mobil 1 5w40

Is there something good in the turbo-diesel formula not found in their oils designed for gas powered cars?

I use their 0w-40 weight synthetic oil (for gas cars) in my Superformance Cobra.

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_0W-40.aspx

Seems to work great. If you want a 40 weight oil, could this be a better choice? I am certainly no oil expert. Just asking.

Jack

 

Be very carefull with new Mobil 1 formula (USA). It's not the same oil, as it no longer meets group IV standards (pure synthetics). It is now group III, (synthetic blends).

 

Very true

Use Mobil1 10w40 4T motorcycle oil, has plenty of zinc and phosporus and can still be sold in the US as its not labeled for autos. Same thing for the 15w50 Mobil 1 "racing" oil that has been reformulated and not for production cars...Mobils way of getting around the Fed mandate for SM oil requirement

 

I don't know about Mobile 1 5-40 but my kid just bought a used Audi A4 2.0L turbo and they recommend a VW 502 compliant 5-40 oil for this motor. The only one I found in a local Autozone is Castrol 5-40 Syntech. I don't know if the VW spec is unique to turbo motors or just a warranty gimmick. So whether I go with some other brand syntech the price is the same so I select Castrol.

 

There was thread here about oil a couple of years ago, it was very informative I just cant find it. maybe someone here can dig it up. Thanks Norm

 

Mobile 1, 5-40W for turbo diesels is CJ-4 compliant for the new "environmentally friendly" bread of diesels. Basically to get the CJ-4 rating they have to take a lot of the good stuff out of the oil. Initially Royal Purple wouldn't even make a CJ-4 oil as they couldn't make it to there standards of protection - not sure if this had since changed though.

group III + CJ-4 means I don't use it in my toys.

 

CASTROL SYNTEC is also group III, with the exception of 0w30 "European Formula".
The bottle also reads "Made in Germany" (achtung !) . This is the ONLY 100% synthetic oil sold by Castrol in the USA.

 

Here is some info. from another thread on oil that might be helpful.

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/faq.php?faq=haas_articles#faq_motor_oil_basics

 

Very informative article written a few years ago by fellow F Chatter Dr. Ali E. Haas.
Although the theory is convincing, nowadays some of the oils he mentions have been reformulated, and in the case of Mobil 1, the quality and rating dropped.

 

The Mobil 1 5W-40 would be fine for the 355. It carries a diesel API rating, CJ-4, but it also has the gasoline SL or SM rating. Mobil does NOT have to "take stuff out" of the oil in order to achieve the diesel rating. In fact, it has more "stuff", like ZDDP, than an oil which just has the SM rating.

I use a diesel engine oil in my 328: Shell Rotella T-6, which is also a 5W-40. Never any problems.

I tried the vaunted Mobil 1 0W-40, rated SM with an outdated CF diesel spec, in my 328 and found it quickly fell out of grade to a 30 weight in only 1000 miles normal use.

By the way, you could use almost any name brand in almost any grade in your 355 and it would be just fine. Motor oils today are that good.

 

One big difference from automobile oil and diesel oil is the amount of detergents, diesels need more detergents, autos that get their oil changed ofter, not so much.

One big difference in racnig oils is that these oils leave out the detergents and reduce some of the other dispersants, acid netralizers,... so that the thing doing the protection {oil zddp,...} durring operating conditions is more plentiful, at the expense of those things that protect the engine sitting in the garage.

 

Sorry but CJ-4 does have things taken out when compared to the older CI-4 oil - namely a bunch of ZDDP removed. The CJ-4 spec is also lower than CI-4 in almost every category tested. Oils today are that good though so it becomes a matter of preference.

 

I've done a "LOT" of research with oils over the years. Mobil 1 screwed up there for a while going to below 1000 ppm ZDDP (government regulations) and we quit using them in favor of European ELF 10w50 and 5w40. Then the government shut that down by forcing the newly branded Total 10w50 and 5w40 to the SM and ACEA approval formulation with 800 ppm ZDDP.

I was in direct contact with a senior Mobil1 engineer when this all went down post Katrina. Mitch also sent me a industry document from the EPA to the oil companies telling them they would be allowed to make their base stock with less quality restrictions in exchange for removing the level of zddp to below 1000 as it kills catalytic converters within the 7 year Govt imposed emissions warranty on the exhaust systems.

Same thing with the Ferrari Shell oils no longer available except for the 10w60 for the Challenge cars, the Quaker State goop is SM rated and without proper levels of zinc and phosporus. The dealers, at least responsible dealers, hate the crap or at least thats what I've been told.

So now you have an engine that takes a **** but the cat is still good. LOTS of engines are going south to this day and joe consumer is getting the shaft for the most part just like the BS with ethanol in gas.....total BS. Racers and street rod guys found about this early on the hardway....losing engines. The mainstream consumer has been given the mushroom treatment.

Thankfully Mobil listen to their wallet as racing folks overnight quit buying Mobil1 and they brought back their old 15w50 with the nomenclature racing and "back by popular demand"

I've attached a product guide I got from the Mobil1 engineer after the reintroduction. You can see the 15w50 has 1200/1300 phosphorus/zinc and the 10w40 4T has even more. Racing engines, flat tappet camshaft engines need these higher levels of protection and yes production Ferrari engines are classified as racing engines with respect to their loading of cam lobes, bearing load, compression etc. Notice on the chart that neither the 15w50 nor the 10w40 4T have ACEA approvals.....I suspect they have too high zddp levels to meet ACEA approvals...... duh!

BTW I have to special order the 15w50 Mobil1 as the Mobil1 distributor in Austin does not sell them to anyone else. The 4T is only around due to the motorcycle boys.
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Looking at the chart, it looks like 0w-40 has 1,100 ppm zinc. If that is the current formulation, that should be sufficient to protect the motor, right?

Jack

 

David, the oil analysis chart dates 4/7/09. From what I know Mobil 1 oil was recently degraded to lower quality standards which do not meet 100% synthetic formulation.
It would be interesting if your friend at MOBIL cal tell you whether or not this chart reflects the new formulation.

 

For what it is worth, here is a newer chart. May 2010.

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Files/Mobil_1_Product_Guide.pdf

Jack

 

what about valavoline syn 5-40

 

I made the switch to Mobil1 this past year as I had used up my last batch of "older" (pre SM) Castrol Syntec during last year's oil change, but I'm using Mobil1 20W50 V-Twin motorcycle oil (I can get that easily through Walmart or Canadian Tire...).

 

Zinc levels more than 0.03 have no additional protection in passenger car motor oils. In race cars where Zn is actually used up, more is needed because it is consumed. Normally, even in severe service none gets used up in cars not racing on a track at 200 MPH.

There are passenger car motor oils with no Zinc at all that have superior performance. Zinc has been used in the past because it was cheap, not because it is a panacea.

Mobil 1 is used by Porsche, MB, Aston Martin and others right now and works fine in other high performance engines. NOBODY knows the formulation and anybody who says they do is suspect for their level of inside information.

aehaas

 

David actually lost several 2.0 litre Porsche engines due to lack of ZDDP. Pre SM these things would last 40 hours +/-, enter SM they would loose lobes on the camshaft in one-two hour. Went and found some oils with good ZDDP levels and presto, the engines now last 40 hours +/- again.

Now, these aren't just your average modern rollerized valvetrain auto engines, being from the mid-late 1960s, air cooled, carburetted, and turning out 197-200 HP. But the problems were real and did show up and go away based on SM-ification and de-SM-ification of the oils.

 

For daily drivers Mobil 1 is probably fine. However, from now on I'll be using Redline on the Ferrari. No room for doubt.

 

valvoline syn power