MACHINE HEAD said:
what is the difference between Mobil 1 oil and regular oil? What is the difference between a Mobil 1 filter and a regular filter? and do you buy Mobil 1 oil and filter at Mobil Gas station? Lastly, does Mobil1 oil last much longer than regular oil?
Here is some info on oils that you may find helpful:
All synthetics are not equal. The API has not come out and defined what is "synthetic", but rather, classified oils into five major groups.
Group I base oils are the least refined of all of the groups. They are usually a mix of different hydrocarbon chains with little or no uniformity. While some automotive oils use these stocks, they are generally used in less demanding applications.
Group II base oils are common in mineral based motor oils. They have fair to good performance in the areas of volatility, oxidation stability, wear prevention and flash/fire points. They have only fair performance in areas such as pour point and cold crank viscosity. Group II base stocks are what the majority of engine oils are made from. 3000 mile oil changes are the norm.
Group III base oils are subjected to the highest level of refining of all the mineral oil stocks. Although not chemically engineered, they offer improved performance in a wide range of areas as well as good molecular uniformity and stability. By definition they are considered a synthesized material and can be used in the production of synthetic and semi-synthetic lubricants. Group III is used in the vast majority of full synthetics or synthetic blends. They are superior to group I and II oils but still have limitations. Some formulations are designed for extended oil changes.
AMSOIL XL Motor Oils, Castrol Syntec and many others fall into this category.
Group IV are polyalphaolefins (PAO) which are a chemically engineered synthesized basestocks. PAOs offer excellent stability, molecular uniformity and performance over a wide range of lubricating properties.
AMSOIL SAE Synthetic Motor Oils and Mobil 1 primarily use group IV basestocks. PAO is a much more expensive basestock than the highly refined petroleum oil basestock of Group III.
Group V base oils are also chemically engineered stocks that do not full into any of the categories previously mentioned. Typical examples of group V stocks are Esters, polyglycols and silicone. Redline uses an ester basestock.
In the 90s, Mobil filed suit against Castrol for falsely advertising Syntec oil as synthetic, when in fact it contained a Group III, highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil, instead of a chemically synthesized (group IV or V) basestock. Due to the amount that the mineral oil had been chemically changed, the judge decided in Castrol's favor. As a result, any oil containing this highly hydroprocessed mineral (Dino) oil (currently called Group III basestock by the American Petroleum Institute) can market themselves as a synthetic oil. Since the original synthetic basestock (polyalphaolefin or PAO) is much more expensive than the Group III basestock, most of the oil blenders switched to the Group III basestock, which significantly increased their profit margins.
Oil filters are also not all alike. All oil filters are not made of the same filtration media. Some use paper media, some use a synthetic cellulose blend, some use a full synthetic media. How long they last varies. How well they flow varies. How well they filter impurities varies. How well they store impurities varies. In general, a filter that flows well, doesn't filter well and visa versa. For a race motor, higher flow is better. For a street driven car you intend on keeping a long time, filtration is probably more important. For a car like the GTO, a middle ground with above average flow and filtration should be considered. The Mobil 1 is a good filter, with good filtration and decent flow. The K&N flows better, but filters worse. The old AMSOIL SDF flowed better and filtered better than the Mobil 1 fitler. However, AMSOIL just released a new line of filters that flows well, but filters superbly, the
AMSOIL Ea Oil Filter (correct part number for the GTO is EAO32).
Some good info on filters can be found on this guy's site:
http://www.oilfilterstudy.com/
:cheers
