Saw a few reports recently from people with NON-oil burning Theta II's who ran Quaker State Ultimate Protection or Quaker State Ultimate Durability (one switched to Euro oils but had a lot of miles on Quaker State Ultimate Durability). Keeping one of those Theta engines from burning is about the best endorsement I can think of for an oil.
Quaker State???? Any good?
- Thread starter bigjohn
- Start date
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
Quaker State Euro was well liked on a German car forum I used to peruse.
I retract my earlier statement.... Amazon didn't completely DIS me... They ended up shipping me 3 of the 6 gallons I ordered. Three gallons is better than zero gallons.
When the time comes, I think I will be using it in my Jeep Wrangler with 2.0L Turbo.
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When the time comes, I think I will be using it in my Jeep Wrangler with 2.0L Turbo.
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Quaker State Ultimate Durability was the "recommended" oil in my 2015 Hyundai Sonata and what I started off using. And the research I did at that time pretty much stated it was a very good oil, and it was usually cheaper than competing brands too, so good all the way around. However I ultimately switched to Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, and have now just today gone to Valvoline Restore and Protect with my latest oil change. With that said I think the Quaker State ultimate durability or whatever it is they go by now is good oil and I believe has the same base stock of GTL that Pennzoil Ultra Platinum has.
But then why did you go with PUP and VRP after that when Quaker State Ultimate is not a worse oil and also is cheaper?
After doing some research I believe the TBN additive package in the Ultra was a little better if memory serves, so went to it. And before VRP came out, THE hot oil at the time that was getting all the rave reviews was PUP. I was also running it in my truck at the time so it just kept everything consistent. I believe that it's pretty decent oil is the point I was making.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
LOL Around the late 2000's -2011, QS Euro was the American Ferrari Dealership fill. I'm guessing a lot of owners (not that there are a lot of Ferrari owners in N America) were aghast...
I bought like 20 qts. at Ollie's Outlet around 2011 when they dumped it, they switched to Pennzoil and dealers basically told owners it was essentially Shell Helix 5W-40/10W-60 they saw adverted in Formula 1 racing (which was essentially true, but then so was Quaker State)...
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Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
Dude, stop...what you most likely saw was from some idiot that didn't change their oil and blamed it on the product they ran for 12,000 miles...
I changed thousands of cars' oil sumps with SF/SH era Quaker State and nothing of the sort happened. It didn't "burn" any differently than any other oil. And I wasn't a fanboy either, most of us grease-monkeys used Mobil 1, even if it was a waste in the heaps we drove. But I saw many 100,000-300,000 mile cars run exclusively on Quaker State conventional and blend oils when maintained properly and never any sludge issue myths arose. The biggest quickie lube in WNY used QS oil and had a loyal following (not who I worked for, the owner was a scumbag who went to Castrol, burned them, and fraudulently used a local blenders oil before being shut down), and there were never any issues. In fact they had the 100K+ warranty and never heard of anyone ever collecting on it...
SF/SH era would have been the right timeline for what I saw. Crack open a valve cover, smell would hit, ask what they were running but you already knew. Not going to argue with someone online about my own personal experience, but also not going to argue with them about what they experienced themselves.
I think your "when maintained properly" point is key. You were working on engines that got their oil changed, that's what you were there to do. I was usually going into an engine that was already having issues and had no clue about maintenance history beyond what I could see. I was also doing it shade tree style, not pro by any means, and had a much smaller sample size of vehicles.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
This is why we have personal ignore lists. You'll never get someone to admit their made up anecdote is imaginary. They just double down on it with no data.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
So basically you're blaming Quaker State for someone not maintaining their vehicle but some other super oil would have been different?
I did once change oil on a Ford F-150 straight-six that had NEVER had it's oil changed at 40,000 miles! The bumpkin would top it off but couldn't recall changing it, but not gonna blame Ford OEM fill for the chunks of sludge seeping out. The filter was the original Ford battleship-gray from the factory. He of course had to sign a waiver, so he didn't blame QS/Valvoline for the coming implosion...
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Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
All the vehicles I saw were basically maintained the same, yet only QS and sometimes Pennzoil did that.
Edit: Also obviously none of this applies to current day oils. I'd run today's QS or Pennzoil without any concern at all.
Jackson_Slugger
$50 Site Donor 2022
The "sludging legend" comes from when both the above now SOPUS products were based in Pennsylvania (along with Kendell) long ago. I'm not sure when both moved to Texas prior to merging with Pennzoil as the senior partner. I was once told (as people often asked or commented about rumors of "sludging") that PA crude had a higher wax content, making it a better lubricant but possibly leading to deposits and sludge over time. I have no idea if this was true or not, maybe something to it in abused engines with infrequent oil changes. But again, I can't imagine any SA, SB or SC oils not sludging if not changed frequently --and even flushed occasionally...
By the mid-80's SF-SH eras, both were headquartered in Texas and sourced crude base-stocks everywhere from North America, to Mexico, The Middle East and even Africa. They were using the same base stocks as everyone else as well as similar additive packages outsourced from the same suppliers as anyone else (Lubrizol?). There may have been some slightly better options back then, such as the old darling here Havoline, but I'd say it was almost impossible 90's vintage QS/PZ were much different than oils like Exxon Superflo, Valvoline or Mobil Super. I recall QS syn-blends like their 4X4 Oil line being quite popular. In my 3-4 years in the quickie lube business I never saw an oil related failure or significant deposits in reasonably maintained cars. The only issues were negligent people not changing their oil until they heard ticking, or had to return their lease or something. Of course there were the manufacturer defects like GM's infamous "one-qt. burned per1,000 miles is A-okay!" scandal, but that again wasn't the oil...
By the mid-80's SF-SH eras, both were headquartered in Texas and sourced crude base-stocks everywhere from North America, to Mexico, The Middle East and even Africa. They were using the same base stocks as everyone else as well as similar additive packages outsourced from the same suppliers as anyone else (Lubrizol?). There may have been some slightly better options back then, such as the old darling here Havoline, but I'd say it was almost impossible 90's vintage QS/PZ were much different than oils like Exxon Superflo, Valvoline or Mobil Super. I recall QS syn-blends like their 4X4 Oil line being quite popular. In my 3-4 years in the quickie lube business I never saw an oil related failure or significant deposits in reasonably maintained cars. The only issues were negligent people not changing their oil until they heard ticking, or had to return their lease or something. Of course there were the manufacturer defects like GM's infamous "one-qt. burned per1,000 miles is A-okay!" scandal, but that again wasn't the oil...
