What's Behind Mobil1 Being Recommended Oils for Vehicles....

[Idrinkmotoroil]

Well we all know Mobil1 gets recommended by manufacturers such as Porsche, Dodge, and Chevy for various models of vehicles. There may be others but I know of those for sure. I have a dodge srt-4 and it is listed in the owners manual that Mobil1 is the recommended oil for aggressive driving conditions. So what is really behind mentioning Mobil1 in the owners manual. Are the manufacturers really happy with Mobil1's performance that they go out of their way to list it in the owners manual ?, or is it an advertising thing with Mobil1. You would think if manufacturers wanted to recommend synthetic oils they would just list the generic term synthetic oil instead of naming Mobil1 specifically. I also find it strange that Porsche recommends Mobil1 as Europeans are such an ethnocentric group you would think they would be pushing Motul. Unless they hate the French just as much was we do. I remember Porsche also listing Valvoline as approved oil manufacturer for their engines, so makes me wonder. kinda confusing. I think Mobil1 is a pretty decent oil so I can see it going both ways. Like to hear everyone's opinion though. thanks Joey

 

[Thumper_sr5]

I know what you mean, why not amsoil or castrol syn! Mobil1 must pay for the ad.

 

[cryptokid]

if i had to guess, it would be that mobil1 is the only oil that is widely available anywhere, and is a "real" synthetic. this is about the only thing i can think of to set mobil above the rest.

 

[glxpassat]

So far, Mobil-1 0w-40 is the only 40 weight full syn. that I have seen that has a starburst on the front of the bottle. It is classified as an energy conserving oil. I believe that is why it's being used as a factory fill on many cars now.

 

[Roadfrog]

Because the manufacturers feel their product is best represented by Mobil 1 being recommended. It's that simple.

 

[GeorgeCLS]

The Mobil 1 initial fill all began with the Corvette around 1995. The then chief engineer put the Corvette on a weight reduction program and an obvious 200 pound savings existed in the oil cooler and all the associated lines and hardware by using Mobil 1. (Plus build costs, of course) So, that began the "Use Mobil 1" logo on the fill port. And as previously mentioned, Mobil 1 is readily available so it posed no source problems for end users, plus it was a total win/win for Chevrolet in that using a very high quality engine oil would certainly help in terms of warranty issues... Chevrolet's success (in terms of cost and warranty issues with a high performance engine) did not go unnoticed; when you build an engine/car that is going to be driven very hard by some owners, it makes perfect sense to use the highest quality lubricant and have the owner pay for it.. Both Porsche and BMW have had a long standing relationship with Mobil in their racing programs so it was easy to follow for initial fill. Same with the other high performance cars such as Viper, etc.. A win/win for high performance manufacturers.. George Morrison, STLE CLS

 

[Pablo]

And Volvo recommends Castrol and the kids game cube Monkey Ball game has Dole posted all over the graphics. It's about the advertising dollar, and to some extent the lame American consumer. Will your SRT-4 suddenly implode if you use Fuchs, Amsoil, Redline?....of course not. What do the bloody French have to do with it? Sure their leaders use loving liberalism to hide their corruption, but that doesn't stop me from loving French people and to some extent some of their culture....stick with the facts.

 

[Swift]

I'm with Pablo, it's about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

[90mustang]

At the new vehicle auto show last September, I seen that Jaguar recommends Castrol. I seen this on the oil fill cap. I don't know about the type. I found it a little surprising that Ford recommends Mobil 1 15w50 for the latest Cobra R. I believe it was built in '00. I guess,because it was intended to be only for racing not collectors.

 

[Patman]

Two things I need to correct you on there George. For one, the Corvette got Mobil 1 as it's factory fill in 1992, the first year they put the LT1 engine into it. And number two, there is absolutely, positively no way that the oil cooler in the previous Corvettes weighed 200lbs. Maybe 10 at the most.

 

[mnztr]

You'd be surprised how much an oil cooler and lines can add up. Not 200 lbs, but maybe 20-30 lb. You have to remember that all the lines are full of oil and oil volume must be increased accordingly, so add about 1.5 quarts, plus steel lines and the weight of the cooler and it adds up pretty quick.

 

[widman]

It's not just motor oils. Mobil has had a very aggressive team of people working to put their names on equipment all over the world. If you look at a lot of the lubrication plates on industrial equipment, it give the recomendation in Mobil products, which is also probably why Mobil uses weird product names and numbers to make finding the equivalents harder (DTE light, DTE Heavy, etc. instead of Hydraulic ISO 68 or R&O 46 or whatever). Fortunatly today with the internet we can find the replacement products in brands that are often better.

 

[darkdan]

Mobil1 says, "Look at all these cars that recommend us...we're that good!" Car companys say, "Look at how good our cars are. They work so hard they need Mobil1." Everyone makes more money, everyone is happy, and the cars work.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by mnztr: You'd be surprised how much an oil cooler and lines can add up. Not 200 lbs, but maybe 20-30 lb. You have to remember that all the lines are full of oil and oil volume must be increased accordingly, so add about 1.5 quarts, plus steel lines and the weight of the cooler and it adds up pretty quick.

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Good point, the extra oil does weigh a few pounds too, that's something I didn't take into account.

 

[pscholte]

What a neat coincidence...Rolls Royce, too, went on a weight reduction program so they got rid of the wine coolers...

 

[Finklejag]

SAAB recommends Mobil 1 or SAAB turbo oil. Well the SAAB turbo oil is Euro Mobil 1 Long Life. They have a nice little sticker in the engine compartment saying so.

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by Thumper_sr5: I know what you mean, why not amsoil or castrol syn! Mobil1 must pay for the ad.

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I was just at the autoshow and the BMW 3 Series & M3 recommend only Castrol.

 

[Swift]

quote:

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Originally posted by therion:

quote:

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Originally posted by Thumper_sr5: I know what you mean, why not amsoil or castrol syn! Mobil1 must pay for the ad.

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I was just at the autoshow and the BMW 3 Series & M3 recommend only Castrol.

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Hummm???

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi, over many years I - like others on here - have had exposure to Oil Companies and Motor Manufacturers at the very highest of levels Initially in the 1950's and 60's the German Makers linked motor sport to their factory fill Oil supplier. The collaboration then was intense. MB and Porsche for instance were great believers in motorsport/testing and it was part of their various component's durability testing - and the oils too! Supply in various international markets necessitated the formation of the "Approved Lists". This ensured that the qualities of the tested oils were available in the International market place. This minimised warranty issues and etc - I have practical experience in this area In more recent times $$$$$, motorsport, advertising and availability and etc. have been interspersed with profitability in a changed World. The Vehicle Makers still have great difficulty insisting that their Dealers sell the factory fill oils. This is because of local supply deals and such - hence the Approved List Incidently some makers have more than one supplier to the factory. Many first fill lubricants are special "bed in" formulations Some of the Mobil 1 at MB/Porsche factory level is such a formulation Mobil do indeed work at a "resident" level with the Vehicle and Component ( engines etc ) makers Much interchange of Engineers takes place The level of research is still very intense as new metallurgy, configurations, emission controls etc etc are constantly being tested Manufacturing "defects" are sometimes masked by the Oil Makers chemistry in the marketplace by special oil brews ( gearboxes, diffs etc.) In the end this is still a very complex and many sided issue Porsche's first synthetic fill in 1992 was a 5w-40 Shell XMO lubricant. Porsche's racing oil was Shell then. Within a couple of years Shell was out and Mobil was in Regards

 

[GeorgeCLS]

Patman, well, okay, if you say it was 1992 okay with me, (was it depicted on the filler? 1995 was the year I remember officially but what do I know I only sell the stuff) on the change; however, the 200 Pound savings is what Mobil was advised by Chevrolet... It was more than just the cooler, lines, oil, but also going to a smaller transmission, oil volume, etc.. And yes, since that original "need"/application designation, others have climbed on the bandwagon and now it is a Money Talks, Nobody Walks sales extravaganza. But in Mobil's case, intially, it was performance and availability.. Again, it was a win/win for performance manufactuers. It got the owner putting in a very high quality lubricant into an engine which very likely was going to be run to extremes.. An extreme engine oil lubricant in an extreme engine definately increases the possibility of making it through warranty... Vs. running some sort of off brand minimal performance lubricant which would not contribute to the engine's life... Pretty much a no-brainer.. George Morrison, STLE CLS