Mobil 1 HM 10W30 lower pour point than HM 5W30?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 25, 2005
Messages
772
Location
Northern Michigan
I am currently running Mobil 1 HM 10W30 in my 2003 PT Cruiser (a little over 90,000 miles now and runs great). I've had great success with this oil and switched from Castrol (German) 0W30 when my stash ran out (ran from about 25,000 miles...great UOA's). Now that Mobil 1 has introduced a HM 5W30 I thought I'd consider switching to it as I assumed it would be a little "thinner" and better for the upcoming winter and it's subzero temperatures here. Just for giggles I thought I'd check out the MSDS stats on the two oils. The HM 5W30 is rated at 78 cST @ 40C and 11.8 cST @ 100C with a pour point of -33F. The HM 10W30 is rated at 62.6 cST @ 40C and 10.1 cST @ 100C with a pour point of -44F. What gives? I'm certainly no expert but it would appear that the HM10W30 is...thinner and has a lower pour point? I can't get the HM5W30 around here but can get the HM10W30 at Wally world in 5 qt. jugs (PT has a 5 qt. sump). At 5,000 miles the dipstick indicates about 1/4 qt. of usage...excellent I'd say considering the miles. This isn't my daily driver anymore and the oil gets changed out twice a year or so. At this point I'm inclined to just stick with the HM10W30 and call it a day. Appreciate any input...
 
I would ask Mobil. Just a guess, but the 10w-30 is typ a light duty truck application and may be forumlated with more group iv stock. Seems odd though.
 
I think you have your numbers backwards. Or, are you looking at their regular 5w30 and 10w30?(non-HM) I remember their 10w30 being around 10cST while the 5w30 was in the high 11's.

High mileage PDS: http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lubes/PDS/NAXXENPVLMOMobil_1_High_Mileage_Oil.asp

I can't find a PSD on their HM 5w30

Typical Properties

SAE Grade 10W-30 / 10W-40

cSt @ 40º C 78.2 / 98.16
cSt @ 100º C 11.79 / 14.71
Viscosity Index, ASTM D 2270 145 / 156
 
Last edited:
There's probably no mistake there at all. Remember, the SAE "grades" are actually ranges, they do NOT reflect a specific viscosity.

There could be any number of things happening here. I suspect that, for whatever reason (we'll never know for sure), EM has blended the new 5w-30 HM using a fundamentally different mixture of base oils. Keeping in mind that oil makers frequently change their "designs," they might be moving the HM line to a different formulation (oil and adds), and the pre-existing 10w-30 has not yet received the change.

It's also possible that EM realized that if they were going to bring a successful 5w-30 to the HM line, they would have to make that oil especially resistant to burnoff, evaporation, and so forth. If a new 5w-30 hit the market, only to be greeted by a steady stream of complaints about oil disappearing from the crankcase, that could spell doom for the new product.

Of course, all the above is speculation, albeit educated speculation. The point is that what you perceive as an anomaly is probably not an anomaly at all. Don't forget, afterall, that one of the very "thickest" 30m wt oils out there (when hot) is Castrol's legendary GC, which is "legally" a 0w-30!
 
I believe we established a while ago that the MSDS for Mobil 1 HM 5w-30 can't be trusted. I'm sure when the data sheet finally comes out, the pour points will be even with the 10w-30.
 
How is the cold starting with the M1 you are now running ? It gets cold in Michigan . But then cold to me is anything below 50f.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
I believe we established a while ago that the MSDS for Mobil 1 HM 5w-30 can't be trusted. I'm sure when the data sheet finally comes out, the pour points will be even with the 10w-30.


True. It's quite possible however, that they're formulating to a different design. Not saying it's so, just establishing the possibility. It will be interesting to see what's there when EM finally gets around to posting up a PDS.
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
The MSDS for the 10w-30 shows a pour point of -44, yet the data sheet shows -65 F!


Yep, that's a clear indicator that they don't have their admin act together. Thankfully, where I live, I won't ever get a chance to see which figure is correct. . .
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
The MSDS for the 10w-30 shows a pour point of -44, yet the data sheet shows -65 F!



The M1 website that I am looking at says the pour point of the M1 10W30 HM is -54 degrees, and for the 10W40 it is -39 degrees.

My last oil change was the 10W30 version. This oil change has slightly over 7,000 miles on it, and it is about one third quart low. My vehicle is a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder with the 4.0 V-6. I plan on changing it at the one year mark, which will probably be 10,000 miles.

I would like to try the 5W30 version on my next change, as that is the preferred weight in the Pathfinder manual. It is specced for 5W30, 10W30, and 10W40, with 5W30 preferred.
 
Originally Posted By: 1999nick
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
The MSDS for the 10w-30 shows a pour point of -44, yet the data sheet shows -65 F!



The M1 website that I am looking at says the pour point of the M1 10W30 HM is -54 degrees, and for the 10W40 it is -39 degrees.



That's -54C, which is -65F.
 
The PDS on the M1 HM10w30 is awesome, Id imagine it would be great in Mich. winter. In the mid 90s during college in WI I ran 10w30 during the winter one year, no issues. The power steering fluid would take up to 10 minutes to become warm enough to say driving was safe though.
 
Doing another winter run right now of it that will put me threw to next spring ,late,thought about changing it out to 5w30HM when it hits the shelves here,we'll see..
 
Pour point seems to be useless. I had a bottle of Quaker State Torque Power 5W-30 (pp -33C) and a bottle of Mobil 1 10W-30 High Mileage (pp -54C) side by side in my freezer. They were both right around 1 degree Fahrenheit (-17C), and the Quaker State actually moved a bit more freely in the bottle than the Mobil 1.
 
I had no problem with the HM10W30 last winter with temps. of -25 to -30F. The PT has always been an easy starter (which I attribute to the iridium plugs and Magnecor wires that I installed at 35,000 miles). In warm weather it barely turns over...seems to start instantly. In the coldest weather it cranks a couple of times and fires right up. I noticed a little knocking for about 30 seconds during the coldest starts but figure that's normal considering the temperature. We know the specs. on the HM10W30 are very good and I'm inclined to just keep using it. If the specs. on the HM5W30 are accurate, something may have been compromised in the mix (less group IV as suggested?). In any event, I'm sending a UOA in next week...we'll see how the HM10W30 performed before making any changes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top