HOUSTON (August 29, 2001) – William White of Lawrenceville, Georgia pulled his 1995 pickup into Lube 3000 on Buford Drive today for its million-mile oil change. He left Lube 3000 with a brand new pickup compliments of Pennzoil.

William, who lives in Lawrenceville, has put close to 800 miles per day on his truck, while delivering newspapers from Spartanburg, SC to Nashville, TN. Every four workdays, William takes his truck to the same Lube 3000 to have his oil changed, always insisting on Pennzoil® motor oil.

"Bill has been a loyal customer of Lube 3000 and Pennzoil® motor oil," said Dave Page, Atlanta market manager for Pennzoil. "His unwavering dedication to oil changes with Pennzoil® every 3,000 miles, has kept his 1995 pickup in peak condition. We're more than happy to provide him with a brand new pickup to do it all again."

Pennzoil is taking the million-mile pickup to its research laboratories in Texas for a close look at the engine. Jeff Hsu, one of the company's senior research engineers, will remove the engine from the vehicle, disassemble it and perform a detailed inspection. Jeff is a CRC certified rater, recognized in the industry for his ability to inspect engine parts and assign a numerical value that describes how clean or worn they are for comparison purposes.

"We do a lot of laboratory tests on engines to simulate extensive mileage under various conditions, but to have one that has actually been driven by a consumer for a million miles is an excellent opportunity to study the real thing," said Mark Ferner, manager of mechanical development at the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company Research & Development Center. "A million miles for a passenger vehicle with a gas engine is quite an accomplishment."

Pennzoil® brand motor oils are manufactured and distributed by Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, a leading worldwide automotive consumer products company, with 20 leading brands in more than 90 countries. The company markets both Pennzoil® and Quaker State® brand motor oils, the number one and number two selling motor oils in the United States. Jiffy Lube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, is the world's largest fast lube operator and franchiser. For more information about Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, visit its web site at

OK I'll ask, what kind of truck was it?

I think it would be even better PR to give the man back his truck after they examine it, that way he can further the mileage even more.

It did not say what kind of truck.

Oil is an never ending debate and I am reading and learning on this subject almost daily.

I have a few things to share from my reading:

* The term synthetic does not tell anything nowadays. You may have heard that the Castrol Syntec uses a Group III hydrocracked base stock but call it synthetic. The Group III hydrocracked base stock is a super refined crude oil stock, i.e., dino.

* Well, Mobile 1 lost that advertising battle in court against Castrol, so they started the tri-synthetic by mixing some Group III hydrocracked base stock in their "synthetic" oil. If you look at the Mobile 1 spec sheets on their Website, these oils are called hydrocarbons now.

* So now only Amsoil, Quaker State, Pennzoil, and Vavoline, plus a few others are truly "synthetic".

* Give Pennzoil credit as they use "PureBase" base stock in their $0.99 per quart oil (when on sale). These are the same hydrocracked base stock others call "synthetic".

* The recent Ford 5w-20 oil also uses a hydrocracked base stock. I guess at that light viscosity, the regular Group I or II base stock just won't cut it.

* Chevron Delo 400 15W-40 uses a Group II base stock. Mobile Delvac 15W-40 used use a Group II base stock but the "new" recipe mixes some Group I base stock in it to "increase performance". Shell Rotella uses only Group I base stock and that is why it is kind of inferior in many properties such as pour point, flash point, etc.

* Almost all other inexpensive dino oil uses Group I base stock.

Hi Bo,

This is a subject that interests me also. I would love to get your opinion on Lubro Moly Oils also known as Liqui Moly in Europe.

This is their site: http://www.liqui-moly.de/
Click on the Liqui Moly logo in the middle of the page to enter and then after a brief intro you can select the language of choice.

Thanks

philipminion:

From what I read, Lubro Moly synthetic Oils are excellent oils. But they are rather expensive (like Amsoil).

I think many MB OEM parts supplier carry them but the price is in the $6 - 7 per quart range.

How does that guy put 800 miles a day on his truck ?? 10 hours a day at 60 mph average would only give 600 mile. He must live in his truck !

__________________
David McDonald
1981 240D
1985 300D (wrecked)
1985 300TD 365,000 miles
1969 Mustang Fastback

I noticed that his average of 800 miles per day is a bit unbelievable. That's 12 hours at 75 mph or 16 hours at 50 mph. If the driver delivers, then my guess would be the latter. Including gas stops, eating, and bathroom breaks 50 mph may sound reasonable as an average, but how could someone do this for 16 hours a day, every day and remain sane?

You heavy haulers out there help me out on this!

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

That press release was not too detailed but I bet the 800 miles per day is on these four days per week he delivers. It sounds like he just deliver the stuff to one location so it is not that kind of door to door delivery thus high average speed might be possible.

This is getting interesting. So Mobil 1 no longer has a true 100% "synthetic" motor oil? Oh boy.

First of all, Mobile 1 motor oil was never a 100% true "synthetic" motor oil.

Before the tri-synthetic formulation, the base stock in Mobile 1 motor oil was true 100% synthetic (PAO and ester, Group IV and V base stock). However the 20% or so additives used a carrier oil that is dino. I think there was a footnote on the mobile 1 bottle before. So without the additives, Mobile 1 was a true 100% synthetic oil but with the additives, it is not, technically speaking.

Then Castrol changed its Syntec synthetic oil formulation (by using Group III base stock) without reducing price. I heard the cost to get Group III hydrocracked base stock is about half of what it takes to produce the Group IV or V base stock. Mobile 1 sued Castrol about that but lost in the court. That is why Castrol is till calling its Syntec synthetic even though it uses super refined dino oil.

BTW, the Group III base stock is actually very good. It performs quite similar to the Group IV or V base stock except it has a higher pour point and a lower flash point. Some famous "synthetic" oil using the Group III base stocks are: Castrol Syntec, Chevron Delo 5W-40, Petro Canada, etc.

Now back to Mobile 1. Profit drives the way company behaves. Since Castrol can maximize its profit by using a less expensive base stock, why not Mobile 1? There comes the Tri-Synthetic Series of motor oils. Here is the product description from the Mobile Website:

The Mobil 1 Tri-Synthetic Series motor oils are manufactured from 100% synthetic base stocks. These include polyalphaolefins (PAO) and two other Mobil synthetic fluids which make up the Tri-Synthetic formula. These synthetic base fluids are pure chemicals which do not contain the impurities or waxes inherent in conventional mineral oils.

Yes, the PAO base stock is truly synthetic and is of the Group IV or V base stock. It has no dino content in it. So what are the "two other Mobil synthetic fluids"? It says "which do not contain the impurities or waxes inherent in conventional mineral oil". So what if you remove the impurities or waxes from a conventional mineral oil? That is the synthetic Mobile 1 is talking about here (one of the other two). Hydrocracking removes all these impurities or waxes from conventional mineral oil to produce a super pure Group III base stock. However, this is made from conventional mineral oil, not like the PAO stock which is truly synthetic.

Mobile further detailes these two other Mobile synthetic fluids.

The other base stock in the tri-synthetic is synthetic ester and an alkylated aromatic fluid.

The ester is still synthetic but the alkylated aromatic fluid is made from minerail oi, as far as I understand.

According to Mobile:

An alkylated aromatic is a synthetic hydrocarbon designed by Mobil with a different chemical structure than polyalphaolefins (PAOs). It is fully compatible with both the other synthetic components of Mobil 1 and with conventional motor oils.

Yes, it is a hydrocarbon.

Here is a quote from the Chevron Website:
http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/baseoils/faq_answers.shtml

A recent ruling from a respected advertising self-regulatory body decided a case on the use of the term synthetic. It found that synthetic base stock are not limited PAOs. The decision said that the key requirement for calling a base stock synthetic is that it be the result of conversion or processing of one complex mixture.

So a synthetic can be dino if it is "the result of conversion or processing of one complex mixture", i.e., hydrocracking.

Mobile 1 still have more "synthetic" base than Castrol Syntec, though.

Here is a good site about the process of hydrocracking:

http://www.fluidpowerjournal.com/07SepOct98/Articles/02/purebase.htm

they purchased it because they were surprised anything would go that many miles on their oil . I believe I read it was a Chevy truck.

__________________
Jim

what's the highest mileage MB gasoline and diesel engines anyone knows of ? ( Not rebuilt or new rings, only normal maintenance, etc.)

__________________
David McDonald
1981 240D
1985 300D (wrecked)
1985 300TD 365,000 miles
1969 Mustang Fastback

I've heard of million mile MB's, but the highest mile car I've seen personally is a 1987 190D 2.5 with 1.1 Million kilometers (683,000 miles) that has not had the bottom end apart. There is a traveling doctor in southern Alberta with a 1984 190D 2.2 with 1.3 Million KM's on his car, but I haven't seen anything verifying it other than the fact that my Dad's known him since he bought the car back in 1984. (that's 807,000 miles) I don't know if the bottom end has been apart or not.

1 million miles in seven years? That's 142,857 per year or 391 per calender day. Suppose he does that 800 per "driving" day. That's 1250 driving days. That's 62 working months at 20 working days per month. If he did need to drive that 800 miles per working day, the mileage he attained is realistic.

I could see it lasting. Why? No cold starts or extended idling. The truck is 1995, so it's not sat around for a couple decades rotting (time is harder than miles, imho).

As to "synthetic" vs "not synthetic" I really couldn't care as long as the oil performs the way I want it to. I need SUPER LOW pour points (it was -34 here yesterday morning), and that cold weather protection is all I'm interested in.

The Mobil 1 I use (tri-synthetic) is liquid at extremely cold temperatures. It performs just like the 'ol Mobil 1 used to where I need it to.

As to the debate of extended change intervals, I don't care. I change the Mobil 1 at the same intervals that I used to do Dino. And the extra cost? I've been buying my Mobil 1 for about $4.00 a litre at Wal-Mart, which is only about $1 more than regular oil. That's only $7 an oil change difference.

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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John, is that $4 Canadian or US currency for a litre of Mobil 1?

At the Wal-Mart in my area it is $4.50 a quart. That makes it a huge price difference between dino and Mobil 1. But I don't care, it is well worth the cost and I still change it every 3750 miles

__________________
Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

My Wal-Mart has it for $4.00CDN, if you buy it when they have "special purchase" 5L containers. When they do, I buy about a year's worth. I have 30L left right now.

Most of our quality dino-oil goes for about $2.50-$3.50 a litre.

Most dealers charge $10 and up per litre for Mobil 1 during an oil change:

7x$10.00 - oil = $70.00
1x$13.50 - filter = $13.50
Labour "special" = $49.95
Total = $133.45 plus taxes and disposal.

Me:
7x$4.00 = $28.00
1x$13.50 = $13.50
Total = $41.50.
(my local gas station takes used oil for free)

My first DIY oil change saved back more than the cost of the LiquiVac.

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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