Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

Thoughts on Mobil 1 oil?

I was an ASE certified tech for over a decade, I ran (and still do kinda) a shop for almost a decade. I've seen and run almost everything you can , both in my own cars and in customers, and while its anecdotal, here's my two cents.

1. like Jerry, Chris and many others have said, the number one thing for longevity and reliability is to just change your GD oil on a good service interval.... period! This alone will do more than anything else combined

2. I personally use synthetic in everything I own. I have never seen ANY evidence that synthetic will start oil leaks EVER. Its my opinion that's an old wives tale.

3. High mileage oil is a gimmick, there is no such thin as a mechanic in a bottle, these will not fix your oil leaks or help an older engine (read more I will explain more in a moment).

4. I use synthetic in everything I own. Again anecdotally, I have personally seen better wear protection (IN MODERN ENGINES) using synthetic over conventional. but my main reason is my wife ability to tell me her car needs an oil change, approximately 1000 miles past her actually due. I buy the cheapest full synthetic I can and the best filter I can, the oils are all the same!

There is a problem here that no one has yet brought up! API certifications

The reason I say that the oils are all the same, is because for the most part they are. The API cert on the side of any normal bottle of oil you pick up ensures that. FED EPA standards "requires" the use of API certified oils in modern vehicles to lower green house emissions. This means pretty much everything added is regulated, or it don't get the cert! Thus, there all the same! No more 12 herbs and spices, to magically keep you going. MODERN cars are built for this and run best on this, HERES THE PROBLEM

The 4.0l is not modern, far from it and some of those herbs and spices cut from the list of approved goodness is Zinc and Paraffin, not good for cats and the environment, but essential for flat tappet lifters. In my mind the question has never been, what brand, but instead API, NON API, or additives. just my 2cents

 
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Hey new to the forum, but wanted to say thanks, went through a shotgun approach to a nasty tick. The 2002 with 84k started making the infamous noise about 3 months ago so I spent the weekend changing, plugs, coil pack, full throttle body clean including IAC and the OPDA. All done and tick,tick,tick. Hit up this forum and saw the 10w30 dino oil recommendation. Headed to Walmart grabbed a mopar filter and Castrol GTX and swapped out the Mobile one synth. Was doing the happy dance in the garage, tick is gone. I wasn't thinking this would be instant gratification but yep. Thanks again. I am now a supporting member
 
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I use dino oil and change often due to the environment I operate in. I personally use Castrol but would not hesistate to use other brands. There are plenty of items on the Jeep that you should pay careful attention to the brand. The engine oil isn't one of them. Pick a good name brand that is available easily and pay attention to the weight.
 
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I had an old 1990 Chevrolet pick-up that I bought new & used nothing but Penzoil 10-w-30 conventional oil with 5,000 mile change intervals. I gave it to my son in 2001 when he went off to college & he cared for it the same way. He kept it after he graduated & got married & he only sold it because they started having kids & needed a 4 door truck. That old Chevy had nearly 250,000 miles & still ran like new; no smoke & no leaks. That’s a testament to good regular maintenance, good oil & filters & that great old Chevy 350.
 
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PNW Lj said:
I was an ASE certified tech for over a decade, I ran (and still do kinda) a shop for almost a decade. I've seen and run almost everything you can , both in my own cars and in customers, and while its anecdotal, here's my two cents.

1. like Jerry, Chris and many others have said, the number one thing for longevity and reliability is to just change your GD oil on a good service interval.... period! This alone will do more than anything else combined

2. I personally use synthetic in everything I own. I have never seen ANY evidence that synthetic will start oil leaks EVER. Its my opinion that's an old wives tale.

3. High mileage oil is a gimmick, there is no such thin as a mechanic in a bottle, these will not fix your oil leaks or help an older engine (read more I will explain more in a moment).

4. I use synthetic in everything I own. Again anecdotally, I have personally seen better wear protection (IN MODERN ENGINES) using synthetic over conventional. but my main reason is my wife ability to tell me her car needs an oil change, approximately 1000 miles past her actually due. I buy the cheapest full synthetic I can and the best filter I can, the oils are all the same!

There is a problem here that no one has yet brought up! API certifications

The reason I say that the oils are all the same, is because for the most part they are. The API cert on the side of any normal bottle of oil you pick up ensures that. FED EPA standards "requires" the use of API certified oils in modern vehicles to lower green house emissions. This means pretty much everything added is regulated, or it don't get the cert! Thus, there all the same! No more 12 herbs and spices, to magically keep you going. MODERN cars are built for this and run best on this, HERES THE PROBLEM

The 4.0l is not modern, far from it and some of those herbs and spices cut from the list of approved goodness is Zinc and Paraffin, not good for cats and the environment, but essential for flat tappet lifters. In my mind the question has never been, what brand, but instead API, NON API, or additives. just my 2cents

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Sorry for being slow to understand, but what type (not which brand) of oil should be used in the 4.1 Inline engine? Does any API certified work?
 
Head Lice said:
Care to divulge your reason ?
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FLETCH9 said:
Hey new to the forum, but wanted to say thanks, went through a shotgun approach to a nasty tick. The 2002 with 84k started making the infamous noise about 3 months ago so I spent the weekend changing, plugs, coil pack, full throttle body clean including IAC and the OPDA. All done and tick,tick,tick. Hit up this forum and saw the 10w30 dino oil recommendation. Headed to Walmart grabbed a mopar filter and Castrol GTX and swapped out the Mobile one synth. Was doing the happy dance in the garage, tick is gone. I wasn't thinking this would be instant gratification but yep. Thanks again. I am now a supporting member
Click to expand...
Castrol is what I run in my 02. 145k miles now and no leaks today. I have run synthetic on 2 oil changes back to back and I did develop a rms leak. I returned to dino oil and the leak is gone. Old designed engine, gets old designed oil. Nothing fancy, it is a JEEP.
 
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PNW Lj said:
I was an ASE certified tech for over a decade, I ran (and still do kinda) a shop for almost a decade. I've seen and run almost everything you can , both in my own cars and in customers, and while its anecdotal, here's my two cents.

1. like Jerry, Chris and many others have said, the number one thing for longevity and reliability is to just change your GD oil on a good service interval.... period! This alone will do more than anything else combined

2. I personally use synthetic in everything I own. I have never seen ANY evidence that synthetic will start oil leaks EVER. Its my opinion that's an old wives tale.

3. High mileage oil is a gimmick, there is no such thin as a mechanic in a bottle, these will not fix your oil leaks or help an older engine (read more I will explain more in a moment).

4. I use synthetic in everything I own. Again anecdotally, I have personally seen better wear protection (IN MODERN ENGINES) using synthetic over conventional. but my main reason is my wife ability to tell me her car needs an oil change, approximately 1000 miles past her actually due. I buy the cheapest full synthetic I can and the best filter I can, the oils are all the same!

There is a problem here that no one has yet brought up! API certifications

The reason I say that the oils are all the same, is because for the most part they are. The API cert on the side of any normal bottle of oil you pick up ensures that. FED EPA standards "requires" the use of API certified oils in modern vehicles to lower green house emissions. This means pretty much everything added is regulated, or it don't get the cert! Thus, there all the same! No more 12 herbs and spices, to magically keep you going. MODERN cars are built for this and run best on this, HERES THE PROBLEM

The 4.0l is not modern, far from it and some of those herbs and spices cut from the list of approved goodness is Zinc and Paraffin, not good for cats and the environment, but essential for flat tappet lifters. In my mind the question has never been, what brand, but instead API, NON API, or additives. just my 2cents

Click to expand...
Excellent point on the API cert.
 
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Head Lice said:
Care to divulge your reason ?
Click to expand...
No one single thing, just many years of reading various oil comparison reports, oil analysis reports, etc.. One thing that always stood out was a higher than usual iron content in multiple oil analysis reports comparing Mobil 1 to others. Most engine blocks are cast iron and that really stuck with me.

In way too many years of reading many such reports, it's just a personal opinion that I have arrived at.

Not to mention that in 56 years of driving and using conventional engine oils 99.9% of the time, I've never had a single engine failure or even a single serious engine problem. I attribute that solely to regular engine and filter changes at appropriate intervals since I have used nearly every engine oil brand on the store shelves. Based on that what possible benefit could I have enjoyed had I switched to synthetic years ago?

The only reason why I would willingly switch to synthetic engine oil is if I were to somehow find myself living where it gets EXTREMELY cold during the winter... Minnesota, North Dakota, Alaska, etc. To me that's where synthetic oils shine since they work better at extremely cold temperatures. But since I don't, I won't.
 
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I spoke with an oils rep years ago. The API rating ensures all oils meet the rating. It does NOT ensure all oils are equal be any means. Different additives. Some oils exceed the specific rating. Who knows the truth. If you search and compare oil test results you will see the WalMart brand may not be as good as Brand X. I run a high mileage oil with Power Punch additive. Seems to quiet down the 2.5 nicely.
 
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Gollywomper said:
I spoke with an oils rep years ago. The API rating ensures all oils meet the rating. It does NOT ensure all oils are equal be any means. Different additives. Some oils exceed the specific rating. Who knows the truth. If you search and compare oil test results you will see the WalMart brand may not be as good as Brand X. I run a high mileage oil with Power Punch additive. Seems to quiet down the 2.5 nicely.
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Walmart's oil may or may not be as good as Brand X, that is for sure. NAPA's oil is as good as Valvoline because Valvoline makes NAPA's oil. Which just goes to say that a store brand oil is not necessarily a worse choice than a major brand.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Walmart's oil may or may not be as good as Brand X, that is for sure. NAPA's oil is as good as Valvoline because Valvoline makes NAPA's oil. Which just goes to say that a store brand oil is not necessarily a worse choice than a major brand.
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Agreed. For my piece of mind I use a name brand high mileage oil plus 1qt of power punch. Oil gets changed beginning of every summer needed or not. I also use napa gold filters. Others may be fine too.
 
Mich2020 said:
After all this discussion, I am not sure what to believe. But I do know this, people are passionate about their oil!!
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True that!!!!!! As long as it meets specs for your engine I think your good to go. Lol.
Marketing at its finest.
As long as what I use keeps my engine running I will think it’s the best. If I have an engine failure I will surely blame it on the crap I have been using. Lmao.
 
I've not experienced an engine failure due to the oil I used. I have had an oil pump fail and take out my engine though.
 
Gollywomper said:
I spoke with an oils rep years ago. The API rating ensures all oils meet the rating. It does NOT ensure all oils are equal be any means. Different additives. Some oils exceed the specific rating. Who knows the truth. If you search and compare oil test results you will see the WalMart brand may not be as good as Brand X. I run a high mileage oil with Power Punch additive. Seems to quiet down the 2.5 nicely.
Click to expand...
This is how I came across, half of my information as well, and yes the API rating ensures that all oils meet a specific specifications, thus some may have a few herbs and spices others don't, however In 2004, the API specification SM was put into place. The maximum zinc allowed was reduced to improve the life of catalytic converters, but in turn proved disastrous for older cars. Zinc is essential for flat tappet cams and lifters for wear protection, and thus many orders cars met there demise to the new standards. almost ALL big brand and box store oils will meets SM and SN specifications.

In the end here, while I did have my A1 and A8 certs (among others), and have built more than a few engines, I was a independent general repair with focus on Jeep and BMW. I was not an machinist or an Engine builder by trade, thus the information I have provided may be up to dispute with some one more knowledgeable than I, but that is what I know.

just to be thorough here API SN oil should be safe for jeep 4.0l, but only time will tell. A ZDP or ZDDP additive may be better in the long run, but only time will tell.

API OIL.gif
 
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