Well, Mobil is revamping the Mobil-1 line. It now includes a top-tier selection called "Extended Performance" that they guarantee (look for the weasel words...) will perform for 15,000 miles. There is also a traditional-looking line of M1 oils, as well as a couple blend lines. And a new series of oil filters. Wow. Oh yeah, sexy new bottles too.

They have a new website that describes all this: Click Here
If you're an oil nut, and you have other important things you need to get done, don't even think about it. . .

 

Wow, 36 percent more anti-wear additives and 37 percent more cleaning agents compared to the current Mobil 1. Sounds impressive -- I wonder how much it is going to cost and when it will be available.

 

Hmmm, going on the site now. I still think I am going to use Amsoil when I move to synthetic. Will stick with the Mobil 1 filter, it is simply the best out there no matter how much it costs.

 

I noticed the last time I was in Wally World that the 5 qt jugs of Mobil 1 had gone up in price from ~$19.XX to ~$22.XX. I wonder if that reflects the added ingredients, or if Mobil is just trying to fatten their margins.

 

from the faq
I've noticed that Mobil 1 has a lighter shade than usual. What is the reason for this change? Will it affect Mobil 1 performance?

In the summer of 2004, we improved one of Mobil 1's additives, which resulted in a slight color change. Rest assured that this change in color will have no effect on Mobil 1's outstanding performance. All versions of a specific Mobil 1 product - prior to and following the color change - can be mixed without any effect on product quality or performance.

 

That's the power of marketing to you. I'd wait and see what the oil analyses say versus the current M1. It won't be long until they start comparing the two.

 

from BITOG - one of the most expensive ingredient(s) in oil? you guess ....

it's the coloring they add to oil, base oil is actually CLEAR like water!

 

The current M1 oil is good for well over 10k miles anyway. I don't think we're getting anything revolutionary here.

 

I agree. I think it's much more evolutionary than revolutionary. And of course, there's still the question of how many folks are really going to push the stuff out to 15k even if they have a vehicle-operational combo that justifies it. Not many, I suspect. But it will be interesting nevertheless to see the VOAs and UOAs on this stuff.

 

Do you guys/gals favor Mob1 over Castrol and the like? If so, and I use Castrol 1w50, would you recommend me changing to Mob1 1w50? I'm really looking to take extreme care of my car, so in 150K, she still runs like new.

 

Why do you run 1w50?

 

I never heard of 1w50 being sold in stores....

 

Do you mean 5w-50 (a Castrol Syntec grade), 15w-50 (a Mobil-1 grade which I've never seen sold by Castrol), 10w-50 (a rarity I've heard of but never seen; Castrol does make a 10w-60 for the BMW M series), or something else? In almost 30 years of oil shopping, I've never come across a "1w-50."

 

yeah sorry,10w50... I see it in every store around here. I've run 20/50 in my Range Rover and VW. What should I be running in the Maxima?

 

Read your owner's manual.

 

Yup. I was there last weekend to grab a jug and they were all out. 5 quarts was only 2 dollars more though.

 

The 3.5 VQ calls for 5w30 and that's all you need IMO. With heavier oil, you are making the engine less efficient which could lower your gas mileage also.

 

And a thicker oil cannot get into those small crevices that thinner oil can

 

The manual for my 2004.5 G35 (also VQ35DE powered, of course) specifies three different oil grades: 5w-30, 10w-30, and 10w-40 too.
With the VQ, at least later ones, a 40 wt oil should be no problem at all.

 

so i'm curious to how they will handle this new warranty? can you imagine how many cons will be attempted?

"My KIA work great until your 15k oil passed 3001 miles. I always changed it at exactly 3000, now you owe me a new engine."

Mobile knew the OG syn lasted longer, but would not warrant it suggesting to follow manuf. recommendations. So why the change of heart? $$ I guess, but they sure are risking getting scammed. The warranty does look thorough, but there are always loop-holes like " Some states do not allow the exclusion of or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you."

If the price is right, I'll get it over the normal blue cap when I switch. I guess we're buying a warranty? Since Nissan will surely "void" ours changing beyond 3750.

 

In reality, there's no such thing as "voiding" a warranty. Under the Moss-Magnuson Warranty Act (governs new car wtys in the US), if the car maker wants to deny a claim for repairs under the wty, the car maker must prove that you, or some factor other than a manufacturing defect, caused the problem. So, regardless of the length of OCIs you're running, if there's a failure, they have to prove specifically that your exceeding the recommended mileage caused the failure. I is NOT enough for them to demand you OC receipts and then stand back and say, "this one's on you." Of course, most folks don't know this. . . If taken to court without specific proof of your fault, they loose. On the other hand, if you put a massive boost turbo on your engine, use regular gas, and it blows up, it will be easy for them to win the denial.

But here's the key thing to remember, in both cases, your wty is NOT VOIDED. Claims are examined by themselves. So, if you now have a new engine, that you bought, after the turbo episode, and later your door handle falls off because of faulty assembly, that would still be covered under the wty.

Don't let dealers BS you with that famous ". . .will void your warranty" nonsense.

 

3.5's have a beefier oil pump than the 3 liters so it should be fine.

 

Yeah, I see that. I'm not sure what they put in my car. It was Castrol, and I hope it was 10w30. Not sure what I was talking about with the 10w/50

 

My car didn't come with a owner's manual.

 

Download it. http://www.nissan-techinfo.com/nissan/

 

^ Thank you

 

Check out bobistheoilguy.com (BITOG). If you are running syn, than just about any weight will perform better than dino oil. But the owners manual is king if you are a stickler.

I personally run M1 0W-40. I like the 0W for the cold starts. Make your own conclusions after viewing BITOG.

 

10w50 is an unnecessarily wide viscosity range. Especially in Georgia. You really should be using something like a 5W30.

 

I second that. Try BITOG, you'll like it. I've been a member over there for almost a year myself, and it's maybe the most informative web site I've ever found (this one's right up there too, of course...). After I've run through my huge stock of German Castrol, which I'd never have discovered without BITOG, I plan to try the M1 0W-40 myself.

 

Although you should be fine because you are using a synthetic, I don't see why you need to run a 0w40. That is a pretty large viscosity range there. It just means the oil has to contain that much more additives to get to act like a 0 and 40 weight. Again, in FL, I really don't see any particular need for a 0 wt. Hell a 5w would be fine, as would a 10w.

 

Here are my thoughts on this. First, yes, I do live in Florida, but the part of the state where I am -- Pensacola, last stop before Alabama -- hardly fits the "Florida" stereotype. In fact, we sometimes refer to the area as "LA", a sure way to tell who's really an outsider. They have no idea that when we say "LA", we mean "lower Alabama." Of course, North Florida is hardly like North Dakota, but we do see enough below freezing mornings that it's worth considering, IMO, when selecting oils. Yes, I agree that I would probably be fine using either a 5w or a 10w syn, but I'm shooting for optimum, versus acceptable.

Second, in the world of syns, oil makers can blend relatively wide-range multi-grades without resort to the infamous viscosity index improvers (VIIs) that have become almost legendary for causing trouble (sludge) in mineral oils. Instead, the base stocks, especially when carefully combined, produce fluids that achieve multi-grade effect without resort to much, if any, VIIs. As an example, the only Redline product that contains any VIIs is their 5w-40 grade, and apparently, it gets a pretty low dose. I don't have specific info on the M1 0w-40, but I've seen several UOAs in which it was used for relatively long durations without evidence of breakdown or sludge formation. From BITOG, here's a UOA from a Porsche Cayenne with almost 20k miles on mostly M10w-40 (Link). This is the same one I posted in the "break-in" stickie, above. As you can see, the wear metals are a bit high, but with insolubles at only 0.3%, there's nothing bad going on otherwise.

Third, why a 40 wt? Having studied a large number of UOAs (my own and others), I'm coming to believe that the High Temp/High Shear Viscosity (HT/HS) is more important than the basic viscosity number itself. Unfortunately, most of the 30 wt oils, syns included, have HTHS numbers below what I've decided to shoot for (3.5, whereas the M1 30s are around 3.0, except 10w-30, which is about 3.2). Also, there's a guy over on BITOG who has been getting high wear in his VQ35 being fed M1 5w-30 (yes, I know, he's only one guy, but his results have me concerned anyway). Right now, I'm using the German Castrol Syntec (not the US made phonysyn stuff), which is a 0w-30, but has a 3.5 HTHS. So far, so good, but alas, there's question about whether Castrol will continue to import the stuff. Hence, my interest in M1 0w-40, with its higher HTHS.

My next project is to dig deeper into the Maxima.org spreadsheet and see if I can extract any M1 30 wt trends, good or bad. Thanks for the input.