Well........... I just gave Mobil 1 a try!

goldfinger · Aug 27, 2003

I went over to Wal-Mart and was once again baffeled by the oil choices.

I was stuck between my Pennzoil, Pennziol HM, and Mobil 1. Everything I've read in this forum kept bringing Mobil 1 back into the picture so I went for it.

Then I was stuck between 5W 30 and 10W 30.... I picked up the 5W 30 because "that's what it says in the book" and the thought of the 5W getting to my DOHC quicker.

Then I put it back and picked up the 10W 30 thinking that it never gets below 10F here and the 10W was less likely to burn off as fast on start up just in case I do have a increase in consumption.

I passed up the Frams and grabbed a SuperTech 3506 hoping that what I read here was correct.

I got home and the change went fairly routine, I noticed that the old oil had chunks of orange paint in it from the filter casing.

The Mobil 1 definatly seemed thinner as I had a problem keeping it on the holes in the dipstick to get a reading. It was also lighter on the dipstick than I had expected.

I can't see any improvments in gas milage or the butt-o-meter as some people claim. If anything the engine might run the *tinest* bit quieter but nothing major. I remote started and checked the tail pipe for any visable smoke and there was none.

I'm going to change it out every 6 months which will be only about 2,000 miles so the SuperTech filter should do the job.

Hopefully my 82,500 mile engine can make the switch without any problems!

Just wanted to share my experience and let you guys know you finally converted me to synthetic.

[ August 28, 2003, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: goldfinger ]

MRC01 · Aug 27, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by goldfinger:
I'm going to change it out every 6 months which will be only about 2,000 miles so the SuperTech filter should do the job.

Just wanted to share my experience and let you guys know you finally converted me to synthetic.

With that low mileage and synthetic oil you might as well run the oil & filter for a full year.

Cutehumor · Aug 28, 2003

since you didn't do an autorx treatment, I would check the oil at least once a week to make sure there's no seepage. it's cheap insurance.

Cannon32 · Aug 28, 2003

I decided to give Mobil 1 a try recently as well, and couldn't be more pleased. I put it in both my '95 Corolla (67K) and my '98 4Runner (115k). I haven't put many miles on the Runner since then, but have put over 700 miles on the Corolla in the week since I switched to the Mobil 1 10W-30. Prior to the switch, we had NEVER seen better than 35mpg in that car, regardless of driving conditions. Just after the change we took a 5+hour trip. We got 38mpg on the way there and closer to 40mpg on the way back. No other changes were made to this vehicle besides the oil change. Between the extended drain interval and this kind of mileage increase, I'll stick with synthetic from now on thank you very much!

Rexman · Aug 28, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Goldfinger:
The Mobil 1 definatly seemed thinner as I had a problem keeping it on the holes in the dipstick to get a reading. It was also lighter on the dipstick than I had expected.

quote:

Originally posted by Cannon32:
Just after the change we took a 5+hour trip. We got 38mpg on the way there and closer to 40mpg on the way back. No other changes were made to this vehicle besides the oil change. Between the extended drain interval and this kind of mileage increase, I'll stick with synthetic from now on thank you very much!

Congratulations to both of you guys on making the switch! The Mobil is just pure synthetic base stock plus the additives. No wax or other impurities like in dino to make it "stick" better to the dipstick!

Owners report quite a bit of variation in mpg improvement, depending on the vehicle.
Even if you only see a 2% improvement (say from 20.0 to 20.4 mpg) it would still save 12 gallons of gas a year if you drive 12,000 mi.

Most engines will only see 2-3 more horsepower per 200 horses with the syn. Not enough to really notice on the butt dyno, but your engine is running more efficiently and will have less wear.

[ August 28, 2003, 03:51 PM: Message edited by: Rexman ]

Cressida · Aug 28, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by goldfinger:

I'm going to change it out every 6 months which will be only about 2,000 miles so the SuperTech filter should do the job.

I second what you've already been told above. Go ahead and run it the full year. You will be fine and if you wish have the oil analized at that point to make you feel better..

Robbie Alexander · Aug 28, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Rexman:

No wax or other impurities like in dino to make it "stick" better to the dipstick!

[/QB]

NOT ALL DINO's have them, some have little to ALMOST NIL...
The sticking (some) is good! - Called adhesive property to the oil, you don't want it running of like water do you?

Drstressor · Aug 28, 2003

The increase in mileage people see with M1 is the result of the low viscosity that folks tend to complain about on this board. For normal driving, a shear stable synthetic oil engineered to the low end of the 30 weight range makes perfect sense. For stressed engines or heavy duty driving, an A3 spec oil or an xW-40 would be a better choice.

I also agree with the recommendation to go a full year on the M1. I have done UOA on my '90 Honda that gets about the same low usage as your car. The results always come back fine except for a little fuel dilution from the short trips.

guitargeek · Aug 28, 2003

I switched my Grand Prix over to Mobil 1 about 3,000 miles ago. It has 107,000 on it now. I've already changed my oil three times since then (the bug bit me!). The first two times I kept with the Mobil 1, but this last change I decided to try Royal Purple. Although Mobil 1 is considerably better than the Castrol GTX I was previously running, I decided that my car really likes the Royal Purple better. It was running a few degrees cooler than with the Mobil, and it felt a lot more solid.

With my lead right foot, I don't pay attention to gas mileage, so I don't know if there was an increase or not. **** , I'm lucky to get double digits around town

goldfinger · Aug 28, 2003

Wow, look at the replies.

After some more driving today I guess I'm forced to admit that MAYBE synthetic does make a *small* horsepower difference. I was able to break the tires free on a 25Mph stomp which I've never done before.

Credit it to the oil or to a stroke of luck? Who knows.

I realize I could probably do 1 change per year with such low mileage and in 6 months I may just decide to do that, however for now I'm planning on changing it because all oil gets dirty.

Plus if I happen to get a better job I'll be putting more miles on it than I do now on my .5 mile commute to work.

jc1990 · Sep 1, 2003

well my luck with mobil 1 is not as good put it in my 90 ford van 5.8 5qts 1550 1 qt 1030 3 days later my truck smelled like it was burning oil did not see any leaks but now it always smells like burning oil and sofar in 1000 miles ive added almost 2 quarts of oil and it,s very dark u can,t even see the markings on the dipstick

sprintman · Sep 1, 2003

It's cleaning old junk out. IMO Always do an Auto-Rx clean before going dino to syn.

turbochem · Sep 2, 2003

quote:

I noticed that the old oil had chunks of orange paint in it from the filter casing.

How did the oil get on the outside of the filter casing then recirculate back into the engine??

Eiron · Sep 2, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by goldfinger:
I'm going to change it out every 6 months which will be only about 2,000 miles so the SuperTech filter should do the job.

Hopefully my 82,500 mile engine can make the switch without any problems!

I've got 11mos/3500mi on my 15W-50 Mobil 1 right now, so I might reach 1yr/4k mi also. I plan on changing the filter & pulling a UOA sample at 5k mi, & I'll post the results when I do. Then it's on to ??yrs/10k mi before I run the Auto-Rx. (Well, that's the plan anyway.)

I switched my engine over at 120k miles w/o problems, & it's got close to 164k now. When I switched oils, I also immediately extended my intervals from 3k mi to 10k mi. (But at that time I was driving 15k mi/yr, so 10k mi only took 8mos-9mos.)

goldfinger · Sep 2, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by turbochem:

quote:

I noticed that the old oil had chunks of orange paint in it from the filter casing.

Click to expand...

How did the oil get on the outside of the filter casing then recirculate back into the engine??

Hey now!! Don't make fun of the newbie!

I'm going to check up on the M1 today to see if any has leaked/burned. I highly doubt it has since it's only been about 50 miles (1 week).

[ September 03, 2003, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: goldfinger ]

goldfinger · Sep 3, 2003

Well I checked on the Mobil 1 today. 1 week and 50 miles later the oil is as dark on the dip stick as the Pennzoil was when I drained it! I swear right after I put it in it was so light I could barely see it.

Maybe it really IS cleaning the gunk out.

turbochem · Sep 3, 2003

quote:

Hey now!! Don't make fun of the newbie!

Just some good-natured BITOG fun.........

Don't worry, I never use the same oil filter brand twice in a row. I have this crazy belief about getting "stuck" with a bad filter brand. If I rotate companies, I have to be using the best some of the time..................

Until we come to a consensus about how to rate oil filter quality, my little system will continue.....

See, I have bigger problems........

[ September 04, 2003, 02:02 AM: Message edited by: turbochem ]

Well........... I just gave Mobil 1 a try!

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