Some say, "stay away from Pennzoil". Why?

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aaron98801

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Starting about 5 years ago or so, way before I ever found BITOG, I have had many people tell me to stay away from Pennzoil. Just recently one of the mechanics that works at a local shop here told me, "you will be fine with whatever brand oil you choose, just stick to the recommended grade and always stay away from Pennzoil".

If I remember correctly the first time I heard this the reason was because Pennzoil causes sludge, or turns into sludge, more than other oils. Sounds like [censored] to me but I hear it ALL THE TIME from multiple mechanics and people in general.

Could this be due to the fact that is is a good detergent oil and it is cleaning off more sludge in older motors than other oils and this is being misinterpretted as the oil turning into sludge. Either way I have never listened to them and I have put in PYB (I am assuming this means Pennzoil Yellow Bottle, new to the forum)in many of my friends cars who just wanted a good cheaper oil.

I just thought I would run this by you guys and see if anyone else has ever heard the same thing oe has any imput.
 
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WOW. I have done a lot of searching on this forum and never ran across this topic before. We can now stop beating that dead horse and I will read those links. Thanks for the links, the pics, and the animations. Also, thanks for understanding that I am very new here.
 
Pennzoil is good oil. synthetice removes 46% of the sludge in the first change, dino removes 16% in the first Change... or at least that is what the label says. Use it do a UOA then let us know.

My opinion is that any modern oil, dino or syn, is going to do well for most engines, excluding high performance, german and modified stock racing cars... even store brands as long as you respect the OCI in your manual.
 
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It's been awhile since a major convo has been around about it. But too many people are concerned about pennzoil and QS anymore. Both are good oils.
 
The truth is that in 198something somebodys brother knew a guy in his church that ran pennzoil in his 76 Pontiac. This same guy removed his thermostat because 195* is "too hot" so 140* must be better. Same guy never checked or replaced his PCV valve or crankcase breather, his car had an apatite for coolant that nobody on the farm could figure out so he just added water whenever the car would overheat.

He did change the 10w-40 Pennzoil every 3-4 years and the filter every other change regardless if if it needed a filter or not.

One day the poor 455 Pontiac lost the plastic gear on the timing chain and when the pulled the timing cover off they were agast at the sludge build up in the engine.

Since he always ran Pennzoil then the sludge inside the engine could only come from one thing. The oil he used!

This is a true story because I heard it from a guy at work who had a cousin......
 
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Like I said before( and I'm not afraid to repeat that over and over again): NA motoring joes and joeletts typically learn from hearsays, housewifey's tales and urban legends.

Need me say more?

Q.
 
it would be wise to avoid mechanics that knock pennzoil products, as they know nothing about oil. the PP and YB products are excellent. it is alleged that YB caused problems due to wax issues 35-40 years back.opinions vary. an old line states "listen to people who know". when it comes to oil, and related issues, there are many here "who know".
it's nice to see a student that shows respect to the board members.welcome to bitog.
 
Originally Posted By: defektes
Pennzoil used to cause [censored] many decades ago, but now its a good oil.


This is most likly a true statment..
I used Pennzoil back in the 70's and 80's and when I totaled my car as a teen Trag racing I pulled the engine appart and the sludge was so thick I could scoop it out with my hand. nasty.
Since then I have never used it again but I would assume that Pennzoil would also have found this and changed their formula...

Quakerstate also had this problem back in the old days.
My Mechanic uses Pennzoil cheap and AMSOIL for people that like Extended Drain Oils. He also pushes M1 for people that want a high performance oil not extended drain. I prefer Royal Purple.. I could care less about Marketing tactics of RP or Amsoil thats all part of the business, trying to out do one another and put the other one down (Just Like Politics) I buy what I like and don't worry about the Politics.
 
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Originally Posted By: Chris142
The truth is that in 198something somebodys brother knew a guy in his church that ran pennzoil in his 76 Pontiac. This same guy removed his thermostat because 195* is "too hot" so 140* must be better. Same guy never checked or replaced his PCV valve or crankcase breather, his car had an apatite for coolant that nobody on the farm could figure out so he just added water whenever the car would overheat.

He did change the 10w-40 Pennzoil every 3-4 years and the filter every other change regardless if if it needed a filter or not.

One day the poor 455 Pontiac lost the plastic gear on the timing chain and when the pulled the timing cover off they were agast at the sludge build up in the engine.

Since he always ran Pennzoil then the sludge inside the engine could only come from one thing. The oil he used!

This is a true story because I heard it from a guy at work who had a cousin......


In this case, it was most likely pennzoil's fault lol.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
The truth is that in 198something somebodys brother knew a guy in his church that ran pennzoil in his 76 Pontiac. This same guy removed his thermostat because 195* is "too hot" so 140* must be better. Same guy never checked or replaced his PCV valve or crankcase breather, his car had an apatite for coolant that nobody on the farm could figure out so he just added water whenever the car would overheat.

He did change the 10w-40 Pennzoil every 3-4 years and the filter every other change regardless if if it needed a filter or not.

One day the poor 455 Pontiac lost the plastic gear on the timing chain and when the pulled the timing cover off they were agast at the sludge build up in the engine.

Since he always ran Pennzoil then the sludge inside the engine could only come from one thing. The oil he used!

This is a true story because I heard it from a guy at work who had a cousin......


The Truth is is that it used to.. It WAS the main cause of sludge. Better Refinery and formula changes made Pennsoil a very good oil today, I am an Old Guy and remember cars packed with blackish brown flaky oil sludge from Quakerstate and Pennzoil back in the 70's and 80's. heck sometimes that [censored] kept some of the engines running back then. I think AMSOIL was the only oil that was synthetic back then, I just asked my Dad about this ( he was a master mechanic)and he remembers they would say that their oil would remove the sludge and that people would put kerosene in the engine to clean out the [censored]. All Oils left deposites, Pennzoil and quakerstate were the worst.

Today I don't think any oils do that.
 
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I've only been driving for 13 years (I'm 30) but I've never heard anyone say anything bad about Pennzoil. I grew up thinking that Pennzoil, Valvoline, and Quaker State were the best oils.
 
Originally Posted By: 2k05gt
Originally Posted By: defektes
Pennzoil used to cause [censored] many decades ago, but now its a good oil.


This is most likly a true statment..
I used Pennzoil back in the 70's and 80's and when I totaled my car as a teen Trag racing I pulled the engine appart and the sludge was so thick I could scoop it out with my hand. nasty.
Since then I have never used it again but I would assume that Pennzoil would also have found this and changed their formula...

Quakerstate also had this problem back in the old days.



Myth: The assumption is that the condition would not be present with another oil. PZ and QS were THE most used oils other than service station brand oil. That is, 95 out of 100 engines had it in them (a number pulled out of my behind for the "got proof" crowd) ..of those 95 engines ..some had operational conditions and/or owner negligence involved. The 73-74 model years had particular problems and API RELUCTANTLY gave SE (I think) the cert for use in those engines. This was when idles were raised and fuel was enriched ..air injection pumps ..warnings on visors saying that idling more than 60 seconds with out depressing the gas pedal could damage the exhaust system ..fire warnings when parking on grass ..etc..etc.


The 5 engines that did have sludge ignores the 90 that did not.

I too don't mind repeating this as many times as it came up. It's more for forming sensible critical thinking than it is for dispelling internet myth.

If PZ and QS caused sludge ..AT LEAST 50% of the rolling fleet would be sludge filled during the 60's and 70's.

Since they weren't ..then it probably indicates that while the oils were present, they weren't the cause.
 
I started driving in 1960, well 1958 if you count my motor scooter. I always used Pennzoil back then in my cars and my motorcycles. I NEVER once had any sludge, but I changed my oil and filters regularly and kept my engines in good operating condition.
 
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