Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

[Lostfisher]

I am posting this in regards to another post on this site under a different thread. One of the guys stated that pensoil was also referred to as "yellow death". I use pensoil and it seems just fine to me but i really havent looked into it all that much to determine whether or not it it is good to use. What are ur guys opinions about the pensoil 2 stroke oil. Im sure it does not compare to some of the synthetics but is it really that bad to be referred to as YellowDeath?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Someone probably blew up an engine and blamed it on the oil. Chances are very high that the oil had absolutely nothing to do with the failure. It's stories like these that go from one uniformed individual to another and by the time you get the story it doesn't resemble the original problem. I've used virtually every common TCW-3 two stroke oil and they all work well or they would not be able to be rated TCW-3.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Been running PennZoil synthetic in a high performance V6 for several years. I'm pleased with it.

Back in the old days of Pit run blended motor oils, PennZoil had a very highy paraffinic formula, and it used to sludge up the old cold running engines of the 50's and 60's. That's probably the source of the tale. When's the last time you ran 30W non-detergent in any engine?

 

[5150abf]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

I have never heard anything bad about it, Silvertip is probably right, the guy had an engine failure and blamed the oil.

Oil is oil and I don't think there is really any "bad" ones out there as long as it is TCW3, I use Speedway branded oil in mine and haven't had any problems, don't have a clue who makes it but I am sure it isn't Speedway.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Does it stand to reason that Penzoil, who's been in business for a really, really, long time knowingly put a product on the market that is so destructive?
They're still in business, they'd be long gone if their product were that bad.
They'd go broke paying for engines.
There are several of these stories floating around, most of them are just baseless accusations, that don't pass the smell test.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Will it blow your motor outright, probably not. Is the best oil to run in any given motor. You'll never know unless you try.

In my case, a guy gave me a case of Penn Premium Plus last spring. He said his twin Yammi 175 HDPI didn't like it. Figured I?d try it in my Evinrude 200HP. Put 3 gallons of it in the oil tank the night before a tournament. The next day we were having all kinds of problems with the motor loading up while trolling. It was loading up to the point that I had spent oil running out the exhaust ports. Not good when you?re trolling in excess of 9 hours a day.

I drained what was left out of the tank and refilled it with XD50 when we got back to the dock. My old 15 hp Johnson doesn?t seem to mind it so I?ll use the remaining 3 gallons in it.

 

[sasto]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Several years ago when I had an outboard I started using Pennzoil. After a little over 6 months the Merc locked up. Was it the oil? Don't think so. Was it the over 3000 rough hours on the motor? Mechanic and I think so.

Silvertip has a good point...as do the others.

 

[restornator]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

there isn't one outboard designed to run at idle for 9 hours, but keep blaming the oil.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

When I was a teenager and knew everything, back when you could work on your cars, I was told that Pennzoil comes from wells in Pennsylvania and has a higher sulphur content from the deposits there than does other oil from Texas, for example, and was therefore bad for your engine.
Now that I'm older and wiser, I don't believe the stuff I used to know as fact!

 

[dwco5051]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

When I was a teenager and knew everything, back when you could work on your cars, I was told that Pennzoil comes from wells in Pennsylvania and has a higher sulphur content from the deposits there than does other oil from Texas, for example, and was therefore bad for your engine.
Now that I'm older and wiser, I don't believe the stuff I used to know as fact!

Back in those days I remember being told that Pennsylvania oils were paraffin based and Texas oils were asphalt based so which did you want in your engine, wax or tar Almost all non-synthetic lubricating oils sold today are blends and the bad stuff is taken out during the refining process. No company would be still in business if their oil caused instant engine destruction.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

there isn't one outboard designed to run at idle for 9 hours, but keep blaming the oil.

That's funny, I do it 300 to 400 hours a year as do the thousands of other guys that troll for Stripers up and down the East Coast using outboards.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

true but do you idle 9 hours straight, or do some "burn off" runs? Or in the summer, "cool off" runs? PLus your runs to and from the fishing grounds help.

 

[tony edwards]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

dont know how it is now, but when an engine manufacturer designs an engine, they give chemical engineers the list of different metals used in the production of that engine. the engineers develop a chemical package for that engine. then the manufacturer takes bids on the production of the oil with that chemical package which is usually patented by manufacturer. the oil company can manufacture oil without this chemical package in it. just because it says tcw3, dont mean it has all the necessary chemicals in it to protect the internals of your engine over the long term. it could be produced by any oil company, but the oil company brands cannot contain this chemical package. for the most part, i would use the engine manufacturers brand. if you want to save a few bucks on oil, dont get mad when you have to replace a powerhead. lets see..... cost of powerhead and labor compared to savings on oil? u be the judge.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

true but do you idle 9 hours straight, or do some "burn off" runs? Or in the summer, "cool off" runs? PLus your runs to and from the fishing grounds help.

It takes me close to 1/2 hour to get the boards out and set the spread. I'm not too interested in spending the better part of an hour to pull the spread then redeploying to go on a "burn off" run. Its easier to use an oil that gets along with my motor.

MSSA tournament 2 weeks ago. Ran 15 miles down Bay. Had the lines in the water at 6:00 am. Pulled the lines at 3:00 pm and ran back up Bay for weigh in. Pretty typical day for me. Average probably 7 hours a day on the troll during Striper season. Seven days a week, if the weather cooperates

The run to and from blows it out pretty well. It's the misses and smoke on the troll that gets annoying after a while.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

From what I remember DH really likes Pennzoil now.


I had the same yellow death response from a couple of old time OMC mechanics when they saw the gallon of Pennzoil in my boat. It appears that at some time in the distant past Pennzoil had a product on the market that left ash deposits in the combustion chamber, or at least something similar to that, and some engines had problems. That oil is in no way the same as what's currently on the market.

Its kind of like saying all J/E's are bad because they used an electric shift gear case at one time, or that all Yamaha, Suzuki and Hondas are bad because they had some corrosion issues when they first came out.

 

[Lostfisher]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Personally I like the pensoil I have not had a problem with it. but i dont boat around with it 5 days a week, and I really have not used anything to compare it to though.

 

[Frank Acampora]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Uh, Tony? Not worth arguing about---go search past posts on TCW-3 oil. Like a** h*les, everyone has one (an opinion on this subject.)

 

[j_martin]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Back in those days I remember being told that Pennsylvania oils were paraffin based and Texas oils were asphalt based so which did you want in your engine, wax or tar Almost all non-synthetic lubricating oils sold today are blends and the bad stuff is taken out during the refining process. No company would be still in business if their oil caused instant engine destruction.

Well, I actually wrenched on a lot of those old motors in the 60's and 70's. If a motor wasn't warmed up well in this snowy climate moisture would accumulate in the rocker covers, and some oils would then form a sludge from it that was really destructive. Others wouldn't be so bad.

Engines and oils have changed a lot since then.
My a** H**e
John

 

[1fishbone]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

I think it's an old myth...carried over from the 60's.
Pennzoil 'yellow death' and 'Quakerbake' were not the best oil on the market.

Times have changed along with technology.
New oils are blended, engineering and new internal materials are have also improved.

Outboards or my Harleys, I use the engine manufacturers brand.

My 4 strokers, cars, trucks or lawn mowers, I use Valvoline.
(I can't get over the Quakerbake let down!)

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Pensoil AKA "yellowdeath"?

Since everyone had provided opinions, I need to provide a fact. The Pennzoil is the best, since when mixed at 50::1 the fuel looks a lot like seawater, with it's beautiful light green color.