The curse of Pennzoil continues to be handed down.

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People need to use common sense. If Pennzoil was so bad there would be an enormous number of ruined engines in cars and trucks. After all, Pennzoil is the number one selling oil in America.

I think I have an idea how these rumors start. Remember, Pennzoil is the best selling motor oil. If somebody has a sludged up engine and mechanics ask the guy, 'What oil were you using?', there is a very good chance the guy was using Pennzoil oil. Not because Pennzoil is bad, but because Pennzoil is the top selling oil. It seems to the mechanics that most of the people with sludged up engines were using Pennzoil. They put two plus two together and get five.

No way Pennzoil is a terrible motor oil. It would become obvious quickly and people would stop using Pennzoil.

I think in general any name brand motor oil of the correct viscosity and meeting the correct requirements for an engine will do just fine. One brand, at least for a while, might be the best (this website helps us determine which brands are the best) but the average person would be fine with Pennzoil, Motorcraft, Quaker State, Valvoline, Castrol, Mobil 5000 or whatever.

What ruins most engines is owner abuse. Try driving 15,000 miles on one oil change with any conventional motor oil and find out.

You can also ruin an engine by buying some of that cheap SA rated or SB rated motor oil you might find somewhere.
 
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I've noticed that there tends to be a regional component to this myth. The two culprits are almost always Quaker State or Pennzoil, but usually where ever you are it's either one or the other. Growing up in the Heart of Dixie (Alabama), it was Quaker State that caused the dreaded wax sludge buildup, no one said a word about Pennzoil. I have friends from North Carolina and indeed, the evil oil there seems to be fairly consistently Pennzoil. Other people from other states have different answers but usually one of those two brands and seldom both.

If I'm not mistaken, the thing that ties both oils together is the fact that both used to advertise to be made from "pure Pennsylvanian crude" and Pennsylvanian crude was indeed known for it's superior slack wax content. Someone at sometime read that and proved that a little information can be a dangerous thing.

Of course, there was that era where multi-viscosity oils were just being widely introduced (60's and 70's I'm guessing) where they hadn't quite got the hang of viscosity index improvers and just about all multi-viscosity oils were a threat to sludge in certain motors (or any motor for those that didn't change oil on schedule). I suppose that some mechanics saw sludged engines, had a vague memory of Pennsylvanian crude containing something called "slack wax" and put two and two together and arrived at the wrong answer.

It would be interesting to hear what brands in what geographic areas were supposed to cause wax buildup. Was it ever supposed to be another oil besides Quaker State or Pennzoil and did anyone ever live where both oils were commonly implicated?
 
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.


I can remember my grandfather preaching the same thing to me....Texas Sweet crude good....PA crude bad.

Times and facts change.
 
Originally Posted By: JustinH
Two of the best mechanics I have come across in two different states have made this comment. My uncle who lives in Ohio has been a master mechanic, owns his own shop for 40+ years.

He asked me what oil I put in my saturn. I told him quaker state. He told me not to buy it, due to wax buildup, and that he has seen motors taken apart with wax in them due to quaker state.

He recommended castrol motor oil or Mobil 1.

Another friend of my family, who lives here said don't use quaker state, only use Castrol. This is a guy with 30+ years experience working in a shop.

Good mechanics don't necessarily know about lubricants, and I bet they have not ever done a UOA on anything.


I had a mechanic say the same thing about Q State being it had wax in it(during the 70's). I asked him why is that...seem odd to me. His reply it was not the oil itself but the container leached wax. Some other mechanic passed that down to him.


Hmmm they all had the same container so I thought.
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.


That's right! It wasn't "slack wax" it was "paraffinic crude" which Pennsylvanian crude was famous as being. And naturally, some mechanics read that and thought "paraffinic crude" = crude oil containing paraffin wax. And of course, all that paraffin wax in that oil had to be causing the sludging problems they were seeing on some engines. How could them dang oil chemists guys be so dumb, everybody knows you don't want paraffin wax in your crankcase! Q.E.D. (Quit and Eat Dinner).

Thanks for the reminder Johnny.

-Scott
 
I saw an abandoned car along the road the other day with a red tow me away sticker on it. I bet they used Penzoil, they should've known better. To bad.
 
Originally Posted By: engineerscott
I've noticed that there tends to be a regional component to this myth. The two culprits are almost always Quaker State or Pennzoil, but usually where ever you are it's either one or the other. Growing up in the Heart of Dixie (Alabama), it was Quaker State that caused the dreaded wax sludge buildup, no one said a word about Pennzoil. I have friends from North Carolina and indeed, the evil oil there seems to be fairly consistently Pennzoil. Other people from other states have different answers but usually one of those two brands and seldom both.

If I'm not mistaken, the thing that ties both oils together is the fact that both used to advertise to be made from "pure Pennsylvanian crude" and Pennsylvanian crude was indeed known for it's superior slack wax content. Someone at sometime read that and proved that a little information can be a dangerous thing.

Of course, there was that era where multi-viscosity oils were just being widely introduced (60's and 70's I'm guessing) where they hadn't quite got the hang of viscosity index improvers and just about all multi-viscosity oils were a threat to sludge in certain motors (or any motor for those that didn't change oil on schedule). I suppose that some mechanics saw sludged engines, had a vague memory of Pennsylvanian crude containing something called "slack wax" and put two and two together and arrived at the wrong answer.

It would be interesting to hear what brands in what geographic areas were supposed to cause wax buildup. Was it ever supposed to be another oil besides Quaker State or Pennzoil and did anyone ever live where both oils were commonly implicated?


Agreed! Good points.
I had forgotten about the advertised "Pure Pennsylvania Crude" and the "Superior Slack Wax" content.

No wonder they were linked together synonymously in people's minds, as "Pennsylvania crude = waxy sludge buildup".
 
The oil from Pennsylvania was actually supposed to be some of the best oil available. But there is probably not a lot of crude oil coming form that area today. The oil in Pennzoil or Quaker State today may come from anyway-the Middle East, Texas, somewhere in Middle or South America. The same is true for many oils.

I have actually met in relatively recent times professional mechanics who still believed in these silly myths.

If Pennzoil or Quaker State or any other motor oil was so terrible it would become obvious to the major auto manufacturers pretty quickly. Could you imagine what, say, Ford Motor Company would do? If some certain brand of motor oil was causing sludge issues in car and truck engines and this could be demonstrated it would not be long before a person would void their warranty if they used that brand of motor oil.

There is every indication that Pennzoil is one of the top brands of motor oil. But if somebody wants to believe in myths use something else. If you really want to see sludge buildup start driving 25,000 miles on one conventional motor oil change (regardless of motor oil brand) or use SA or SB rated motor oil in your new car or truck engine.
 
The more I drive around the country and talk to old timers I believe these old rumors and also old loyalties are still alive and well today. In many parts of the upper midwest, Texaco was a top 5 distributor 30 years ago and longer. We had a Texaco refinery in my home town and I remember by grandfather who had a farm bought oil and grease in 55 gallon barrels from the local refinery/distributor.In many of these areas, there are still very loyal Havoline users even though they have all but pulled out of the local markets.
It doesnt matter that Havoline has changed formulations several times in the last 30 years, thats the only oil for them.
I have heard these ridiculous myths about Pennzoil and Quaker State still today and remind the people that the modern formulations have made it so that any oil with the latest SM/GF-4 ratings is quality oil. They dont look at the ratings, just at the brand name.
 
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Originally Posted By: el_zorro
The more I drive around the country and talk to old timers I believe these old rumors and also old loyalties are still alive and well today. In many parts of the upper midwest, Texaco was a top 5 distributor 30 years ago and longer. We had a Texaco refinery in my home town and I remember by grandfather who had a farm bought oil and grease in 55 gallon barrels from the local refinery/distributor.In many of these areas, there are still very loyal Havoline users even though they have all but pulled out of the local markets.
It doesnt matter that Havoline has changed formulations several times in the last 30 years, thats the only oil for them.
I have heard these ridiculous myths about Pennzoil and Quaker State still today and remind the people that the modern formulations have made it so that any oil with the latest SM/GF-4 ratings is quality oil. They dont look at the ratings, just at the brand name.

It's been kinda sad to see the Havoline Texaco Star slowly fade from our towns.
 
PP is one of the best Group III synthetics on the market, and in comparing dinos, QS GB is top flight as well. If their ignorance is resulting (even in part) in my recent scores on PP & QS GB at deeply discounted prices, than their loss is my gain. I have enough of both stashed for at least a couple years worth of OCs, and my engine will be far cleaner by then than it is now.

-Spyder
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.


I can agree with the idea behind this, as I've seen it time and time again in other subject matter. So, OK maybe I'll try Pennzoil!

By the way, I have heard Mobil 1 is not great, but when I recently considered buying it, I could not find the info about WHY it wasn't that great... mind giving me some links to read (anybody)?
 
Originally Posted By: HotCoil
Originally Posted By: Johnny
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.


I can agree with the idea behind this, as I've seen it time and time again in other subject matter. So, OK maybe I'll try Pennzoil!

By the way, I have heard Mobil 1 is not great, but when I recently considered buying it, I could not find the info about WHY it wasn't that great... mind giving me some links to read (anybody)?

Mobil 1 is just a lot of hate the guy on top. People that use it swear by it.
 
Originally Posted By: sangyup81
Originally Posted By: HotCoil
Originally Posted By: Johnny
When I was growing up back in the 50's and 60's in the Dallas area I heard these stories about Pennzoil, Quaker State, Kendall, Amalie, and Valvoline.

At the time they were all made from PA grade crude oil and everyone in their right mind associated paraffin crude with wax, as in paraffin waxed candles.

That is how stupid rumors get started.


I can agree with the idea behind this, as I've seen it time and time again in other subject matter. So, OK maybe I'll try Pennzoil!

By the way, I have heard Mobil 1 is not great, but when I recently considered buying it, I could not find the info about WHY it wasn't that great... mind giving me some links to read (anybody)?

Mobil 1 is just a lot of hate the guy on top. People that use it swear by it.


I don't use Mobil for 2 reasons:

1. The conventional here is not the same as what you buy down there. It is a version developed and made in Canada for the Canadian market and what little info I could find on it did not impress me.

2. Their synthetics here are too expensive. This is not unique to Mobil, and I don't buy, or consider, the similarly priced offerings from other companies either.

Nothing against the brand and no aversion to buying it, I'm just not willing to pay the big extra premium it has here when I have good synthetic alternatives to choose from that cost as little as less than half what Mobil 1 goes for.

-Spyder
 
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I have enough faith in Quaker State that I just used QTP 10w30 in my new VW 2.0 TSI. The cheapest synth oil on the shelf.

Of course I added some VSOT, but...
 
We need to get a sticky thread with all the stupid old wives tales and unfounded stereotypes in it.

Along with Toyota is the most faultless machine on the planet, and GM is pure failure, this Pennzoil wax nonsense will be right up there... I mean, come on you mean to say in 50yrs and with billions of dollars of R&D, people are still dumb enough to think that the formula hasn't changed at all, let alone 100 times in that period?
33.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Spyder7
It does, though I don't keep a gun next to my lap top :)

-Spyder


I do! I never go anywhere without a hand cannon within arms reach! I've even taken showers with mine when I've had to rent motel rooms in seedy parts of the big cities. It only takes ONCE to need it and not have it and then you're done.

I just couldn't resist.

As for Pennzoil. It's a great oil these days and I'd use it in my car except it's too low in ZDDP and I drive a relic.

It's valvoline VR-1 for me these days.
 
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