About Mobil full synthetic and Engine noise

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I used Mobil full synthetic on my cars and results are

1) 2010 Odyssey with 60K - Used 0W30 (should had 0W20). Engine is loud and rough to notice. MPG suffered like .5 -1 mpg. Went from Pennzoil 0W20. Went back to this one and all is good.
2) 2002 Passat 1.8T - 126K - Used 0W40. Engine is loud, not rough. Can hear the cam chain noise slightly. MPG is slightly affected. Went from Castrol 0W30
3) 2000 BMW Z3 2.5 - 129K - Used 0W40. Engine is smooth, but the cam chain noise like rrrr, rrr, rrr. Tried Castrol GTX 5W30, noise immediately went away. To confirm, i tried two times. Both times, the noise was cured by Castrol. It is something like the chain is touching the Valve cover. MPG is same for both

Passat / Z3, i did Auto - RX and no sludge inside (both of them, i removed the valve cover and it is clean). Some how, the Mobil 0W40, is not making enough pressure for the secondary timing chain tensioner OR something else. I am almost positive that a new secondary tensioner will fix this (On Z3).

Why it is happening only with the Mobil full synthetic? For Passat, i was using it for long time and i think about 3-4 years back, it started doing this (loud). BMW i bought it used in 2012 and any time i use Mobil 0W40, it makes the noise. Did any one had this noise?

Also read good reviews about Rotella T6. It cleans better and runs silent. Thought of trying that. Dont want to change the tensioner if i can fix it with oil change. Changing tensioner is a time consuming job (Need to remove the VANOS and then etc).

Thanks in advance.
 
I never noticed any noise issues with my FXT using M1 5W30 compared to QSUD, M1 ESP, and whatever the dealer used to throw in it.
But, I do feel like my car is a bit noisier after using M1 5W30 EP for my last fill. It's not dramatic, but I am planning to go back to vanilla M1 for the next change. I do notice that the HTHS is a bit lower for the EP...???
 
I have only run Mobil 1 in about two dozen vehicles so far - so I'll try a few more and see ...
 
On Passat and Odyssey, it just made it noisier / louder. But on the BMW, may be the tensioner is weak (it is hydraulic as of i know, uses engine oil). It is a pretty irritating noise. Luckily it never increased. It is not bad until the engine warms up.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
.5 to 1 mpg loss? O.K.


Being able to attribute an observed change such as that to one isolated variable is utterly impossible outside of a laboratory. It cannot be done in real-world driving.

Considering that the energy density of gasoline varies by up to 4% even at the same gas station makes such claims invalid. People on here often conflate measurement with correlation. Just because you may be able to measure something doesn't mean you know what caused it.
 
The BMW preferred xW30 over xW40? That seems odd--I thought Germans preferred thicker.
 
Originally Posted By: kschachn
Originally Posted By: CT8
.5 to 1 mpg loss? O.K.


Being able to attribute an observed change such as that to one isolated variable is utterly impossible outside of a laboratory. It cannot be done in real-world driving.

Considering that the energy density of gasoline varies by up to 4% even at the same gas station makes such claims impossible.


Good point. Need at least 3 tanks of fuel, and with onset of winter I'd think even longer.

What was the drop in energy for winter gas? I wonder if that would alone would account for the drop.
 
It maybe time to try a different oil to see if the cars will quiet down some. You tried Castrol and it did well why not try that? Can you take a audio or video of the noise of the cars.
I have heard some people that were on Mobil 1 and then went with something else and it quieted the engine down. Now why does Mobil 1 produce engine noise more than others would be interesting to look into.
 
Mobil 1 is the Bees Knees...

Anyway, I can't see this being a fair comparison when so many different viscosities were used.

I also call [censored] on the MPG claim. No way to have a control value solid enough in real world driving for a balanced experiment.
 
This is a joke...you realize that mobil 1 is the industry leader in synthetics....if there was a problem the whole world would know.

I love these claims of engines running smoother, no noise, more noise, more power etc. with changes in oil brand. I wrenched on cars professionally for over 15 years and promise you there is no noticeable difference with the exception of starting in sub zero weather with 15 and 20w oils.
 
The MPG drop was before winter gas. Oil is changed after that.

About .5-1mpg, that's what i observed. It gets ~16 mpg in city. Not a big thing for me. It was only in Odyssey and might be because of 0W30 instead of 0W20 (which it requires).

BMW, the user manual says for 5W30, now the LL01 certification, only Mobil 0W40 have it. With either of them, car runs fine and no issues.

My main worry is the noise, not the mpg. Just wondering why only Mobil is making this noise / loud engine. It is the cam chain (front of the engine). M52TU engine code. 2.5L

From the BMW. 2014 and last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcB_gWFujr4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LOAiXdUlxE
 
Originally Posted By: Boomerang
I used Mobil full synthetic on my cars and results are

1) 2010 Odyssey with 60K - Used 0W30 (should had 0W20). Engine is loud and rough to notice. MPG suffered like .5 -1 mpg. Went from Pennzoil 0W20. Went back to this one and all is good.


This is interesting bit. How can you measure 0.5-1 mpg difference? Only asking because even for a smaller Civic, mileage drops a lot by a few miles in winter, when compared with summer. Even though I was using same oil/filter and commute. Provided, I drive like a Gpa and follow the limits.
 
Originally Posted By: Boomerang
BMW, the user manual says for 5W30, now the LL01 certification, only Mobil 0W40 have it. With either of them, car runs fine and no issues.


FYI, Mobil 1 0W-40 no longer carries Longlife-01 certification but Castrol 0W-40 still does. And the BMW branded oil of course.
 
Originally Posted By: maverickfhs
This is interesting bit. How can you measure 0.5-1 mpg difference? Only asking because even for a smaller Civic, mileage drops a lot by a few miles in winter, when compared with summer. Even though I was using same oil/filter and commute. Provided, I drive like a Gpa and follow the limits.


The problem is not measuring it, the problem is attributing it to a specific variable. That's impossible in real-world driving.
 
You do realize that the Castrol GTX 5w-30 is THINNER than the Mobil 1 0w-40 right? So it providing less pressure for the tensioner would be the opposite result. And that MPG observation, as others have noted, is impossible. That's like a 7%-8% fuel economy difference. The difference between a 0w-20 and 20w-50 is like 2%. Mobil claims a 0.2% to 2.3 percent difference switching from a heavier oil to their 0w-20 or 0w-30.

GTX is in no way approved for that BMW application, and has lower levels of AW additives, TBN retention and is in general an inferior lubricant all around to any of the approved offerings including Castrol 0w-30 or 0w-40, both of which carry LL-01.
 
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