Valvoline 0w-20 High Mileage vs. Mobil 1 same spec. Is there a real difference?

Yes. I have a cousin who is a chemical Engineer with a competitor. He told me when I asked that question, that at that time, mobile 1 was the best on the market, and that his company could not touch it. This was perhaps 6-7 years ago, so there will be some change.

Use the proper weight and grade for your application .

I use Mobile 1 in my vehicles except Dodge truck. I use Shell in it.

I use Mobil 1 in gas engines and Rotella in diesels also.

Yes. Mobil 1 is a true synthetic and of the big oil co. US brands the only one that can be sold as "Full Synthetic" outside the US. My BIL was a maint supt. of a power plant and went to a lubrication seminar a few years ago and the question was asked by the engineer giving the training and he stated Mobil 1 is the best because all of the molecules are the same size. Will it truly make a difference? Only you experience will tell over time.

Mobil 1 was introduced in 1974. Over 50 Cup, Xfinity and Truck series teams use it. I use it in the 5.0 93 LX and the EcoBoost. Never an issue and wouldn’t consider anything else.

Try it and see. I use either Penzoil or Mobil 1 in my wife's Accord that calls for 0w20. I haven't seen any difference in fuel economy, but I also have not had to do any work on the car so far.

Mobil 1, Amsoil and Royal purple all use the highest quality base stocks in their oils. of the two choices you gave Mobil 1 will be your best choice.

and all the plastic and electronic parts of the vehicle will fall apart around a perfectly good engine at some point in the distant future.......long after you have traded it in on something else and a couple of other people have owned it!

Mobile 1 is the best.

Why?

This seems to have merit.

It might answer "why?".

Everything you wanted to know about oil and filters is right here:

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

What gets me with all of them is that they will do an ad campaign where they run an engine 24 hours a day and change the oil every 20k miles when that is the easiest possible thing for oil to handle.....then tear down the engine after 100k miles and show how clean it is. Duh? If they wanted to prove something, run the engine for 5 minutes a day every day for a year, maybe 2, never let the engine get warm and then analyze the oil and motor to see how things held up.....simulate granny driving.....the toughest thing for an oil to handle.

You guys all seem to have a love affair with Mobil 1 and Amsoil. Not me. I worked with a guy who was an Amsoil rep so after the engine was broken in I ran it in my '76 F-150 300 six for ten thousand miles (about half of what they say it is good for) with an Amsoil filter. Wayne had me pull a sample and send it in for an oil analysis. It came back with lots of fuel dilution and the base package totally depleted and suspended bearing material with a note to change it right away. The gear lube went right through the gearbox and differential seals. That was a carburetor engine in those days, so with cold weather starts the dilution was understandable.

Then I bought a turbo charged Saab and the previous owner had been using Mobil 1, so I did the same thing. That was when the stuff first hit the market and it was real thin like 0W20 when it first came out. Those turbo shafts ran on oil supported bushings because they ran at such high speed. It was on its third $750. turbo replacement when I sold it because it took out the oil seals from the heat. No turbos and no Mobil 1 for this consumer.

The Buick gets conventional Castrol every 2,000. miles. The GMC gets Castrol synthetic every 3,000. The truck gets Motocraft blend every 2000. I get rid of the dirt with more frequent changes. Never an engine problem since I changed away from Amsoil and Mobil 1.

on the other hand , we have a Durango with the 4.7 motor we bought with 80000 miles on it

I first an it on Amsoil , but later switched to Mobile 1 because it was easier to get

235000 now on the clock and it is still going strong

oh , and I also run 10000 miles change intervals on the Mobile 1

unless you are running real severe city driving or offroad use , 2000 miles oil changes are a waste of good oil , IMO

Six of one, half dozen of the other. I usually use Mobil 1 because it’s more likely to be in stock at wal-mart but I don’t think it’s any better, or worse, than the valvoline synthetic. They’re both really good. I’d just as soon use Castrol edge synthetic too. More important is using the right weight, spec, a good filter and changing it on the manufacture’s recommended interval.

I won’t use Amsoil, I don’t like the pyramid scheme marketing and their carnival barker style outlandish claims. There are too many good oils from reputable companies available that do what they say without resorting to the silly parlor tricks.

I used to use Amsoil oil but dont bother anymore. My cars are so old anyway so I use Shell oil for $1.99 qt on sale. Never have any issues at all. For my 05 GMC diesel I run Shell Rotella T6 and change about every 10 or 12K. Never had a problem with any oil and do not change very often. When we know we are going to junk a car we dont change oil My son junked a car the other day. We went 20k on the oil, then another 10K and junked it . Ran good too. I have gone to 200K on my cars several times and have gone 40K on my oil before junking them and still , no problems. Many boast and say, " I change mine every 2k and never had an engine problem. I never had one neither though.

I always use Motorcraft synthetic blend in my Mercury Mountaineer. My previous SUV was a 1998 Ford Explorer and it rec'd the same motor oil. This great running Ford had 242,000 miles on her when I sold it 5 years ago. Nothing wrong with it except for a little corrosion at the bottom of one door from Pennsylvania salted roads. The guy I sold it to is driving it with zero engine complaints. I change oil every 5,000 miles.

Sherwood

Both are a great choice for 5,000 mile interval changes.

I also use mobile 1 in my gas engines Tacoma and a Corolla, three diesels i use Rotella

I lost the link but yes there is a difference. Last time I did some digging was about two years ago, PenzOil Platinum was the top performing synthetic. In practical application most of the top name brands are all so good that it makes very little difference. Use the correct weight, use good filters and change them twice as often as the oil.

If you do a search on filter tests and oil tests it should keep you occupied for a while.

P.S. found one. https://540ratblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/20/motor-oil-wear-test-ranking/

Mobil 1 in my Tacoma since the first oil change, now sits at 275K. Usually changed at 5k, but have gone as much as 10k.

Same here. I run Motorcraft synthetic blend in all my Fords, and have for many years. Never had an engine problem, and I've got a 2000 Ranger with a 193,000 miles on it that still doesn't use oil.

I also change at the 5-6000 mile interval.

They all have to meet the same standards, use the brand you like.

Since today is blast from the past day, remember this one from 1987?

I switched to Ceramalube because I read on the internet that it was the bestest and has always been the preferred brand of the 24 hr. Campfire brain trust.

Those ceramic particles in the oil keep your moving parts really shiny. Shiny is good.

This guy does a whole series of these with different oils. Not saying its definitive or anything but it is interesting and he tries to be as consistent and methodical as possible. Results are interesting.

He doesn't know diddly. He didn't test Ceramalube and there was no shiny test.

In college I drank Schaefer's beer. Did taste sorta like used motor oil but it was cheap.

Wow, the things you can learn here on the campfire.

Phuq the synthetics. When I was considering changing over to synthetic oil, I asked a mechanic at work his opinion. He said not to do it as the gaskets will start leaking. I did it anyway and after only 1 oil change to synthetic on the wife's van, the gaskets started weaping oil. Now they leak. I wend back to 15-40.

Ceramalube is good in any application. Keeps things shiny.

It will even restore your old cracked tires. I can't believe it wasn't mentioned in that other thread.

I don't think the engine will know the difference between synthetic and dino oil. 20-50 is probably OK for summer but a shade thick for winter. I run 10-40 in winter and mix 10-40 with 20-50 (50% mix) for summer. The difference between 20-40 and 20-50 isn't huge IMHO. Not sure why somebody would run 20-40. 10-40 will flow a lot better at cold startup.

Not an engineer technician or gearhead. Can say that Amsoil motorcycle oil WILL run 20 degrees cooler in your Harley.(the foreign made American motorcycle) Do work at a auto dealership and have heard good things from the techs about Mobil 0W20.

I thought it appropriate given the question.

I run Mobil One and Delvac One and do long drains... 20K to 25K with filter changes every 5K...

I've got engines with high miles...on them....

Valvoline etc... depends on how long you expect to run it...

if you are only going to run it 5 to 10K, you'll be fine...I've used in some engines for 10K and an analysis didn't turn out as good as Mobil One at that mileage....

If you are into economy or being cheap.... NAPA synthetic is the exact same oil as Valvoline synthetic.

10K or less you'll be fine with it...

also found out Mobil Has the contracts for Walmart Synthetic ( at least on the left coast here)...

in my son's car....15k on the oil, (0w20) Walmart synthetic, 7500 mile filter changes...

oil analysis from Blackstone told him to run the oil 3K longer next time and send it in for analysis..
or run his current oil if he hadn't changed it and send it in at 18K...

Heck, I’m a Chemical Engineer and I don’t know what’s best. Personally, I use Castrol. Everybody has an opinion. The only real data point I have is that when I bought a big LP powered generator, they told me to absolutely positively run non-synthetic motor oil for the first certain amount of run hours. After that switch to synthetic. They said that if I started with synthetic, there wouldn’t be enough friction for the rings to seat properly. That tells me that the synthetic is a bit more slippery. And the lower viscosity oils we run these days are for the better engine mileage and longer periods between oil changes.

Many years ago, in pre synthetic times, I was negotiating a national contract on company cars. The vendors, names you all know, had a lot of detailed data showing the direct relationship between frequency of oil changes and how long the engines would last. There was a point somewhere between 5000 and 7000 miles and higher where engine wear rose significantly. If you changed the oil at 3000 or 4000 miles, engine wear was minimal. At 5000 it was still low, but rose fast after that. That, as I said, was non-synthetic. I will assume that the same relationship between oil change frequency and engine wear/life has a similar graph shape, but with higher mileage numbers. I just don’t know what those numbers are.

And there was a lot of importance on the quality of your oil filters.

That's Shinola , keeping those tires looking good!

I run 15W-40 in everything we own, from lawn mowers to tractors. No point in getting anal about it - - - -and nothing we own is new enough to have the tight clearances that make 5W or 0W oils necessary. There's only one vehicle on the place with less than 100K miles on it. My pickup gets 1000, or occasionally 1500 highway miles PER WEEK. My oil is Traveler brand from Tractor Supply Co. I buy it in 5-gallon pails. Oil filters- - - -Wix or NAPA only. NAPA sells Wix filters with a different color paint and one extra digit in the part number. This is my 61st. year in the auto repair business, and I'm the middle one of 5 generations of mechanics. I've got 22 ASE certifications at the moment!

Jerry

Do they still make Shinola? Think I have a can of it around here somewhere.