I did some research just now. Today, there are two Mobil 1 5W-30's: 98HC54, Extended Performance and 98HC63, which looks like the cheaper SuperSyn stuff. My guess is that the extended performance stuff with the gold label is roughly equivalent to the "good old stuff". Question, Tarheal: which 5w 30 did you stick in your car last time?

 

It was the original formulation 98HC63.

 

yeah well that's the issue. That "original formula" isn't true synthetic, and this has been an issue of great angst and debate within the auto enthusiast community for years since Mobil began monkeying with the formula in the late 1990's. Mind you I've been disconnected from all this since 2007, cuz I haven't had a car I cared enough about since then. I would be very curious to know how the extended wear formula stacked up against the "original" formula you sent in for testing, after the same mileage you racked up before sending in.

I read several accounts today of users of the extended wear formula that had anecdotal evidence showing superior performance past 10K miles.

Does anyone have anything substantive to contribute regarding these different Mobil 1 formulations?

 

Hay SuperTrav,

Why don't you do the test on the extended life Mobil 1. We do have identical cars and it will be a while before I could get around to it.

 

Great idea. I will be changing in 3K miles. It has conventional oil now, and it has 67K miles. Should be a great test to do, albeit still with many variables. At current mileage usage rates, I should need to change around end of January, or into Feb. Cheers indeed!

 

I'll chip in and suggest that comparing a single sample from each car will almost invariably confound the issue even more, irrespective of the results.

 

Mikey, I would expect you to state this. Your position and your input can't be disputed, from a certain perspective. Even after stating this, the anecdotal evidence from two cars, identical in almost every way, with very similar mileage, driven in similar environments, will provide some empirical data to chew on.

 

Uuuum, nope. Part of my former working career was developing an oil sampling program for the regional airline industry. The very first hard lesson we learned was that individual samples from individual engines (any engine) were almost meaningless as they occasionally showed huge inexplicable variations from previous and successive samples. Reacting to these false positives (or missing the boat on the more insidious 'false negatives') would have kept most of the fleet on the ground repairing engines that weren't actually broken. The key was to take multiple samples over an extended period to establish a baseline, then look for on-going, consistent trends

Your sample may well show that your oil is worse than the OPs, but just as easily as it may say it's the same or better. At a minimum, chances are that the results will come back as being 'different'. What take it-to-the-bank conclusions about Mobil1 will you draw from those findings?

This reminds me of the three statisticians that went target shooting. The first missed by a hundred feet to the left, the second to the right also by a hundred feet. The third shouted out 'bullseye'.

 

Guys, why don't you show the oil analysys results? It would be interesting to see.

Here are mine bytheway, and after these tests I decided to change my oil (M1 0w40) somewhere between 8 and 10 Kmiles:

 

Andre, curious to know which Mobil 1 this test was done on, the Extended Wear, or the "Original SupersSyn"?

Also, do you believe if an ambitious sort like me bought off on your twin-screw Kenne Bell kit, that a local crafty custom fabricator could engineer the plumbing for XJR application, doing away with the need to wait for you to find the time to do it?

 

It was the supersyn, they call it now (here in europe) new life. Never used a extended life oil, as my goal was never to extend oil changes to much.

It would be very ambitous, as you would have to make a new intake elbow and that one has to be made with great care as due to the cramped space it must be made ensuring optimal airflow for the desired hp range. I'll consider your idea when it takes to long for me to make one though.

 

It should be remembered that "synthetic" in the EU really means synthetic whereas in NA the "synthetic" appelation can be quite a bit more fuzzy.

The same trade name can be applied to different formulations in different markets.

 

This leads to understanding that there are three basic types of synthetic motor oil, oils using group III base stocks that are hydrocracked or gas-to-liquid type. This oil is not allowed to be called synthetic in Germany and is sort of the lower end of the spectrum, it is not always considered to be synthetic but actually high end mineral oil. Then there are Group IV Polyalphaolefins and Group V synthetic esters. Group IV and V are the higher priced synthetics such as Amsoil (you can generally go by price). You have to know that a $12qt of oil costs more to produce than a $6 one.

 

Dang!
I'm just a poor old red headed boy trying to figure out when to change my oil. I don't want to do multiple oil analyses at $35 a pop. I don't mind paying extra for high quality products, synthetic or otherwise, but I want my moneys worth. I'm too old to get a chemical engineering degree, I've had a nice career and I don't want another in "dip stick analysis".

I'm really just putting you guys on. It's just marvelous how much information this forum produces. Every subject has layers on layers and one can delve into it as deep as one cares to.

Thanks all.

 

Yeah. Truly way beyond me. I got involved in similar discussions, with people who's knowledge and intelligence clearly eclipsed mine, in a forum some of you may know about: corner-carvers, a salty bunch no doubt, back in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Back then, I concluded that conventional oil was where I was returning. But now that I find Mobil 1 offers this "extended" product, I'm still tempted to conduct our purely subjective test by me putting in my car and having it sent for testing after 6K miles.

"It would be very ambitous, as you would have to make a new intake elbow and that one has to be made with great care as due to the cramped space it must be made ensuring optimal airflow for the desired hp range. I'll consider your idea when it takes to long for me to make one though."

Andre, I meant no offense. I read your travails thoroughly, and I completely understand that you have come to a stopping point due to packaging/plumbing/airflow issues with the XJR application. Kudos to you for getting your package where you've got it. Impressive indeeed.

 

@tarhealcracker,
Ok, then don't share your test results, although it would have been good info.


@Supertrav,
No worries, certainly didn't take it up like that. It’s not so much a stopping point in that I don’t know how to continue, the difficulty is to find someone with good solidwork skills that doesn't charge an arm and a leg to make the drawings to my design. I may try to make my own, but am just a novice at this stage with Solidworks.

 

Got it, Andre. I wish you success with that. What would be great is if these two scenarios coincided in the time-continuum: your getting the plumbing engineering done and my being able to bite off on the twin screw solution.

 

AVOS,

It's not that I'm reluctant to show the test results. The problem is my computer skills are very basic and I just don't know how. Ask me a specific question and I could answer it but as you have said 30 or 40 times the total package of data is what you need.

I'm able to post text comm but past that I have to get my wife involved. Not a good policy.

 

Am more than happy to help out, but that would require you to make a digital picture of the output, and mail it to me. Other than that it are only about 30 fields to type in (so only the tested fields).

 

While I'm new to the Jag experience, having just taken possession of a 2005 VDP a month ago, I've some experience with synthetic oil from my 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero.

The turbo Saab is said to require synthetic oil due to the high turbo operating temps. As I understand, the advantages of synthetic over dino is 1. greater ability to absorb engine contaminants, resulting in longer life, and 2. higher heat tolerance before break down of lubrication properties, ie., sludging.

I got the Saab with 54K miles, it now has 210K miles, with original engine and turbo. It has a small 4 qt oil capacity and is known to be prone to sludging, prompting many Saab enthusiasts to pull the oil pan to clean out the oil screen and pump intake tube.

I've never performed any of that, just regularly changed oil with Mobil 1 every 10K miles, just as recommended in the manual. Sometimes it was the regular Mobil 1, sometimes EP. Recently I've started using Castrol Edge since it's generally cheaper, but most of the life was run on Mobil 1.

Shops tell me turbos are notoriously unreliable, probably because owners don't stick to the required maintenance schedule. While it's only 1 car, the fact that I've gotten a small capacity high output turbo engine to 210K miles without shortened change intervals should vouch for the quality of the oils used.