Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: jcwit
If Pennzoil wasn't an excellent oil they would have been gone long ago.
If Fram didn't make good filters then.... wait....
Oh bugger.
OK, Pennzoil isn't Fram and I would have no problem using Pennzoil conventional today. But I suspect that there *might* be a grain of truth in the old myths based way back in the 60s and 70s. There was a time when Pennzoil was one of the most common and generic oils available and I have no idea whether it really was as good as others or was gunk in a bottle. I know that it *DEFINITELY* had a bad reputation among my contemporaries (I'm 45) when we were teenagers and in our 20s tinkering with cars. I don't know if that reputation was deserved, but it was definitely there for whatever reason. But then, today isn't the 70s and ALL oils are so different from what they were then that it just DOES NOT MATTER.
I concur. In the late '60's early '70's Pennzoil had a supposedly horrible reputation in colder climates. My dad was a mechanic at a dealership that had bulk Pennzoil in stock. They had numerous problems with waxy build ups in the valve covers in cold weather. They also had major issues with lifters on most vehicles being very noisy. Once the dealer switched to Valvoline, most of the issues went away. 5 or 6 years later the dealer went back to Pennzoil, and none of the past Pennzoil issues resurfaced.
Oil back then was not very good compared to today's oils, so I always took his Pennzoil stories with a grain of salt. But then again, he was not the only mechanic who had bad experiences with Pennzoil back in early 1970's. Most of the ones always mention noisy valve lifters on Pennzoil, even with low vehicle mileage, so maybe there was some form of issues with Pennzoil for a few years.
I however, run PP with utmost confidence!
