Well waaaaay back in the early 50's when I was a youngerster, I hung out at a local gararge that overhauled engines.

Got so I could tell which oil a customer used, by the type of engine deposits it had.

BTW, back then, the standard OCI was 1K miles, how about that!!!!! Messed up engnes with a 1K OCI, so you can guess how good some oils were!!!!!

Never saw one sludged up that used Pennzoil, but it sure would varnish one up back then.

Some of the other brands I won't name here, would look like tar, or gel, or black or grey pudding, or be all coaked/carboned up!!!!!

Best performing oil I saw then was Havoline, never saw a messed up engine that had used it.

Bet you can guess which brand I've used for the past 50 years!!!!! lol

I bought a locally used 85 Renault Allince with the 1.7L SHOC engine back in 89.

It had been run on Pennzoil 10W-30 for the previous 43K miles & I was impressed with how squeeky clean the top end of the engine was. Not a hint of varnish, or any other kind of putrid deposits.

SO, as Ed has said, a manufacturer can change for the better.

With market forces & manufacturers needs, along with improved ASE & API standards, the internet to quickly "pass the word", we now have some of the best lubes to choose from ever!!!!

The manufacturers have to do better now, bacause if they don't the oil looses it's rating & no market = no business.

With the net out here, If they dump some trash on the market, the "word" spreads like a wildfire, so they get found out mighy quick. Once the public looses faith in a product, it's usually becomes "history" in short order. So the net sure helps keep em honest!!!!!

Ed is right though, oils have changed mightly since then & the SM/GF-4 specifiation won't tolerate a poorly made lube.

To pass that SM/GF-4 speciication now, yah gotta have a decently refined base oil & engineered add pack.

To pass Fords 929 & 930 spec, yah gotta jump through a few more hoops, so a lube that says it also meets Fords specs, have to be a little better, to do so.

With all of us on the NET watchin ALL of them, they better play it straight, or they'll be tattled on!!!!!

 

All this stuff about how different brands were 30-60 years ago is only of historical interest and has ZERO relevence to the original poster's question, which refers to the present.

Texaco no longer exists as a company, so Havoline is a Chevron product. Pennzoil and Quaker State also dont exist, both owned by Royal Dutch under Shell Oil Products US (SOPUS). BP and Conoco also own several brands. Valvoline is the last big independent.

The only refiner and lube oil blender left in Pennsylvania is American Refining. The brands are Brad Penn and Gulf (under a complicated license, since Chevron originally aquired Gulf), but they also blend for others, including BP (Castrol Aviator oils). There is little crude produced in that part of the country anymore. Since Group I, II and III base oils are commoditites, it doesnt matter where the oil came out of the ground.

Jim

 

Ford started recommending 6000 mile OCI as early as 1960.

The 3000 mile OCI has been dead a long time.

The number of posts discussing this topic is unbelievable, and I tip my hat to Madison Avenue advertisers for creating a need where none exists.

Oil changes are as easy as 1, 2 3:

1. Open the Owners Manual;

2. Buy the type/weight of oil recommended in the Manual; and

3. Change the oil at the interval recommended in the Manual.

 

My point about oil quality 60 years ago, was that there were folks in the business then, that had some pride in their product & had a upper level managment culture, that required they market a wholesome product.

Others could have done as well, but chose not to. Now days with ASE, API & others, along with the internet info available, it has forced the short comers to tidy up their operations some & get with the program!!!!

IMO some of these large corporations still have a bad upper level corporate culture & sell snake oil under their ownership, or delve into questonable marketing & branding of products & those bad boys are the same ones that put out such poor products in the early 50's, so I avoid them like the plague, cause they haven't earned my trust!!!!

Some manufacturers are just loud in their advertisement about what their product will do, others just make a good product & let it do the talking.

 

Okay, another dumb question. If synthetic blends are more expensive than straight mineral oil, and Motorcraft is a synthetic blend, why is it's shelf price at Wally World and my local parts store within a dime or so of conventional Valvoline etc.?

 

There is no industry standard for synthetic "blends".

99% mineral oil + 1% synthetic oil = a synthetic "blend".

Also, Group II (mineral) base oil runs around $3-$3.75/gallon.

Group III (synthetic) base oil runs around $3.50-$4/gallon.

So blends are not necessarily more expense to make.

So why do blends normally cost $1 or so more per quart to buy?

M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G

 

We've run Castrol GTX, primarily, in our gas powered fleet vehicles (a mishmash of makes/models/years) for the past 20 years or so, until the decision was made last year to go with Mobil 1 and its extended drain intervals (we use 4,000 miles for filter changes/12,000 miles for oil changes).

Prior to that, and maybe even at times during that period, we ran pretty much whatever was on sale.

In 30+ years, I cannot recall an oil related engine failure. Some dumb ones, like running the engine without water, or running them after the fan belt broke and cooking them, tho....

 

I have a 1993 Ranger that I have owned for about 12 years.

It has 146,000 miles on the stock 4.0,this truck has no been babied.
I have abused it in many ways,high speed off roading,I have towed broken down off road race cars out of desert sand pits,I once towed my friends broken down 4runner for 250 miles.
I have jumped,raced and just abused this beast.
I have also used every brand of oil you can imagine.
Exxon 10W30
Exxon 5W50 synthetic
Mobil1 15w50 synthetic
valvoline Racing oil 20w50
Motorcraft 15w40 diesel oil
Castrol 15W40 Diesel
Castrol 10W30
Havoline 10W40
QS 10W40 4X4
and a few others.

At 140,000 I noticed that the intake manifold gasket was leaking.So I decided to fix that and while I was in there I removed the heads had then checked and installed new head gaskets.
This engine had never been opened before,and when I saw what was inside,I was amazed.
IT WAS SPOTLESS.
I mean the valve covers had a thin layer of brown goo,but all it took to clean them was a clean rag and a little bit of brake cleaner.

I have some pictures to prove this,if anyone wants to see them,let me know.
One thing about this truck,is that although it has been abused it has also been well maintained.
I mean 3K OCI regular check ups and tune ups.

This truck has been so abused that the tranny went at 130(5 speed) and the engine runs like new after I put it together.
I only changed the plugs besides the new gaskets.
Im expecting at least 200K out of this engine.

PS.Ive decided to stay with Castol 15W40 diesel oil,since the engine seems to like it so much,and also because Ive decided to run Castrol in all the cars in my family.
So bottom line is,while any high quality oil is a great oil.OCIs is more important than oil brands.

 

I've had great luck with Castrol GTX.

 

Why 4000 mile filter changes? Heck, Honda recommdends changing the filter every other oil change.

The old Castrol GTX, ancient history from 30 years ago, did leave strange deposits, discovered upon engine teardown. I figrured it was the "Liquid Tungsten" becoming not-so-liquid.

I have also never experienced an oil-related failure in over 40 years. All the problems were valve, piston, ring and head issues. I just tore down a Corvair engine that had had died from two badly burned pistons. A ring broke and destroyed the combustion chamber. There was no sludge and the bearings, crank, cam and lifters all measure as new. This was a junkyard core engine, so it's hisory is unknown.

Jim

 

That's just the way we decided to do it. Corporate hierarchal decision and all that.