Questions about some "new" Mobil 1 grades

[Craig in Canada]

I've seen some local stores beginning to receive Mobil 1 SuperSyn 5W50 in place of 15W50. Most have a grey cap, but I thought I saw some red cap bottles somewhere. Walmart and many other average stores have 5W30, 10W30 and now 5W50. Too bad they never have a good -40.

I don't see 5W50 anywhere on mobil1.com. What's the deal? What are the specs?

Also, I've been curious about the 5W40 diesel-grade Mobil 1. It is listed on the mobil1.com website but without any sort of spec sheet listing viscosities and HTHS numbers. Anyone have another link into that info?

I've been contemplating a change in my engine oil selection (that's another thread) and I am curious to have proper info on some of these choices.


Thanks,
Craig.

 

[Patman]

5w50 is one of those viscosities that makes no sense to me. What kind of engine would you run it in? If it's an old muscle car with loose clearances in it's engine, you're only going to be driving it in the summer, so you'd be better off with a 20w50.

If the weather is cold enough that you want a 5w oil, you really wouldn't need anything thicker than 5w40 since you won't see high oil temps in the cold winter either.

A 5w50 is just going to shear back quickly to a 5w40 anyhow, so you might as well use 5w40 and avoid an oil tons of VII in it.

Mobil 1 should've gone with a 5w40 formula instead, it would sell a lot more than 5w50. And their current 5w40 diesel formula is too hard to find and too many car owners are afraid to run it. Stick a European formula label on a Mobil 1 5w40 and it would sell like hotcakes.

Mobil 1 dropped the ball on this one, IMHO.

 

[wavinwayne]

The new Ford GT requires 5w50.

 

[UNC038]

quote:

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The new Ford GT requires 5w50.

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Didn't the GT get discontinued.

 

[JAG]

Mobil 1 5W-50 is very popular in Europe from what I hear. I know some VW 1.8T and BMW owners that run Mobil or Castrol 5W-50 oils. Castrol 5W-50 Syntec would have to sheer by a couple of cst's to thin out as much as virgin 5W-40 Syntec; from 17 to 14 cst from what I recall. These oils aren't good choices for most American and Japanese engines, but do have their place with many European engines.

 

[oilyriser]

http://www.imperialoil.com/Canada-English/Files/Products_Lubes/IOCAENPVLMOMobil_1_5W-50.pdf