Pennzoil platinum and Pennzoil ultra in my personal vehicles. I've run Moble 1 synthetic for many years and always felt confident doing so. I kept hearing people rave about pennzoil so I figured I would try it out! At first my 3.5 ecoboost explorer sounded great, very quiet! My cammed and supercharged gmc sierra sounded the same but once I hit around 3,000 miles in the explorer started the dreaded cam phaser rattle! I decided to change it immediately and I used ultra platinum this time and 2,000 miles later same thing but worse! Again I changed it immediately back to mobile 1 and made it to my 5,000 mile interval with zero noise! Also my GMC is sounding noisy with around 2,000 miles on the pup as well but maybe now I'm paranoid! Has anyone else experienced this?
 
I'd get a UOA and see what's going on with the oil. Anything else is speculation, like it might be shearing out of grade, or there's fuel dilution going on, thinning it. I'm sure others will chime in.
 
Patman said:
I have run Pennzoil Platinum as well as all of the different versions of Ultra and Ultra Platinum over the years on many different cars and never once found the engines to sound louder or run rougher.
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I'm mostly a Mobil 1 user and often the "claim" of noise is v Mobil 1, not so much Pennz. I've run Pennz Ultra few times in my 17 Outback and F150 5.0 and no difference is discernable.
 
demarpaint said:
I'd get a UOA and see what's going on with the oil. Anything else is speculation, like it might be shearing out of grade, or there's fuel dilution going on, thinning it. I'm sure others will chime in.
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I'd agree that an UOA would help you determine if the oil remains in grade, and whether fuel dilution was a problem.

My experience with Ford cam phasers is that they are viscosity, fuel dilution and soot sensitive. As are the chains! Here in FL, I step up a grade, and change at the 5000 mile mark. And yes, by 4000 miles, my 3.5 had so much fuel dilution it actually idled roughly due to ingesting vapors. Along with a high particulate count. If I remember correctly, fuel dilution tested at around 2.5%. The 2018 2.7EB (2nd gen) was better about that, but still experienced the same sooty oil at the 4000 mile mark. The 5.4L with known phaser/oil pump/tensioner issues got 10W-40 synthetic, and 5000 mile OCI's. It had 200K trouble free miles before being totaled.

I ended up with standard silver cap M1 10W-30 or Extended Performance when I could find it. And either an M1 or a Motorcraft filter depending on the local sale specials.
 
Cujet said:
I'd agree that an UOA would help you determine if the oil remains in grade, and whether fuel dilution was a problem.

My experience with Ford cam phasers is that they are viscosity, fuel dilution and soot sensitive. As are the chains! Here in FL, I step up a grade, and change at the 5000 mile mark. And yes, by 4000 miles, my 3.5 had so much fuel dilution it actually idled roughly due to ingesting vapors. Along with a high particulate count. If I remember correctly, fuel dilution tested at around 2.5%. The 2018 2.7EB (2nd gen) was better about that, but still experienced the same sooty oil at the 4000 mile mark. The 5.4L with known phaser/oil pump/tensioner issues got 10W-40 synthetic, and 5000 mile OCI's. It had 200K trouble free miles before being totaled.

I ended up with standard silver cap M1 10W-30 or Extended Performance when I could find it. And either an M1 or a Motorcraft filter depending on the local sale specials.
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Smart move, using data. Hopefully the OP does the same.
 
Wow thank you for all the replies! I did order an oil analysis kit so I hope it will shed some light on what happened! I think I'll do my truck oil first since I haven't drained the Penzoil ultra yet but now I'm scared to run it in my explorer! I do one with the mobile 1 and post the results though! My truck will no doubt have fuel dilution with it being modified but we will see! Thank very much again for all the help!
 
Agree with @kschachn . You are on borrowed time OP, take advantage of your engine still running and get them replaced/serviced/bypassed, whatever the latest "phaser" fix technique is.
 
My son's 2020 Ecoboost Explorer engine developed that phaser rattle on a diet from factory fill of of Valvoline syn. Engine out repair to fix all the issues. Design flaw more likely than lubrication issue. Vehicle now with ~103K and runs great.

FORD Lovers Look Here

My son's 2020 Explorer AWD with 3.0 Ecoboost engine had the cam phasers replaced. Salient details; 76K miles, mostly highway. 6K mile OCI with Valvoline synthetic since new. No towing or mountain driving. 24 book time hours by Ford Master Tech Parts; left and right exhaust manifolds cracked...
bobistheoilguy.com
 
Analog-1 said:
Never had any luck with PP or PUP in my Honda it was noisy. Drained it out and it looked thinner than water at 1000 miles. Replace with Castrol EP and all was good again. Using Valvoline R&P now and it runs very well so far.
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Assuming PZ dropped a grade or two below viscosity within 1000 miles (which is highly unlikely without extreme fuel dilution or catastrophic shearing) how were you able to determine its breakdown/thinning based on visual appearance alone?
 
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