Why is Mobil 1 such a lightning rod?

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I don't think that all the bandwagon jumpers realize though is that the only mobil 1 oil that gets dogged on a continuous basis is the 5w30. Looking through the UOA section on and off for the past year and all the rest of the M1 oils do fine. I use mobil 1 but not exclusively (mainly TDT, 0w40, 15w50) but I probably would skip the 5w30. I actually did skip it during the last deal at advanced I got 2 gallons of M1 10w30 and a pureone fiter for $30 (instead of 5w30 which was the only other weight offered in the deal). Is there a problem with mobil 1 5w30? Who knows.
 
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Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
People are looking to figure these things out

That seems pretty generous. I sincerely doubt most people here understand (or care to find out) what "figuring these things out" really means or entails...
 
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
It attracts lightning because of all the iron.


Well, maybe you should advocate using Redline then.
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Originally Posted By: chad8
Lets make this simple. M-1 was the leader for years . Everyone hates the leader except the disciples. Now that other brands have caught (and surpassed) the leader , even the faithful is fleeing and reporting their negative results. Other haters read the reports and made them gospel. Wow, sounds like the second coming and the new testament all rolled up in oil.


Not true. I don't hate Mobil 1, and respect it. Yet I've used mostly its competitors the last couple of years...
 
Originally Posted By: BobFout

Why do European cars spec synthetic oils? You have mentioned synthetic is spec'd in Euro cars for high-speed driving and extended drains. That takes care of the first five bullet points.
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What about 15w-40?
 
Originally Posted By: d00df00d
Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
People are looking to figure these things out

That seems pretty generous. I sincerely doubt most people here understand (or care to find out) what "figuring these things out" really means or entails...


One would surely want to determine validity of a given oddity. Everything should have a plausible explanation. I would think that everyone would support such discovery. When you try and bury it with static or whatever, it merely fans the flames.

So, sure, you'll get your knee jerk reactions ..your NEVER AGAIN!!!!!'s ... the geezers (I'm there) that grumble that they'll never trust the weasel 'tards after what they pulled after Katrina ..the full motley crew of stereotypical oddball personality quirks..

So what? They'll be there anyway and will have even more ammo to support the otherwise unwarranted aforementioned behaviors.

If blind loyalty and reflexive rhetorical defensive posturing was truly a wise practice when dealing with such things, Frank Miller would be a billionaire and Auto-Rx would would flow like MMO out of fountains in every BITOG members front yard.
 
People here are trying to figure things out. That is why they invest in VOAs and UOAs. They are trying the best they can to find out what brands of motor oil are the best. Unless VOAs and UOAs are totally useless we should be able to find something out about motor oil quality.

I don't hate Exxon/Mobil or Mobil 1 oil. In fact I have a 5 quart container right now of Mobil 1 HM 5W30 I am going to use in my car. And I also have some 10W30 Mobil 1 HM I will try in my lawnmower. I am hoping that the HM Mobil 1 will prove to be a good oil.

Maybe some Mobil 1 oil is not to great and other Mobil 1 oil is very good. For example, maybe the European 5W40 Mobil 1 is very, very good and the American regular 5W30 Mobil 1 not so good. The main tools people here have to try to determine any of this is VOAs and UOAs.
 
I am new to this site. I hardly ever use Mobil 1. Recently my 07 Trailblazer SS had some seals replaced by the dealer. They refilled with Mobil 1 10/30. I am going to get a Dyson Analysis and post the results here. I already have a 5000M run on Edge 10/30 and a Dyson Analysis. Look forward to sharing results.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
-Better pumpability at low temperatures

Ha! You're a sucker for listing that one. What's a mean winter temp in the USA...for "90%" of BitOGers, like +40f to maybe +50f? That's ~hardly~ the pumping limit difference between synth and dino! Let's even give some room for argument. I rarely see below 0f. What's the difference between dino and synth 5w30 at that or the typical cold day of +20f?

I bet PP 5w30 is not far behind M1 0w-30 at those temps. Certainly not a noticeable amount, probably 100cSt max.

Well not to call the kettle black, but winter temperatures are colder than that in the majority of the states. Heck here in Illinois 0°F and lower is a common occurrence in the winter and 100°F is a common occurrence in the summer.
 
Quote:
[/quote]Synthetic Oils:

-Extended drains

-Less sludge and varnish = cleaner.

-Better handling of heat.

-More shear resistant.

-Extra margin of protection.

-Better pumpability at low temperatures.
extended drains...ok that could save money

cleaner...that's always better

better handling of heat...especially for high RPM's

Shear resistant...definitely for high RPM's(also extended drains)

Margin of protection... ??? sounds good

pumpability at low temperatures... well thats good for cold startup regardless, engines don't operate at even 100 degreesF.

To me,,, it sounds like synthetics do have a purpose.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
-Extended drains
Look at the UOA section. How many synth drains are really "extended"? Typically, everyone here is doing 6000-9000 miles drains, regardless of oil. Plenty of long (and successful) dino drains past 10k on the UOA forum. My Honda speced olms of 10k on dino.

After going through the first 8 pages of the UOA section and looking at titles, I found only this one on dino that was close to 10K...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/chevron-5w30-9417-miles-2008-impala-3-5.132245/

I agree that many using synthetic are not going the distance. I guess some worry too much about their oil.
 
Some people can't sleep well at night with oil in the sump greater than 5,000 miles, despite how good the oil is. I was once like this, but this was long before my BITOG education.

Considering my signature, I would say "I'm over it".
 
Originally Posted By: Mustang Man
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
-Better pumpability at low temperatures

Ha! You're a sucker for listing that one. What's a mean winter temp in the USA...for "90%" of BitOGers, like +40f to maybe +50f? That's ~hardly~ the pumping limit difference between synth and dino! Let's even give some room for argument. I rarely see below 0f. What's the difference between dino and synth 5w30 at that or the typical cold day of +20f?

I bet PP 5w30 is not far behind M1 0w-30 at those temps. Certainly not a noticeable amount, probably 100cSt max.

Well not to call the kettle black, but winter temperatures are colder than that in the majority of the states. Heck here in Illinois 0°F and lower is a common occurrence in the winter and 100°F is a common occurrence in the summer.

From http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/cag3/cag3.html the Winter (Dec-Feb) 2010 Temperature...

StMap-Jul104:31:586118774414.gif

THIS ONLY SHOWS THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE!!! There were several days when it was lower.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1

Drew,
Can I still point out facts of many family and friends using nothing but M1 with engines that have many miles on them(200-300K+) with never any engine problems, like wear?


And same here. The difference is we use oil. Any type and brand. 200k+ easy and 394k on one and it was running like it did 20 years ago. No smoke, passed dyno smog and ran great... Type of oil was conventional and mostly Valvoline and Halvoline in 10w-30 till 1996 then 5w30.

Originally Posted By: tig1

No benefit for the average driver ,Except engines that will last a very long time. Can't take that away from M1.


Again, engines last a long time on ANY oil. Can't take that away.

Originally Posted By: tig1

Through engines that are running well with very high miles with no internal engine problems.


And many run very high miles with no internal engine problems. You REALLY need to understand that more engines do that and they don't run Mobil 1. Even though both start with a "M", Mobil 1 is not MAGIC....
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Originally Posted By: tig1

Yes, high mileage engines, not a handful of useless UOAs.


Until I came here to BITOG I'd NEVER done a UOA. (and they are far from useless (unless you run Mobil 1 or Redline then they are) but that is another subject..
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) and taken many an engine to 200k+ when I normally sell the vehicle to friends or family and get to watch the vehicle continue in life.

And all on oil. Mostly what is on sale and change it. The only thing I'm loyal to is keeping the vehicle maintained and keeping as much $$ in my pocket book because being brand loyal does nothing for you in the end.

Originally Posted By: Mustang Man
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
-Extended drains
Look at the UOA section. How many synth drains are really "extended"? Typically, everyone here is doing 6000-9000 miles drains, regardless of oil. Plenty of long (and successful) dino drains past 10k on the UOA forum. My Honda speced olms of 10k on dino.

After going through the first 8 pages of the UOA section and looking at titles, I found only this one on dino that was close to 10K...

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/chevron-5w30-9417-miles-2008-impala-3-5.132245/

I agree that many using synthetic are not going the distance. I guess some worry too much about their oil.


Well you only then need to go through the other 300 pages.
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There are many UOAs with conventional going a lot longer OCI than the normal syn UOA.

Everyone needs to remember that across the US MANY MANY more engines are going the distance with no problems using conventional oils over syns. And they don't get crazy like we do with filters and oils. They just get the oil changed at their Ford express lane or Jiffy Lube (and a lot longer OCI than 3000 miles) and get on with it.

There is a big difference between NEED and WANT.

I've got a jug of Mobil 1 in the stash and ran a load of 0w-30 last winter. My engine did not blow up but it did not get 100MPG and run better just because Mobil 1 was in the sump.

Same results with PP also..
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Mobil 1 is such a lightning rod because it seems to make people defend it so much. Is that because they have a interest in it? (they work for XM, Family works for XM?)

Probably but we could never prove it. But the way they come out in ANY thread once Mobil 1 is typed is amazing.

Bill
 
M1 deserves to get heat, and having been on BITOG for a little while, I don't think that the heat is wholly undeserved.

They've been messing around with it for as long as I've been here.

There was the apparent (and largely undefended) failure to meet a spec a little while ago, the GrIII stuff, rising pour points, and the ever present iron readings. (and no, pointing the finger at another couple of dodgy iron readings does not fix Mobil 1, as a string of them doesn't condemn Mobil 1).

I've used, and still do Mobil synthetics.

I've also a heap of anecdotes in my drawer of issues where M1 could either be proclaimed the saviour or the cause...generally until you find the root cause.

My family has had hundreds of thousands of miles on dino 20W-50, and hundreds of thousands on M1...doesn't really tell you much about either, other than regular maintenance.
 
Mobil 1 is a lightening rod here, because there are a few guys defending it like it was their family. Then there are those that hate the product/company that attack it. Mobil 1 will always be a lightening rod here. IMO the company cut some corners and got called out, and they're paying for it. Tough group here, and any company is in danger of becoming a punching bag.
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Mobil 1 ? What/who are they? Oh, that's the crowd that went for blood on Castrol for getting away with what they are now doing themselves. There's no dino oil that can't whip their 5W30/5w20 in wear numbers and TBN retention in OCIs of 6000mi. or less. M1 has gone from being the leader in mass-marketed synthetic oil to an over-hyped,over-advertized,average-quality oil at best. Their market-share is/will continue to shrink as others have stepped up to the plate with some outstanding products at lower prices.
 
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