MolaKule
Staff member
It was Pennzoil's name for a group of Alkylated Cyclopentadienes, a Group V synthesized base oil, with properties similar to PAO.
Quaker State® SUPER BLEND: The intelligent oil™
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It was probably a really good oil!!
MolaKule
Staff member
My understanding is that it was an excellent base oil but very expensive to produce and was only used as a "co-base" oil at the time.
I have no idea if they still use it today with their GTL base oils.
I have no idea if they still use it today with their GTL base oils.
The first mass marketed synthetic from Pennzoil was Performax. Introduced around 1992 in 5W-50 only, soon included 5W-30 & 10W-30. Pennzoil was kind of forced into selling synthetic because Jiffy Lube lube contracts guaranteed competitive products. Even though at the time synthetics represented a miniscule portion of the market, Mobil1 was readily available. So Pennzoil had to come up with a synthetic, or face an insurrection of Jiffy Lube franchisees.
I don't know. That was an internet picture. I heard the story about the scrap rate from the guy who ran a QS sales and distribution branch at the time. We later became co-workers, which is when he told me.
That's correct. It was really an industrial product meant to be used in extreme temperatures, like outer space. I vaguely remember a promotional bit extolling its use on orbiting satellites. It was priced in the thousands of dollars per ounce. So, any used in motor oil was probably drops per tens of thousands of gallons. It's benefit in motor oil was for cheesy marketing only.
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Nice!!
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Wasn’t the original Castrol Syntec also only available in 5W50?
Yep, and oil change shops that poured Castrol were using it in everything when asked.
