Oil: Mobil 1 vs. Motul
 

I'm trying to decide on which engine oil I should use for my 95 240sx and I'm a little lost. I've narrowed my choices down to Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w30 and Motul Synthetic 5w30. Now I know that Royal Purple can't be beat but I'm just curious as to which of the two above are better. Any input, positive or negative, is appreciated.
Thanks

Get what you can afford. For Motul, I assume you are looking at the 8100 and not the 300V. If it was the 300V, then that stuff is way better than the generic 5W30 Mobil 1 crap.

I never really knew the difference between the 8100 and 300V. I was just comparing the same weighted oil by brand. If I were to use the 8100, would it be better than using the Mobil 1?

Here's the oil analysis I did with Royal Purple... Of course, this is less meaningful because the sample was from a rotary engine.

http://www.vcmc.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=8072

I will submit a Motul 8100 sample when I get the time to pick up the sample kit.

Don't have the link handy anymore (but I'm sure there are plenty of tests out there) but this particular one had Mobil 1 coming in near the bottom of the pack. Motul was mid pack and Royal Purple came out near the top. The bargain pick was Valvoline semi synthetic. Very cheap but protected better than more expensive full synthetics.

Look at where the oil is produced. Anything that is from Europe is WAYYYY better than anything made in North America.

In fact, it wasn't too long ago when Mobil 1 was bought out by ??? (it's either Quaker state or Castrol, can't remember) and then they changed their formula. IIRC, the 5W40 was the last of the old formula stuff, but that was a few years ago.

Motul 8100 is synthetic but the 300V oil is higher caliber oil than the 8100.

That being said, some of the "synthetic" oil available in the market is just highly processed dino oil, like Castrol Syntec.

There's definately a lot of info available on the net to back up what I said.

http://www.autoindustriya.com/talkbo...Btopic=20962.0

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3741868

Nothing official but a lot of "testimony"

there's some other stuff available on the net.

As for me, after switching to Motul 8100 and 300V, I've noticed the fuel economy on my S2000 went from 380 km per tank to over 430 per taknk. And this is on old old plugs. Just oil change is the only difference.
And the increase in fuel economy lasted the full 5000 km's, not just the first few tanks after the oil change.

Hmm interesting stuff here, I think I'm going to try some royal purple 5w30. It's a bit pricey but I'm willing to try almost anything once.

if u r talking about the "engine oil pressure test"
forget about it

its just a marketing tool
or
it should called the best engine oil to use in manual tranny :haha:

Motul 8100 is Ester based oil (group 5 oil, I googled it LOL)
300V has Double Ester
only group 4 & 5 oils are true synthetic

Mobil 1, Castrol, Pennzoil etc 's synthetic are group 3 oil
-----------------------------------------------


years ago Mobil 1 used to use group 4 oil
& back then they had a lawsuit w/ Castrol
because Castrol used group 3 oil & claimed it synthetic
the lawyer played around the word "synthetic" & Castrol won the case
after that Mobil 1 do the same shit (so as other companies)
used group 3 oil & claimed it synthetic

there is alot details about the lawsuit
I'm sure u can google it

walmart in the states sellin the Royal Purple for 6.xx a quart. works out to less than 10 bucks cdn

Basically what it came down to was Castrol used a process where they refined regular dino oil and legally by definition, the oil could be called synthetic.
Mobil 1 was bought by Imperial Oil a few years back and so they changed their formula and did what Castrol did. If you look at the bottle, look at where the oil was made.

Any oil made in Europe will be pretty good.

Nope it was an independent test with a bearing put under load with each oil as the protectant. Then wear was checked and compared between brands. I dug up the article:

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

LOL

this is the marketing tool I'm talking about :D

If you look, one thing the "good" ones have in common is that they are $70+ for the 5 L bottle. All the other ones were between $30-40 per 5 L bottle.

Seems relatively logical to me to put a load on a bearing to test wear. How else would you do it aside from building identical engines, running them, and then pulling the internals to compare? Quite costly. Otherwise you get what's on the thread..."I like this oil because..." I'd like to see other alternatives for independent testing as I've also heard of shops running tests to find out for themselves.

when I first read the test, (2 years ago) I thought the same, it sound right
but when u think again

the Timken OK load test DOESN'T have the conditions to meet a real engine

heat is missing (they r doing the "load" test in room temperature)

oil pressure is missing

this test is only stressing how the oil behave under extreme pressure

crank bearing will have this kind of load
when you are blowing up the engine(because you lost oil pressure in a bearing)

on the other hand
Timken OK load test is great for manual tranny fluid or driveshaft grease
because the mtf & grease usually are just bathing there & trying to protect the gears or driveshaft bearing

If you really wanna know hows ur engine oil doing
send it out for a used oil analysis

Choice of brands of oil has negligible effects on the life / performance of the car at best.. assuming you are using the same grade and qualifications (eg if you have a VW model that requires 503.1 then get an brand and grade of oil that is qualified for 503.1). That's true especially for most of the drivers who use synthetic and changes oil once a year at/or 12k km. I think convenience / price is more important in this case.

Personally I use Mobil1 0W40.. I don't have any wear issues on any of my cars... even on my M3 since it is out of warranty, I don't really like to go down to BMW Store to pick up their 75 grade oil.

For those who don't know Blackstone labs sells prepaid testing kids.

i use mobil1 5w30 but i believe that motul 8100 is a better oil.

mobil 1 isn't a true synthetic, like what everyone else is stating it's a group 3 oil and in North America that is technically a synthetic. but i think i Europe it has to be a group4 or 5 oil to be considered Synthetic.

Motul is made in France as well and is a true synthetic as opposed to Mobil 1 which is made in Texas by Exxon/Esso.

but i think that Mobil 1 is like $10/L while 8100 is more like $14/L

i get my Mobil 1 free which is why i use it.

I just looked at my box of Mobil10w40 it is made in Germany but packaged in Canada. But these are the silly 1L boxes that MR Smith sells (not available at big box places like Walmart/ Crappy tire etc).

I know Castrol Syntec that VW people love the ones that is 503.1 qualified are made in Germany.

didn't know Mobil1 made 10w40 lol.

anyhow i think with Castrol they do make the VW approved oils. i think they're 50501 and 50302 i think. Hell most manufacturers use either castrol or Mobil1

ie
Chrysler, MB, GM, Nissan, Mitsubishi use Mobil1

then you have VAG, BMW that use Castrol. it's all preference really.

i want to be baller and start using Eneos lol.

i'd skip both the mobil and the motul. Shell rotella synthetic 5w40 or the esso xd3 0w40

I'm sure there are other people here using similar, maybe less known oil like the Shell (not that Shell isn't well known, but you know what I mean :p)

Not to take away from the OP's question... but it would be interesting to hear of any oils that people are using, that might be different from the norm (like the Mobil, Motul, etc)

i've used mobil1 5w30, 10w30, 0w40, 5w50, lubromoly 5w40, castrol syntec 5w40, motul 300v, shell rotella t syntehtic 5w40, esso xd3 0w40.

i personally like the shell the best for warmer temps and its cheap, and the esso during the winter which is also cheap.

the shell doesn't shear away and is my fave oil of choice. The mobil0w40 is nice and my 3rd fave, but it was useless in my motor after 3000kms and its a bit more expensive.

as for my setup i'm running a little over 300hp and 280ish torque at 16psi on a very hot running engine.

everyone's setup is different and every engine needs something different. I had burnoff issues with mobil , castrol, and lubromoly. the esso, shell, and motul oils worked well, but motul is just too much money on a street driven car.

Chopstick likes royal purple!!

it pours in purple, and it has smooth, moly metal! (^__^) b