i emailed mobil 1 about the lack of availability of their 5w-40 truck and suv oil in the 5qt containers at walmart. their response was - due to hurricane katrina they had to re-allocate their resources and supply. they said it will be the end of the year (2006!!) before supply is back to normal!!

 

Too bad for Mobile 1!
You can still get Shell's Rotella at Wallyworld.

 

clarification! mobil 1 emailed me today to apologize. they lifted their allocation ban jan 1st (2006) stock levels should be back to normal soon.
roadranger- i prefer to use mobil 1 or amsoil over rotella !!!!!

 

Still none at my local Walmart(s).

 

I've been looking since late November and can't seem to find any. I found one Walmart that has 5-6 singles but what good is half an oil change at $1.50/qt more? I have over 10k miles on my oil, and am trying to get the oil analysis kit from my local CAT dealer (were out of stock) but would like to have the new oil ready to go soon. I'm thinking about getting a raincheck for it, if that would help me get the first of the incoming supply.

 

you wouldn't use M1 if you had seen my cam bearings on my 02 camaro after 15,000 miles on it. M1 sucks has far as i'm concerned

 

Ken,

Could you give some details of your camaro's bearing problems? How many miles, what type of operating conditions? Lubrication failures are pretty unusual with the exception of sludge type problems on some engines. I am interested in lubrication and always want to learn something new.

Regards,

jimb

 

well my 02 camaro ss with the LS1 V8 engine came with M1 10w/30 synthentic. Come to find with me doing oil changes at 1,000...3,000...7,000...12,000 and then when i did my camshaft swap at 15,000 i saw that my cam bearing the first 4 from the front of the engine where worn to the point of seeing the copper coloring. I was ****** but i did my research on various LS1 boards only to find out that M1 weather it be the 5/30 or the 10/30 was very low on the 30weight scale.

So i switched to a Castrol Syntech 0w/30 (made in germany) and just did my first oil analyis (spelling). They said i could have gone another 2,000 miles because i still have alot of protection left.

I race my car once in a while and drive it like i stold it! So to me and my high performance ride, Castrol Syntech is the one for my Camaro

 

Oil war!!!!

 

Yep, Oil war. been using Mobil 1 ever since I saw it tested by independent engineers we hired at the Buick Nats back in the late 80s for use in the Turbo Buicks. I've personally put 4 vehicles over 150,000 miles on it before trading them and my Dad has put that many and more. He went over 200,000 on 1 Suburban before trading it in. My current Buick Regal GS has 101,000 and has had Mobil 1 in it since it left the showroom floor. As far as I'm concerned it's the best oil on the planet for gasser. I'm still running Rosmella T in the Cummins. It has 200,000 on it and has had over 500hp for the last 50,000 miles and still uses no oil.

 

Hmmm....I've used Mobil I ever since it came out. The first car in which I used it was a 1983 Volvo 245 Turbo that had a non-water-cooled turbocharger bearing housing - the Mobil I was recommended to prevent coking, and it did for the 90K miles that I owned the car. I've used it in every car I've owned since with the exception of my previous 1999 Honda Civic Si and current 2003 Acura 3.2TL-S that both require 5W-20; I use Royal Purple in them since Mobil I is not available as a 5W-20. I have never had a lubrication-related problem with any vehicle that used/uses Mobil I (or RP for that matter).

Oh, and I use Delo 400 in the Cummins.

Rusty

 

I used Mobil 1 5w40 for my first oil change, and since then have been using Shell Rotella. This week I went to Wal-Mart to buy more and to my surprise they had NONE of either. After Wal-Mart, Advance, AutoZone, and Oreilly...I still could not find any Shell Rotella, and only one store had Mobil 1 and they didn't have enough of it to do an oil change on my CRD.

So I ended up buying Castrol Syntec 5W40 this time. I hope Rotella is back at the stores again soon.

 

For those that be usin M1 since it came out, How many seals did you go through? They had a class action that they lost because they didn't tell anyone that their first formulation was a little heavy on the seal agents and they would get so soft that they would push out in places. I think it was like 85 -87 when they lost it and changed the formula.

 

None. And if you check it out, the oil leakage syndrome noted with early synthetics was because they didn't have the volatile ends that are in dino oil basestocks. These volatile ends vaporize at high temperatures and "boil off" - one reason that synthetics tend to reduce oil consumption. The volatile ends, however, also act as a gasket/seal "sweller" with some sealing materials - since the synthetics didn't have the volatile ends, some seals would shrink and leak.

Once this phenomenon was identified, the synthetics added a "seal sweller" to their additive formulation.

Rusty

 

Between Dad and I we have only had one seal leak. The turbo car had a rear main seal start dripping in the early 90s. probably more attributed to running 24 pounds of boost and 1.59 60 foot times than anything else. It would just make a drop on the floor every now and then but Dad was kind of particular about such things.