Mobile 1 oil to thin?

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Locky

Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
50
Car
E220 cdi
Hi all... I have a question. Normally I give my car an oil change inbetween main dealer services. I use Chevron oil from Costco. It's cheap but it has all the required specs and it's fully synthetic. I believe Daimler Chrysler have something to do with Chevron as well.
The thing is the Chevron oil is a different weight to the Mobile 1 stuff and my 125k plus cdi engine sounds much quieter on Chevron.
Do you think mobile 1 could be too thin making the engine noisy?

Also shall I change my diff oil? its not noisey but it has done over 100k
 
The thing is the Chevron oil is a different weight to the Mobile 1 stuff and my 125k plus cdi engine sounds much quieter on Chevron.
Do you think mobile 1 could be too thin making the engine noisy?

Perhaps because the engine will work less hard it will be quieter - only one way to find out as Harry Hill would say - FIIIIIIGHT !

So try it and see with full report to the forum of course ;)
 
What grade is the Chevron oil?

I got some Mobil1 from Costco too, and it's 0W40, whereas the Motul stuff (which I supplied) used at the last service was 5W30. They're both MB229.5 and the handbook indicates almost any grade will do (within the range of temperatures we get in the UK).
I'm assuming that the 0W of the Mobil1 will be better at start up, and the 40 will be better when hot.
 
The chevron stuff is 5w40 if I remember correctly. Not a huge difference.
I changed my rear diff oil today. I put some 75w ep80/90 stuff. This seemed a lot thinner than what came out too. The diff seems nice and quiet though.
 
It may help a little if we knew what sort of Tractor you drive and how old the Unimog is??

Bazzle
 
There is no reason why Mobil1 0w-40 should be too thin.

The 0w is cold crank viscosity and the lower the number the better the flow at cold.

A 0w oil is still around 40 times thicker at 0degC than it is a 100degC.

A 0w-40 equates to around 350cst at 0degC and 14cst at 100degC

Always remember that a 0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40, 15w-40 are all sae 40 oils at 100degC and therefore 14cst at this temp, the "w" rating is measured by a different method which is pumping and cold crank at low temps, -35degC in the case of a 0w oil, -30degC in the case of a 5w oil and -25degC in the case of a 10w oil etc.

Cheers
Simon
 
oilman said:
There is no reason why Mobil1 0w-40 should be too thin.

The 0w is cold crank viscosity and the lower the number the better the flow at cold.

A 0w oil is still around 40 times thicker at 0degC than it is a 100degC.

A 0w-40 equates to around 350cst at 0degC and 14cst at 100degC

Always remember that a 0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40, 15w-40 are all sae 40 oils at 100degC and therefore 14cst at this temp, the "w" rating is measured by a different method which is pumping and cold crank at low temps, -35degC in the case of a 0w oil, -30degC in the case of a 5w oil and -25degC in the case of a 10w oil etc.
So, referring to my earlier post, all other things being equal, and within the ambient temperatures that we get in the UK, would a 0W40 oil be 'better' than a 5W30?
 
Both of those grade are fine in the uk climate, the 5w-30's are designed as fuel economy oils, so over the life time of the car the mpg should be greater due to less drag, the 0w-40 is slightly thicker when hot, thus more of a performance oil.

Cheers

Simon.
 
Thick or Thin

The only down side to the 0w-40 or 5w-40 "thin" oils can be on older worn engines which tend to leak a little oil from seals( crankshaft seals for example). resorting to a 10w-40 or 15w-50 seems to help this. Obviously cold weather starts are not so good and more demanding on the starter/battery. The superior chemical characteristics of the modern thin synthetics are an absolute necessity if you intend to use the extended service intervals most new models have. However I believe Mercedes is moving back to fixed mileage SERVICE intervals from the variable system of recent years.
 
I've never personally been for extended service intervals, fresh oil is better than stuff that's been in there for 12 months.

Synthetic basestocks are certainly up to 12000 miles plus but is the addative pack gets used up. There is also the question of the filter.

I would also say that the cost of two oil changes a year is peanuts compared to the general running costs of a car today and oil is the first line of defence. Buy the best you can afford, it will pay dividends in the long run.

Cheers
Simon
 
oilman said:
.

I would also say that the cost of two oil changes a year is peanuts compared to the general running costs of a car today and oil is the first line of defence. Buy the best you can afford, it will pay dividends in the long run.

Cheers
Simon

Ah, as a venal oil seller you would say that!

However, I agree and do interim oil changes even with a full synthetic. Most of the time during the week our cars are used for short runs (<10 miles) and although that is on semi rural roads that counts as "severe duty" to many car makers.

Couple of weeks ago friend turned up in an Audi A6 1.8 turbo diesel and upon getting ready to leave found an "add oil" warning starting him in the face. Now this was one of the "extended service" efforts and his car had done 16,000 miles since anyone had thought about oil.

Read through the manual and it required a very specific VW spec extended drain oils. Well it got some Mobil 1 turbo diesel but what surprised me was the low oil capacity (3.75 ltres) and the fact that what was on the end of the dipstick was a rather thick black goop.

Do not care what anyone says, extended drain periods cannot be a good idea especially on a turbo diesel.
 

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