nmlss2005

Uh, Chuck - I talked to that distributor as late as last week. They said they only have 15W50. If you know differently, could you help me talk to them? I'd like the 5W50...

TT Surgeon

Strangely enough I found cases of it at BJ's in Woodbury this Summer, now they have nothing.

Chuck Jones

NMISS: I'll give them another call....I was very specific...they had it in quarts and I made them double check that it was 5W-50....they also had the Delvac 75W-90 tranny oil for the TT...which was also hard to find.

I'll give them a call tomorrow....my apologies if this turns out to be a BS deal. I guess I should have driven down there a couple months ago when they said they had it. It's only about an hour from my house.

Chuck

nmlss2005

Chuck, no apologies needed: you already went out of your way to do the community a favour and, if nothing else, I owe you thanks. The phone call with the people at the distributor was peculiar: they had no record of a 'Porsche group' and while they initially said they had the 5W50, when I told them to go check they said 'oh sorry, we only have the 15W50 it turns out'.

Chuck Jones

MMLSS: I just got off he phone with Tony at :

distributors serve your state.
DISTRIBUTOR ADDRESS PHONE FAX
E R Vine & Sons
2825 Railroad Rd.
Ceres, CA 95307
209-537-0723
209-537-0723 209-537-1402

And he went into the back warehouse and confirmed that they have a WHOLE PALLET of the Mobil 1 5 W-50. He also apologized for whoever it was you talked to and said that they've shipped out a bunch of this viscosity to the Porsche Club guys in Arizona....so when you talk to them, ask for Monty or his backup Tony...and they'll know who you are and where to look.

Sorry for the mixup....but obviously you spoke with someone who didn't know their own product line or know about the deal I had set up with the "Porsche Club". The costs for a six-pak of the 5W-50 runs about $32-35 per six pak depending upon the current price of oil per barrel....but that's still only about $6 or so a quart.

I'm going to switch next go-round....by then it'll be approaching summertime in the Sacramento Valley with temps typically hitting the high 90 to low 100's.

Regards,

Chuck

Chuck Jones

NMLSS:

I'm thinking that I'm going to take a run down there and buy up about 24 quarts or so....that way I will always have some on hand if folks need some but can't find it....the only problem is going to be shipping it since it's technically a hazardous waste item....so I dont know what sort of problems I might encounter if I tried to get it to you.....they ship it, so I should be able to ship it the same way. I bought the Delvac 75-90 tranny fluid from some outfit back east and they charged me $42 a gallon plus shipping.....these folks only charge $26 a gallon and I could have picked it up!! It appears that their prices are better than anything else I've been able to find.

Give them a call and talk to Tony or Monty and if you have any problems, just PM me and I'll go pick some up and ship it to you.

Best regards,

Chuck

nmlss2005

Ooops, sorry, I didn't notice you answered until today.
Indeed, those are the people I called: I talked to a very nice lady who self-evidently wasn't quite clear on what was going on.
Thanks for going through the trouble: I will call them first to see if I can keep the inconvenience to a minimum. Tony or Monty it will be. I guess I'll get 3 six packs - that should last me for two oil changes. I wonder - do we know how long oil actually keeps, on a shelf? I'd have to imagine that after a certain amount of time it would start degrading, I wonder how long that is.
The reason I ask is that it appears that 5W50 will be going away outright in the (relatively) near future. If that is so, I'll stock up (at 10 litres per car per year, I'll need a warehouse....)

D_Nyholm

I finally found some yesterday at my local NAPA Auto parts. I went to walmart, pep boys, advance auto, autozone, kmart, and costco and none of them had it. Napa was charging $7.99/quart and i picked up the last 12 quarts that they had to be sure i had some on hand. Then i'll maybe order some online or ask Walmart to get some in for me to save a few dollars.

Chuck Jones

I tried asking WalMart to carry it and they said there wasn't enough call for it to merit ordering it as a regularly stocked item. You must have hit a store that had just a bit on hand. I'd be surprised if they continued to carry it unless you know the department manager who orders......they do carry fairly good quantities of the 0-40.

pl

autozone, they are running special now, 5 qtr you get a free m1 oil filter

D_Nyholm

Unfortunately the local Autozone doesn't carry it around here...

nmlss2005

I gave them a call, they'll get back to me with shipping costs etc.
I have another question though: I was under the (evidently mistaken) impression that Mobil1 5W50 *could not be sold* in the US any more due to its zinc content. From the posts here, it seems otherwise?

Kevin

I don't think that the 5W50 is in current production. What we are buying is NewOldStock... Buy it while you can.

MitchW

Is the M1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W40 the M1 5W40 everyone buys? I was wondering if the "Diesel" made it formulated differently than for gasoline engines.

nmlss2005

I'm trying! I'm trying! I hope I'll succeed.
Mitch, I would not use 5W40 - if you're going to use a 40-weight, as wross says take the benefit of the 0 cold weight to prevent cold engine/startup wear.
Wross, btw, I'm with you all the way on the startup wear, I agree that it's probably the most significant wear factor any modern combustion engine has to face. My concern is that if one starts... driving a little seriously, the 40 weight will not suffice. Kevin seemed to agree with me last I talked to him.
EDIT: no, not another viscosity discussion because my mind is made up .