Has Mobil1 changed?

[Rob Andrews]

I think the big deal was that their flash point dropped.  I think I remeber
reading something like that on there...

> -----Original Message-----
> From: quattro-admin at audifans.com [mailto:quattro-admin at audifans.com]On
> Behalf Of Brett Dikeman
> Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 10:29 PM
> To: randrews at sbcglobal.net; quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: Has Mobil1 changed?
>
>
> At 6:16 PM -0500 4/29/02, Rob Andrews wrote:
>
> >http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=313674
> >Looks like it has :(
>
> Not really IMHO.
>
> The only real issue I saw(aside from people getting confused between
> the new BLEND and Mobil1, and the fact that  Mobil accidentally
> listed M1 as a semi-synthetic; I bet someone at Mobil got confused
> about M1 verusus the blend TOO) was that supposedly they changed base
> stocks, and a couple of specs and the pour-point.  Looking at a
> bottle of M1 10w30 that has been tucked away for at least 6 months,
> it lists a "pump point" of -49 degrees F.  The new bottle of 10w30
> w/SuperSyn lists a "pour point" of -49 degrees F; website says the
> cold pumping limit(same thing as pump point) is -42 degrees F.  The
> differences are probably because of the additive...
>
> There are also a few minor little changes....I'll summarize all that
> I noticed here.
>
> 					Old		New
> Pump point				-49		-42
> Pour Point				not marked	-49
> markings in SAE circle, "API Service"	SJ/CF		SL/CF
> "Exceeds API service" on label		SJ, SH/CF
> SL, SJ/CF
> Meets European ACEA...			A1/B1-98
> A1/B1&A5/B5
> GM certifications			GM4718M		GM4718M
> ILSAC(whatever that is)			ILSAC GF-2
> ILSAC GF-3
>
>
> Looks like they did a little mixing+matching etc with where specs are
> listed, mostly...and it looks like standards were updated(ILSAC GF-2
> versus ILSAC GF-3?  Sounds like a new version of the test/spec or
> something.)  I don't see anything major here.  Bunch of shifting
> around on the API service levels, not sure what's up with that...
>
> There's slightly different wording, too.
>
> Old:
> "[meets]...Japanese valve train wear and engine performance
> requirements of BMW, MB, VW, Porsche, Volvo."
>
> New:
> "[meets]....Japanese valvetrain wear requirements."
>
> ...then the new label, in the bullet list of features however, says
> "Also recommended for European and Japanese Vehicles"  Not quite the
> same as "meets specs for Volvo, MB, BMW, VW"...ooo, conspiracy
> theorists eat your hearts out!  Volvo, MB, BMW, VW yanked their
> approvals!
>
> But, wait, what's this?   Remember how Andrew Duane mentioned 0W-40
> is now recommended in the newer engines?  Well, guess what the
> website says under the specs for 0W-40 Mobil 1 w/Supersyn:
>
> "Meets ACEA A3/B3/B4-02 and the performance specifications of
> European automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW."
>
> EXACTLY the same phrasing as the old bottle of 10w30, except VW/Volvo
> aren't mentioned.  Mobil 1 just had to move the labelling because
> European manufacturers changed from 10w30 to 0w40...Japanese
> manufacturers didn't, hence they're still listed on the 10w30.
>
> What explains a lot of the shuffling around as far as the other specs
> go...is that they had to squeeze more stuff onto the new bottle
> label...comparing the two directly side to side, you can see someone
> tweaked the positions of various blocks of text...and the bullet
> lists are different for the most part as far as features go.
>
> Visually, they're slightly different...I did notice this when pouring
> it, that it seemed darker in color.  Doing my incredibly scientific
> test of putting both bottles under the deck lamp, caps off...the
> older stuff is much clearer, the translucent level strip shows more
> light.
>
> And, as proof that I've taken this REALLY too far, they smell
> different.  The old stuff has that characteristic M1 smell that,
> sadly, most listers could probably recognize.  The new stuff seemed
> to be missing that smell...sorta smelled like there was a teensy bit
> of denatured alcohol in it or something.
>
> I'd be willing to bet both are caused by this "Supersyn" additive.
>
> Both carry the same UPC symbol, but have different part numbers.
>
> My gut reaction is that I don't really appreciate them just adding
> some goofy additive to "my oil"...but in all reality, it'll probably
> be just fine.  So maybe they changed the stocks.  So maybe the pour
> and pump points have gone up slightly.  Big whoop-de-do :-)
>
> Brett
> --
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