Kind of an oddball question and no, I'm not spreading myths that haven't been true since the '70s.
I have two reasons for this question. First, many years ago when I first began using it in my TL I was told that it would be a quart low over the OCI. I didn't give this any consideration because the car has never used a drop of oil and there was no way a different oil could cause this. I always check in the same place so it's consistent, no issues with the car not being level. Sure enough, after 1,000 miles I was .5 quarts low. It never used a drop after that.
Fast forward to about a year ago, about 5 years later. Two OCIs ago I had to use an off the shelf oil so I picked M1 0-40 since it's a good oil and I already use Redline 0-40. This has been my only deviation from Redline since I started. Obviously the Mobil one was fine. I swapped back to Redline at the next change which was uneventful.
Today I decided to change the oil a bit early because the engine has been a little noisier than normal. I've been one of the lucky ones with practically zero valve train noise on a J series but lately I've been hearing the valve train more, especially at a drive through. So when I drained the oil it seemed thicker than normal. It was only about 120F but it was thick even for that temp. I could dribble it onto the concrete and it would sort of get taller. We are talking significantly thicker than it should be.
The car is usually driven 3 miles round trip per day, 1.4 miles each way up until lately the last thousand miles were 10 miles each way mostly freeway. I'm sure it could be oxidation but it's Redline and it's a weak 258hp V6 that's driven very easily. It doesn't smell like fuel. The air filter is in great shape. Only premium top tier fuel used.
Luckily I drained it into a very clean container for other reasons so I'm going to get an analysis done. Until then, anyone got suggestions or ideas, is it possible it's the 1/2 quart of Mobil One that was left inside the engine?Just curious until I get results back. Oh, this OCI was about 3,000 miles. Filter is a RP synthetic media.
I'm going to guess its something other than the interaction of the two oils but wanted to bring it up for the [censored] of it.
I have two reasons for this question. First, many years ago when I first began using it in my TL I was told that it would be a quart low over the OCI. I didn't give this any consideration because the car has never used a drop of oil and there was no way a different oil could cause this. I always check in the same place so it's consistent, no issues with the car not being level. Sure enough, after 1,000 miles I was .5 quarts low. It never used a drop after that.
Fast forward to about a year ago, about 5 years later. Two OCIs ago I had to use an off the shelf oil so I picked M1 0-40 since it's a good oil and I already use Redline 0-40. This has been my only deviation from Redline since I started. Obviously the Mobil one was fine. I swapped back to Redline at the next change which was uneventful.
Today I decided to change the oil a bit early because the engine has been a little noisier than normal. I've been one of the lucky ones with practically zero valve train noise on a J series but lately I've been hearing the valve train more, especially at a drive through. So when I drained the oil it seemed thicker than normal. It was only about 120F but it was thick even for that temp. I could dribble it onto the concrete and it would sort of get taller. We are talking significantly thicker than it should be.
The car is usually driven 3 miles round trip per day, 1.4 miles each way up until lately the last thousand miles were 10 miles each way mostly freeway. I'm sure it could be oxidation but it's Redline and it's a weak 258hp V6 that's driven very easily. It doesn't smell like fuel. The air filter is in great shape. Only premium top tier fuel used.
Luckily I drained it into a very clean container for other reasons so I'm going to get an analysis done. Until then, anyone got suggestions or ideas, is it possible it's the 1/2 quart of Mobil One that was left inside the engine?Just curious until I get results back. Oh, this OCI was about 3,000 miles. Filter is a RP synthetic media.
I'm going to guess its something other than the interaction of the two oils but wanted to bring it up for the [censored] of it.
Last edited: