Russ from MN

Well-known Member
Location
Bemidji MN
I am taking the car in for an oil change today, my options are Kendall or Valvoline, with Valvoline being a little more expensive. What do you think?
 
If you have a JD, then there's nothing like JD oil. If you have a CaseIH, then there's nothing like CaseIH oil. If you have a............ well, you get the idea.
So, shouldn't the same logic follow with every machine?
 
Just so you know, Kendall is not made in Bradford, PA anymore. It's just a brand name, a 'badge' put on someone else's oil.

The Bradford refinery used to be the Kendall refinery, now it's American Refining Group (ARG), and they make Brad-Penn motor oil.

I don't have any connection at all with this refinery, just drive by ot at least once a week, it is in my local area. I put Brad-Penn in my vehicles to support the local economy.

When the "old" company sold out, they sold the Kendall name. ARG is the "new" company.

Just something to think about when selecting motor oil. Who knows who makes what anymore?
 
Very few companies make oil any more, that why you see on buckets distrubed by. Any of your major brands have additives in them to meet specs.
 
I looked at some SHELL oil that was on sale,
the2-1/2 gallon container was marked, in small
print, "Product of Pennziol". I'd never put that
Pennzoil in anything. Used to be that, when you
took an engine apart, you could always tell the ones that used Pennzoil, as they were full of
Black sludge !
 
I buy 15/40 and trans/hyd. oil by the barrel from a local distributor. It gets used in most everything on the farm. The dist. happens to be in south central NY, and Brad-Penn is what he carries.
 
I would go with the Valvoline. By the way the O'Reilly's brand of oil is also Valvoline
 
Whatever is on sale. Just change oil and filter every 7000 miles and you will be fine. Use 10-30 in pre 90's engines and 5-30 in post.
 
Every time someone on here asks about oil there is always someone who say they have some bad experience with Penzoil. Currently I have 4 trucks that collectively have over 600K miles on the engines with no trouble and the only oil since new has been Penzoil. I've had 2 Fords that exceeded 300K with no issues. I've used it for over 30 years I never had the need to rear one down. Most oil will do OK if the maintenance schedules are followed.
 
I know that conventional oil is supposed to last 5K-8K miles today but I still change it at 3K or as close as I can get. The 5 quart jug and the filter run $20-$23 total. It's not so much I don't think the oil will last that long but if you are having an engine issue it's a lot better to find the antifreeze/metal/gas etc... in your oil after 3K miles instead of 7K miles.

And I learned from Dodge that their "recommended" oil change interval is 8K under normal conditions and 3K under extreme conditions. If you read the details basically it defines "extreme" as the weather conditions one encounters while driving in North America. So if you use the recommended oil change interval from the manual you were violating the warranty - a huge issue if you had a 2.7 V6 engine.
 
I remember when my son"s Buick Regal engine needed rebuilding, I asked the owners of a large rebuilder north of Detroit, his opinion was he had most of the damaged, blown up engines he got used Valvoline. I know I lost a motor many years ago on Valvoline. I will never ever use Pennzoil again because they screwed me out of a rebate on their oil. I followed all their dictates and I am out $10 because of those idiots.
 
One of my brothers never used Pennzoil but has the idea that it is no good. I've used Pennzoil for 40-some years and have never had an engine problem - but he has with the oil that he uses!

I still use Pennzoil in the truck with 120K on it; change oil & filter every 5,000 miles. I am using Mobil 1 synthetic oil in the Camry; change synthetic every 10,000 miles.

We don't have to worry about condensation here in the low humidity of the desert.
 
Russ,
I don't have a clue what oil my GM dealer puts in. Don't really think they would put something in that would void waranty.

I just change it every 3K at dealer. I find it cheaper than most places and even cheaper than I can buy oil and filter for.

My dealer has a pay for 3 and get one free. Bottom line that works out to about $22 an oil change. Not to mention they look at about 30 other things.

IMHO, I don't think there is much difference from one brand to another. I even tried using Rural King oil, may be citco, in a tractor. It lasted as long as the brand names, 75 hours without using a drop.

Oil brands may be just like tractor brands, is red better than blue, green?

George
 
For the vehicles, I use Valvoline or Castrol 10W-30. Tractors all get Shell Rotella 15W-40. 2 stroke engines use Castrol 2 stroke oil.

I've switched to AGCO Permatran 821XL for trans-hydraulic fluid. I've always used wal-mart and other cheaper oils, but I recently had a bit of a scare with it, so I've switched to a high quality oil I can trust.

Cheap oil is NOT worth it. You save a few dollars on a product that is lubricating an engine or transmission worth thousands.
 
I had 20 case" of Valvoline left over from when I was in the tree trimming business. I"ve used it for the last 8 years it was .99 a quart then.
Just this last weekend I changed oil in my two vehicles 02 Jeep and a 92 Ford F-250. Had to buy oil, just about had a heart attack $33.for 10 qts. 2 - 5 qt. bottles. when did oil become gold ?
Sad to say but I shopped around and Wal-Mart was the cheapest $16.47 a bottle.
 
Along the same lines, who makes Wolf's Head these days? The Wolf's Head refinery was literally "across the street" from my grandparents - and my Grandpa worked there.

The Wolf's Head refinery was located on Route 8 in Reno, PA. My grandparents were one block away, on the hillside that was (is) Reno. Walk out on their front porch, turn right, and you were staring at the refinery. I remember when they tore it down, late '70s or early '80s, I think.

Just this morning I saw Wolf's Head motor oil on the rack at the local convenience store - but where did it come from? The Wolf's Head I knew was torn down years ago.
 
It's more about what's IN the oil than what name brand is on it. The determining factor is what the engine mfg. recommends as far as the weight and additive package.

Most late model cars and light trucks now have roller lifters. Older models (and some newer) used flat tappets. These require a zinc additive that has been phased out of most automotive oils.

Diesel oils still have the additive. So, I use diesel engine oil in everything with flat tappet lifters, automotive oil with roller lifters.

Joe Schribner sent me to this website:

http://classiccars.about.com/od/maintenancetips/a/Zddp-Debunking-The-Urban-Legend-This-Motor-Oil-Additive.htm
 
Years ago, when I got my first car, the engine was pretty well sludged up. I asked one of the older mechanics in the dealership what I should do to clean it up. He told me to change the oil, and use Pennzoil. Then change it every 2000 to 3000 miles until it got cleaned up. I did as he told me, and it worked like a charm. He also told me that he never lost an engine to Pennzoil.
Now, many years later, I can honestly say that I have never lost an engine to Pennzoil. I have only ever lost TWO engines. First was in a 1962 Oldsmobile - a 394cid V-8. I was using Quaker State for some reason. The second was a 1964 Dodge with a 170cid slant six. Bought the car with a rod knocking, drove it for nearly a year that way, and it finally let go.
I had been told (years ago) that Wolf's Head was made in the same refinery as Pennzoil. Over the years, the consensus has been that the oils refined from Pennsylvania crude oil have better lubricating qualities for engines that other oils.
Also, years ago, I worked in a Buick dealership that used Kendall oils exclusively. I also remember a lot of Buicks coming in on the hook with a rod through the side of the block in those days. Could there be a connection?
As a last note - I never did like Castrol. And to top it off, I found their advertising to be extremely OFFENSIVE!!! Showing that idiot running around smacking people across the back of the legs with a dipstick was not only a bad example, but the one that wants to try it on me will get a broken jaw!!! No point to teaching bad habits to the new generation of mechanics. They will have it hard enough as it is.
 
Brad-Penn has a high-zinc oil they market for the classic/muscle car market. It's green.

I switched to Valvoline a few years ago.

We used Pennzoil and Rotella for years with no trouble, and some Wolf's Head, too, but I got some valvoline on my fingers one day and couldn't turn the nut on a new, clean, 1/2 inch bolt. NEVER had that trouble with any other oils.

Also used to be able to smell Pennzoil, Wolf's head, Hy-tran, Ford 134, and Rotella and tell you which I had.

Valvoline also bottles NAPA's oil for them.
 
Find a place that uses Mobil1.
I've used Mobil1 since my dirt racing days. At first I just ran it in the race car. After seeing how well it worked I started using it in my cars and trucks and change oil every 5000-7000 miles.
I've got a friend that was in the oil business and another that's an engineer for a heavy equipment manufacturer. According to them there can be big differences between various brands. They both recommend and use Mobil1.
 
Parents had a 75 D100 225 slant6 with 350,000 on it and a 76 Aspen with same size motor with 225,000 on it when was given to me. They got truck with 30,000 and car with 8,000 on them. Step-father used only Penzoil in them
 

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