Did my oil change today with Royal Purple. My friend introduced me to this stuff, and I just wanted to do a little research. Here's what I found. For all you Mobile 1 Oil users. Prepare to be shocked.

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

This clip is a example of how their tests are conducted.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kqvhRi7-iMA

Really interesting stuff.

Royal Purple all the way.

 

Is it me or does that story read a lot like a paid advertisement for RP? I run both Mobil1 and RedLine and have had no issues with either.

 

Yes I do agree it does seem a little one sided...I have mobil1 in mine now...I have heard a lot of positive things of RP from others, but so have I from Mobil1....does RP have the A3/B3 rating? That was a big factor in getting Mobil1 because I needed that rating

 

 

 

^ I hear they're coming out with another article proving that popcorn tastes better with RP than butter

 

Nope.......I gotta go with the reg old dino oil for that one. Nature made it best...........

 

Enjoying the show so far, and no, it doesn't seem to lean toward any one oil. If anything, it seems to like the Valvoline as the best bang for the buck. But, heck, what do I know; I use RP.

 

Do you use 5W30 or 5W40?

 

5W30

 

i seen several tests where royal purple dont do well, amsoil tests indepedently an wear is an issue with royal purple, i have 177,100 on an 01 chipped turbo jetta with 10-30 amsoil changed every 10,000, still going strong 20 vaccum and 25 lbs boost, my mini will be BOOSTED

 

All these "torture" tests aside, I believe that any quality synthetic oil that meets the MINI specifications and is changed at regular intervals will provide excellent long term protection for my MINI motor. I don't lose any sleep worrying about finding the one "best" motor oil.

 

Subaru owners have started avoiding Mobil 1 like the plague. It's the common denominator with spun rod bearings on those motors. Ever since M1 changed their formulation, this has become an issue.

 

Really? Huh, never heard that one but I guess it could happen. I did notice a drop in engine noise and better driveability since I switched to RedLine on my last change.

 

ya rly. it's beyond coincidence now. I know quite a few people who have had issues personally and the reports are overwhelming on the forums. Oil consumption goes WAY up with M1 on those motors (like burning a quart every 2-3k miles where normal dino oil doesn't burn off like that). I know it's common sense to check oil EVERY time you fill up, but, most don't. One issue is that the Subaru's oil sensor only gives a warning light once things are in a critical state (meaning...when it comes on, STOP the motor immediately).

How this translates to either MINI motor design...no idea. I know one thing though...after more than a decade of using Mobil 1, I just got 5W30 Motul in my car yesterday at Mach V.

 

this is what i heard too.
and not just the Subbie owners, i heard S2000 owners are wary of this problem with Mobil 1.

I think the result is a bit exaggerated.. I was thinking of trying german syntec next time around..

 

I had some beatoff come into work and claim that Hondas are doing it, too, but he was claiming like 3-4 quarts every 3k miles. He said it was on a freshly rebuilt motor and i said to myself "Tool, you don't run synthetic in a fresh motor unless it was built around it".

 

But also, if Mobil was the junk that some people claim it to be, why is the Corvette, Viper, Aston Martin, and many more coming factory fill with it?

 

I'd surmise that the manufacturers get the full monty, us mere consumers are getting a lesser version over the counter. 100% chance that something changed with the formulation once the API relaxed standards for what can be called 'synthetic'.

 

So in that sense, I could walk into a ------ dealer and buy their Mobil 1 that they would use as fill and go to my local ------ parts store and theirs would be different. Would actually be really interesting to see the results. Could be quite upsetting to Mobil 1 users if it was true.

 

yep. I'm not sure what the truth is honestly...this has been hotly debated for the last year or two with no solid info yet.

 

5W/30. It's what the engine was designed to work with.
Keep in mind that the engine designers specify an oil to cover a broad a range of driving conditions as possible while meeting lubrication needs, internal drag and emission requirements. It's a fine balance.
The single biggest factor, in my humble opinion, is regular and frequent oil changes. The oil doesn't break down, but the additives do.

 

is the same one StaLube used in thier adds. I noticed a few things.... 1) the test lacks resolution, all the oils needed either one, two, three or four two lb weights. Would have been nice if they'd used 1 lb to get better resolution. 2) Also, I wonder if they are actually testing a regime that is relevent to cars. This test perposfully takes two curved surfaces that meet at a point to get very high contact forces, whereas car bearing surfaces are designed to have very wide, planar contact surfaces. I could imaging some shear properties that would help well in an actuall motor would have little effect here. I hope they do more testing so that more of the oil performance envelope can be measured. Anyway, it was a good read....

Matt

 

If anyone has any verifiable evidence of an engine failure directly related to the use of the appropriate weight and specification Mobil1 oil, I'd love to see it. If Subaru engines are experiencing failures of major internal components, I'd first question the engine design or component part failure before concluding a lubricant failure was the cause. I've seen all sorts of unsubstantiated claims on the net about this-or-that oil causing serious engine problems. Until someone comes up with evidence to back up those claims, I'll consider them just so much hot air.

 

Let's recap - dino oil in a Suby engine = no consumption issues. Mobil1 in a Suby engine = consumption issues. This combined with lazy = low oil levels. Those who run Mobil 1 MUST CHECK OIL LEVELS WITH EVERY FILLUP. The oil itself isn't causing wear issues...the fact that it's formulation is thinner than it's spec means it's burning off before it should. Those who've run 5W30 seem to have the most issues...moving one viscosity thicker seems to abate the problem.

Suby dealer service writer - click