Oil pressure scare today

Went to a ChamberCommerce breakfast today at Cameltop lodge and parked at a not too extreme angle, nose down. Came out 2 hours later and fired it up, OIL light came on and STAYED ON. Pulled to a level spot and shut it off, popped the hood and checked for a blown off Mobil-1 filter, checked dipstick, walked back to where I was parked look for oil. Everything checked so I fired up again and the light came on like on a normal startup then went out, no further problems. Any ideas, just changed it on sat, Mobil-1 10/30, Mobil-1 filter.
Scared the heck out of me. almost put that nice breakfast all over the dash board....

Are you sure the oil level was full? Sounds like you parked at an angle steep enough that the oil ran forward of the pickup and left you sucking air when you started up. Once you got to level ground the pump was able to get a prime.

I think its the Mobil 1 , change it out and run nothing but the big Q and you should have no more problems.

Regards
Chewy

Right, the big Q, gee, then I can filter the drained oil and make candles
Course the nice thing about Q is it makes the engine run quieter over time as the wax builds up

Parafin = Wax = Candles

Now that is funny Rich !!!!

How old is the oil filter ? Knowing you... it is almost brand new!
I would suspect the anti-drain back valve in the filter if this happened to anyone else.

I only put used filters on other peoples cars However, my garbage man asked me how often I change my Mobil-1 oil and I told him, 4-5,000mi, ever since then I notice he puts my 5 quart containers up front when he collects my garbage. he must like those 5 quart containers and he yelled at me for putting used anti-freeze in one. Asked me to only put my Mobil-1 in the mobil-1 bottles If what I think happened happend he must have been pissed.
The oil and filter were just changed. I'm going to limit my off roading for a while. No shortucuts home over the powerlines for me till I pick up another filter. Noticed something different about this Mobil-1 filter, all the other ones I have used I remember being white, this one is gray. At least I think they were white, gettin old. The K&N's I have been using are white but this last one I pulled off was a bear to remove, that stupid 1" bolt on the end started stripping, guess I need to find me a snapon truck for one of their good strap wrenches. I normally use one of those oil filter sockets on a 3/8 ratchet for the Mobil and Mopar filters but with the K&N you can't get one over the bolt thing they put on the end.
Eagles comment kind of worries me a bit, I've had my XJ at some pretty extreme angles both around here and a paragons pipeline. The thought of it sucking air thru the pickup really bothers me. That 6 quart pan should be plenty deep enough to cover almost any angle short of watching your tail lights go by overhead.
Once I change that filter I'm going to have to go back to the exact spot I was parked and see if it happens again, it was not real extreme, 1st gear held it parked with no EB set though it did take two hands to close the door when I got back in.

Not sure what to think-

The fact the lt did not go off is the clincher of course. Too bad no GAUGE!! A gauge will show many characteristics of the state of things a light will not. Could be your oil pressure is marginal to begin with and this threw in a little additional glitch that was enough to keep the light on? Could be the sending unit by total coincidence took that moment to screw up? I'd install a test gauge, and maybe arrange it so as to stay connected a while to keep a good eye on the state of things in normal use and maybe into hard use. Certanly do not see any connection with the great Mobile 1 oil...and the filter, they are great too. I use both of them (the larger M1-301) on my '98 5-spd and go 8k to 10k miles before changing out. The 7qt oil is still not dark and is still on the full mark when time to change. Have never seen a white Mobile 1 filter. Mine have always been that characteristic grey. Must have been old stock-

I love mobile 1 and mobile 1 filters - after my last experience with K&N airfilters, I wonder if their oil filters are as good as the mobile 1 filters.

As far as strap wrenches, I bought one at a Napa store about 25 years ago and it is still going strong. It is a square tube to fit a 1/2 inch drive and the strap looks like seat belt materal. It is nothing fancy but has worked on all but one oil filter; that one I ended up using a screw driver, visegrips, and hammer to get off.

Napa is still offering the same style of strap wrench. It does not look like very much, but don't be deceived.

Tom

Well if you change your oil on time you should have no problems w/ any major brand oil. My old man uses Quaker State and my grandfather as well..... both never had an internal engine problem. Matter of fact the body rots and falls away before the engine has even a tick. I ve seen my dad run cars 225K (avg) on V8s w/o a knock or ping, bad rod,. Yet I see guys running Mobil 1 changing lifters, valves, rebuilds?

I have an 87 Olds 307 daily driven w/ 190K on the motor NEVER been touched burns hardly any oil! Been filled w/ Quaker since day one!

Got a 92 XJ w/ 145K on it w/ piston slap in the cold starts, other than that runs well, filled w/ Quaker state since day one.

Just sold a 84 Crown Vic w/ 250K on it, never had an engine problem, Quaker State since day one, used less than a Quart in 3K miles when sold.

Now what where you saying about wax? lol ;-)


Lets not forget how many times Mobil 1 has been sued in the past for blowing up motors and how many times they re-worked their oil properties! ;-)

Regards
Chewy

When doing some serious angles it is not uncommon for you to loose oil pressure....in the dune buggy world I have known people who dump the oil light because it lights up so damn often.
If you havn't had the light come back on since the 'episode' I wouldn't spend a moment thinking about it.....not uncommon and not a big deal. You were right in stopping you engine and checking it out though. The worse time to loose (or not gain) oil pressure is at start up. Could have been so many things that you just can't pinpoint, unless it becomes a common occurance.
BTW I have always run Valvoline and NAPA gold filters...and like the rest of you...have not had any internal parts go bad. And I am the kind that keeps my cars/trucks until they fall apart...around the engine!

Well. my son is just going to have to wait for those new shocks and me for putting in the hardwired phone kit for my new cell phone. I'm ordering a full cluster on monday, I have been somewhat content with the idiot light dash it came with but not after this. I have noticed that I've been a might tense the past few days and react to almost every reflection off the panel, engine misses, imagined misses and power losses, etc. I need more information, I want to see what temps, rpms, volts and pressure I'm running at. I will also put in a T fitting and run a mechanical Stewart warner on an outside lip mount I have just to keep the OEM gauge honest.

Rich,

The installation is straight forward and should take you about 40 mins. The ECM will take care of everything. No sensors or wires to connect.
My 98 came with idiot lights too.... so I purchased a used cluster on JU almost 2 years ago. The only negative part is that the cluster indicates 30K miles more than what I actually have.
Nice to have gauges and a tach instead of the red lights.

I have an old write up that I did a while back in '99 when I changed my cluster out. If you want I can send it, or better yet, how does one post it here for the tec section? It is in Office/Word format.

Eagle- do any of the tech articles still exist from the old days - '99 when we had the origional group up? If so, it would still be there.


Tom

Why Mobile 1?

A big reason is that it is recommended by some big time auto manufacturers....like Porsche, and Chev in the Corvette. The new Mitsubishi hot rod requires it specifically or voids warranty. I figure those engineers know way more than i do.

I too have used organic in the past with very good results. My '79 T/A Pont 400 has 278k miles and the pan has never been off and still carries 60 lbs oil pressure. Have never used Quaker State since waaaay back when based on Pennsylvania parafin crude. This is not the case any longer with any engine oils.

Clearances and materials used in modern day engines have changed the playing field some. I think synth fills the bill better now. Whatever the case, synthetic oil does flow better at cold temps and stays more stable at high. Back home in Va, a local Jeep club has done tests using Mobile 1 oil and filters in their 4.0s. Many have extended their oil services to 25k miles as a result.

25,000

I don't think I'd go 25K between oil.filter changes, you'd need an 8ft breaker bar to get that oil filter loose by then

I had bad experiences with quaker state and since then have never used it except as bar oil in my chain saw. They welched on two warranties and I have a long memory
Carnegie-Mellon actually did a very controlled test on syn vs organic with measured tolerances on new motors with measured tolerances after 50K.
The syn ones had no measureable wear, the organic run engines did have measureable wear and in some cases as I remember, quite a bit of it.
That said I put over 680,000mi on an 82 S-10, religous on oil and filter changes but when removing the intake to repair a leak I should have left alone the amount of gunk in that engine was unreal. I cleaned it as best I could and reassembled, must of missed some cause it plugged my oil pickup the next day. We pulled the motor, crank and replaced. It took me better than a half hour to clean the crud out of the pan in a parts tank. That engine was only run on valvoline or Sunoco or Cam3 [when I could afford it]. Back then I was still using Fram oil filters because the PX and close by auto store carried them and I was going to Fort Dix almost every other weekend to provide fire support to other units, how could I pass up an .89 cent filter. Around 89 or so I had a Fram filter blow off and two others that would not seal, leaked between the base and the can. Went to AC/Delco's and never looked back for a few hundred thousand more miles till I sold it.
All my others after that have only been run on Mobil-1. I would run it in my bike but it's too slippery for my Yamaha XS1100LH's wet clutch, Castrol Syntec works prefectly though, no clutch slippage which is why I don't run it in my XJ, it's not as slippery as Mobil-1

Those same engineers/companies were VOIDING warranties if the customer switched to mobil 1 right after buying it! that was ohh less than 5 years ago! Not to mention a favorite out of many a service writter is to blame full synth for many engine / tranny troubles.

As far as car makers saying it "has" to run on Mobil 1 or "should" only run mobil 1, 90 % $$$ talks and BS walks. Its a sponsorship plain and simple. You think Chevy put those "change w/ Mobil 1" stickers on the Corvette for free? dont think so.

Now the newer LEV motors from people like Honda / Acura running 5/20 and 10/20 oils I can understand the need for an oil that runs thin as water no matter the temp.... the tols. on those motors must be extremely tight, high rev, high heat ....but on anything made in Detriot? i cant see how anything they make requires anything hi tech

One of my problems w/ Mobil 1 is they dont take a stand on a change schd. There is no listing anywhere on their website as to when you should change it out. But all their ads show how well it last thousands of miles past conventional oils. A call made to Mobil had a call taker dancing all over the place w/ me....

When should I change this oil out?
"Ahhh well it is best to follow the mfg specs"

Conv. oil @$1 per qt will handle 3K w/ no sweat...why spend 5X that on mobil 1? " ahhh well it will last longer and doesnt break down like conv oil"

Ok so again will you say I can run 7500 miles on one change of Mobil1? " No I cant say that"

Isnt it true that no matter the oil, harmful acids/dirt start to build up rapidly after 3K on any oil synth, or convo, and this lead to the 3K change cycle? " well sorta , yes"

So I see no benefit in running a product that cost 5X the norm from a company that cant make any claims. Like I said before, I come from a family that keeps cars in high miles, none of them have ever had an engine problem... my dad and gradfather ran Quaker state back in the 50-60's when it was said to be so bad, none of them had a single problem and all of their cars turned well over 100K, back then that was a lot of miles. I think more of the problem was people adding STP motor oil treaters than anything else...Everyone back then used that junk and people still do, its thick as cold honey.

Anyhow, it wasnt long ago i did my rear main seal , after 140K the pan was clean as it could be, no dreaded sludge to be seen , did the valve covers, no sludge and all my breather tubes are dry or damn near, just pulled my plugs today w/ close to 150K and there is no sign of oil anywhere, plugs were in great shape and doesnt smoke a drop.

For my money I will change my Quaker State every 3k , heck could change it every 2k and come out ahead in the long run, and on a motor like the 4.0 have no problems.

Now if your runing a 15K motor and turing out 800+ HP , OK you may need something that runs $5 per qt. but short of that, i dont see it.

Back to Rich's post ;-) if your looking for true readings i would get an Autometer or something. the oil pressure senders in Jeeps arent that great, heck ive been through 3 of them in 150 they just go bad and loose their tols....after a while 20lbs slowly creeps to 40 you get the picture....place a new sender for $20 and its back to normal

Regards
Chewy

I think that once I have the idiot light panel out and replaced with the gauge model I will play with the idiot light one, once I order the used panel from marsh autoparts. I have a box full of assorted Phase III SW gagues, couple of old Sun and SW tachs. speedos and such, might just see what I can build while still retaining the factory panel and wiring, won't know till I get the old out.
Back when I had my 75/76 dodge van I bought a complete SW panel that replaced the stock dodge pod, the whole thing, while it was a bolt in the down side was having to replace ALL the senders with SW senders, except for the oil that needed a tube run.
As for 150K on plugs, man I thought I was pushing it with 90K
I was going to do the weekend maintenance program sat but between noon and 6pm we got 8" of rain, hail and a heck of a lot of our old white oaks removed by 60mph winds so that threw a damper on that project.
Today both kids were working so the wife and I took rare advantage of an empty house with no kids around, we cleaned the bathrooms, kitchen and living room, washed windows and did laundry.

5 quarts?? My jeep requires 6 quarts.

Dan

I buy my Mobil-1 in 5 quart containers from walmart when they have them in stock, generally pick up 6 at time and one case of bottles. One 5 quart container and one quart bottle.

Frankly i think it is wise for an oil manufacturer NOT to state when their oil should be changed!! I certantly do not want someone to be telling me when to do it!! To me it totally depends on the application.

I am figuring my 4.0 situation this way: 3.07 axle ratios and overdrive. That crank turns ~2200 rpm at 80. In other words not much. Road tractors years ago had their oil services based on crankshaft rotations. Is the best way. The wear and tear on the oil can best be determined in this way over all. I am figuring the crank in this 4.0 is not turning as much as others between services that have lower ratios. Also, with that M1-301 filter, mine takes a full 7 qts. That is pretty good capacity, again extending change intervals.

The sludge accumulation is a factor of the oil not being able to hold in suspension blow-by contaminants. Even after 8 to 10k miles on this Mobile 1 oil, it is still not dark...not at all. This tells me that most likely has not hit it's limit to hold what is necessary. The fact that is still on the full mark also tells me there is most likely very little blow-by.

I am aware the additive packages of oils do degrade over time, and i am taking a chance in that area letting mine go so long. But from what i have seen from personal experience and gained from others, i believe it to be a good valid risk.

On my little CRX, i only go 6k miles between changes on that. Only 3.8 qt cap and high revs through it's service life!! Just totally depends on the application-