I'm not sure what forum to put this in...but wanted to ask if anyone else has ever noticed the phenomenon of Mobil 1 running hotter than regular oil?

I built a 383 a couple years ago and ran regular oil the first summer. Never noticed really high oil temps except when beating on the car. Oil would run about 180 or so and got to 275 or so on the dyno one hot day after 4 or 5 pulls.

This summer, I switched to Mobil 1 10W30. The oil temps on a normal 85^ day runs 230..and will creep up to 275 when I'm just driving it hard.

Seems there is about a 50^ swing between the two....

 

Can't say I've noticed it......I switched from Mobil 1 Syn 10w30 w/ GM EOS or BG MOA to Rotella 10w30 full time. Done it to our Camaro and Colorado- no noticeable change either way.

Are you're coolant temps the same with both?

 

Coolant temps ride at 190-200 pretty constant. I have a oil temp gauge so I can keep an eye on it, thats how I noticed the swing.

 

more heat must mean more friction ehy?

stick with dino

 

so many variables to consider here...

1.) your gauge or temp sender could be failing, the wiring between the sender and gauge could be corroded (even inside the insulation where you can't see it)

2.) was there gunk/deposit on the temp sender that was cleaned off with the new better oil, so now your getting more accurate readings (I doubt this one but your never know)

3.) oil cooler plugged? blocked? The synth oil could have broken loose some gunk and clogged something up

4.) has your tune changed? when was the last time you tuned the car?while the coolant temp is pretty much the same as normal, it's regulated by the thermostat, the motor may be running hotter causing hotter oil temps, while the thermostat is remaining open/more open allowing the coolant temp to be pretty much normal.

5.) did you change weight of oil when you made the switch to synthetic?

Synthetic oil having MORE friction than dino oil is a ridiculous statement...

If the higher temps are just from switching oil thats interesting, try going back to your old oil and see if temps drop back down. Or try a different synth oil

 

Now that you mention it...I hadn't thought about that. Last year I ran a 160 thermostat and went to a 190 this year. Thats probably it.

No oil cooler on my car, new engine as of 18 mos ago. May try going back to dino oil next year for a while just to see what it does....although I'm leaning toward just putting a oil cooler on it to keep the temps down.

Never thought about the anti-mobil-1 folks coming out on this thread....not what I intended.

 

My apologies if my statement was taken as anti-Mobil- it was NOT intended that way.

I switched our Camaro over to it due to having to track down MOA or EOS at EVERY oil change to prevent wiping a lobe. Rotella oil has ZDDP in it, which was removed from both dino and syn oils a few years back. Lack of this additive is hard (read: wiped cam lobes) on flat tappet cams. I broke the cam in on it, and couldn't see any reason not to switch back, especially after factoring time and savings.

I did our Colorado only because she sat for almost 5 months waiting for me to rebuild the tranny, and even though the only oil that has ever graced her crankcase is Mobil 1 5w30 syn, I wanted to give her a good cleaning inside.

We have 4 vehicles- 3 of which take 6.5-8qts each at every change. It was also a decision made financially at the time when 4 vehicles came due for oil changes, 2 were due for tags, and I had to put a transmission in one.