Worst oil you have put in your car?

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This is what happens when you dont use Pennzoil.
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Years ago, dad's best friend gave him his 1976 AMC Gremlin when he was done with it to do whatever he wanted with it.

I cleaned out the contents of the hatch and found a really old bottle of a low-buck 10W-30...it might have been Sears Spectrum or CT oil.

Hung onto it for no real reason, and about 10 years after that, borrowed a buddy's oil-burning 1987 Mercury Tracer and had to add oil to it.

Didn't want to spend 'good' money on oil for it, so I dumped this bottle of oil...it was dark and thick, I vaguely remember. Car ran fine, but I wish I'd kept it as a collectible....
 
More like; wrong oil, not bad oil.

Used 10w30 on my MB w124 and later in the same day found out (from the owner's manual) that these old engines use this grade for ambient temps lower than 10C (50F). Temps here never even come close to 15C (59F)in worst winter days.

That would have blew up the engine.

Speaking of bad oil, never heard of such a thing here in Saudi Arabia where oil is cheap and found every where
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Do not believe it was a bad oil but years ago I used Arco Graphite. What a mess that stuff was.
 
combination of wrong grade and just [censored] oil to begin with:

Dollar General brand 20W50 in an engine that specs 5W-30... this was in ~2005 or so, that engine is still running around too(40K miles later), most recently filled with Mobil 5000 5W-30.

the fuel pump is controlled by a combination of the ECM and an oil pressure switch... whenever the oil pressure is above 4PSI or so, the switch will power the pump even if the ECM doesn't... shut it off with the oil still relatively cold and when it had 20W-50 in it, it ran for a good 4 seconds after the engine stopped.
 
Originally Posted By: andrew_g
Not my personal vehicle but put "Conklin" brand oil in my dad's 2000 durango and was running it the 15,000 it claimed to be good for well it ended up coming out clumpy and trashing the motor in a vehicle that was never driven hard and always serviced by the dealer


I'm coming into this conversation 2+ years late, but for posterity's sake I must say, sad as it was for the problems your Dad's Durango developed, I do not for one second believe it was Conklin's oil that actually "caused" the scenario you described with your dad's vehicle. I've been around Conklin lubes/products for close to 30 years, and have NEVER seen or heard of anything similar being caused by any of their materials. In fact, the far opposite is the more usual case. Simply, I'd guess the vehicle would have gone "bang" when it did, regardless of oil brand/type being installed. Still, I can understand the frustration and grief caused by such a bad loss.
 
based on UOA's, worst i used was DGauto SF 10w-40 from Dollar general. had an old caddy that leaked and burned 1 qt every 1000 or so. For one oil change, i tried this junk as top-off oil and results were terrible.
 
PYB SAE 40wt. Not really "worst" but incorrect. The thick straight weight did just fine through the TX summer driving the interstates in my '97 Chevy PU.

Also have used 20-50 on occasion when I get 'em almost free. Still zero issues.
 
I used shell helix ultra extra 5w30 in my skoda, sludged up really bad after 10,000km, switched to liqui moly toptech 4200, used that after 10,000km no sludge, great oil.
 
The worst oil I put in my car was no oil.

I bought a sweet 1969 Karmann Ghia from a pal in 1974. But it used oil, so it came with the instruction, " don't buy gas without checking the oil too."

I was too busy being a full time hippie and forgot to check the oil twice. It locked up between OKC and Tulsa. I got out of the car with my knapsack and stuck my thumb out . I never looked back at the car. I couldn't afford to have it towed, let alone fixed.

Z
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Never again will I spend money on mobil 1


I thought you were running M1 0W-40 in your Charger!
 
Originally Posted By: zray
The worst oil I put in my car was no oil.

I bought a sweet 1969 Karmann Ghia from a pal in 1974. But it used oil, so it came with the instruction, " don't buy gas without checking the oil too."

I was too busy being a full time hippie and forgot to check the oil twice. It locked up between OKC and Tulsa. I got out of the car with my knapsack and stuck my thumb out . I never looked back at the car. I couldn't afford to have it towed, let alone fixed.

Z


Haha AWESOME story!!
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Originally Posted By: electrolover
This is what happens when you dont use Pennzoil.
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All I see is a sweet little kitty cat :^)
 
When I was much younger a friend of mine's mother had a Lincoln town car that smoked and burned oil pretty bad she had to stop for a top off at a gas station and bought two cycle engine oil on accident but said it stop smoking and useing so much so from then on they used two cycle oil in the car always thought it was kind of crazy but the thing lasted for several years after would've loved to seen under the valve covers
 
Had a change of Valvoline Synpower 5w30 in the Saturn. It ran poorly and mileage went down the toilet, so I dumped it way early. There were big chunks of metal in the oil I drained and more chunks trapped in the filter. Looked like bearing material. The engine never ran the same after that.

Years previously, I had quit using Valvoline in the Bug because I had to add oil every day, equaling a quart or so a week (!), with Valvoline 10w30. I tried Havoline 10w30 and my consumption went down to about a quart a month.
 
Originally Posted By: tratman2000
When I was much younger a friend of mine's mother had a Lincoln town car that smoked and burned oil pretty bad she had to stop for a top off at a gas station and bought two cycle engine oil on accident but said it stop smoking and useing so much so from then on they used two cycle oil in the car always thought it was kind of crazy....."


Guys that work in motorcycle shops, who know 2 stroke oil pretty well, have been doing that for years. I first heard about it in 1970 when I started working at Triumph of Oklahoma City.

Z
 
I ran used motor oil from dad's 55-gallon drum in my '75 Chevy Vega for the first 6 months I went to college. Then we rebuilt the engine with iron sleeves during Christmas break, so I started using decent name-brand motor oils. (One of which was Arco Graphite. I liked it.)

I did run used 5w20 from Eaton's valve train test rigs in my riding mower one summer. It ran fine on it, but consumption was high.
 
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Back in the early 80's my dad would always buy old Ford vans for work and old Buick Lesabres for family cars - we had a few 75 and 76 models.
When they were low on oil we would go buy qts of Texas Gold SAE30 oil - more than likely SA rated.They would only last a year or two and we'd buy another old clunker on it's last legs. I look back and realize , we killed them old cars.
 
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