Today I planned on doing the first oil change in my car after doing the 6. The front cooler was always leaking, so I had kept adding enough oil that kept it relatively clean... the leak was fixed, and I had driven it for another 1,000 or so miles, no big deal, oil is dirty, time to change it.

Get a Mahle Filter yesterday, figure I'll go and get a case of Brad Penn like I always do from VW Paradise here in San Marcos. Apperantly, they aren't selling it anymore because they have to buy it in 80 case lots from Brad Penn. Fair enough, that's not very economical for a small shop.

So I've been driving around all damn morning to 4 or 5 different auto parts stores to try and find enough Valvoline VR1 to fill up this engine... Not happening. I've ended up with 8 quarts of the stuff. Need 6 more.

So here I stand, 6 quarts of oil short, trying to do an oil change because with the local Brad Penn source nonexistant, I'm assuming everyone else who ran BP is buying up all the VR1 now.

Anyways, rant over... and for those of you local to me, be warned, VW Paradise no longer sells the good stuff, so don't drive all the way here only to find out they don't have any.

Just another case of a company loosing sight of its niche market and putting a screw to its faithful customers and distributors.

As for VR1, here on the Right Coast it's easy to find. I can ship you some, how about 80 cases?!

Brad Penn

Kendal GT with Liquid Titanium (my preference)

Royal Purple

Valvoline VR1

Some others I don't remember

I've mixed them all together at times and haven't lost an engine yet.

Same issue here in Ny I haven't been able to find any at my usual local place for the past 8 months . I guest that's the reason.

Try Amazon. Free shipping on orders on case lots.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_9...ad%20penn%20oil

Don't forget Joe Gibbs DT50
DT50LINK)

Try your local hotrod, v8, speed shop for brad penn. Those guys love the stuff. At first they laughed at me when I drove up in my 4 banger. Now they are glad to see me cause I buy about a case a month. I use it in two pre 90s Chevy trucks and 5 different 914's. I drive my car about 500 miles a week, so I change oil about once a month.

I buy Oil from Amazon by the Case

After some research, I started running this synthetic blend oil in both my teener and high-mileage truck, available at Wal-Mart for about $17 per 5qt jug:

http://mustangs.about.com/od/accessories/f...-State-Defy.htm

About Brad Penn, what can you recommend for a 1.8L F.I. for a SoCal weather?
Is it 20w-50?

thanks!

Why drive around when you can get it shipped to your door for the same price.

Brad Penn has never been easy to work with for a distributor. Back in 2002 when Charles and I first started dealing with them they'd only sell an entire tractor trailer load. We'd have to buy it and then split it up with others to be able to afford it. 80 cases has been the required purchase to be direct with American Refining Group for years, but thats a hell of a lot better than a whole truck load.

Lake Speed at Joe Gibbs is THE BEST oil development partner we've ever had, in every way. Listen to this Carcast with Lake and Adam Carolla to understand him a bit more. http://www.adamcarolla.com/CarCastBlog/201...eed-jr-audi-r8/

Because I can get it the day I need it to do an oil change... Car is a daily driver so often times things come up and I need to it that weekend, no time to order it.

I'm going to start looking into getting the GIbbs oil next time around Jake, or maybe Kendall, I think there's a race shop local that sells Kendall.

Same here except I also add a pint of Swepco oil improver.

Order it now and you will have it when you need it.

Kendall is just a generic oil today and has been for many years. Its no more special than anything else off the shelf, its just a brand of Conoco Phillips.

Brad Penn is the OLD Kendall, thats why the company is located on Kendall Avenue in BRADford PENNsylvania.

My niece is an engineer who works for Mobile. She says one of the most important things is to not mix oils. The additives are not always compatible. She said pick one and stay with it.

Absolutely, cross pollination leads to imbalances in the anti-wear package and even the base oils.

I agree to just buy a case of Brad Penn & put it in your garage for when you need it. Then when you get low just order another case. It really is that simple.

http://theoilwarehouse.com/?mainURL=/store...rmance_Oil.html


This is where I get my Brad Penn. $72.99 a case shipped to your front door.


Shoe

Rotella diesel oil
Shell product, easy to find
Fills the need with additives.

Really? We sell this stuff by the gallon at my marina....

Yup...
I can't remember the exact version, but I have a case in my front trunk of the 911.
Read the labels or search pelican....
Works fine, and you can get it just about anywhere...so that is why I went with it.
Rich

Rotella triple protection.

Used in both my 911 and all my type 4 motors, plenty of zinc.
Cj4 is the thing to look for on the oil.

I believe brad penn, BP, she'll, vR1, and amsoil all have oil that does the job.

again, I happen to like oil that I can actually find when I need it, and it don't have to order it.
I do buy a case, or a few of the one gallon containers, just cause I am lazy....
My issue is I never have oil ready when I really need it...so I shopped around for an oil I could use, buy, and find...

Totally disagree on the anti-wear package. If we were talking pre 2011 I'd be more in agreement.

An HTHS and UOA shows it very clearly and Visc has also changed. Rotella used to be the lazy way to success, but its not that easy anymore. Nothing with oil ever stays the same, except everything constantly changes.

Even Brad Penn changed in 2010, when they did that and didn't alert those working closely with them it pissed me off enough to walk away.

Shell is marketing their new CJ-4/SM oil as "Triple Protection," meaning it provides enhanced qualities for engine wear, soot control and engine cleanliness. Shell's Rotella website indicates that on-road testing confirms the new Triple Protection technology produces better anti-wear characteristics than their existing CI-4+ rated Rotella oil. This is achieved despite a lower zinc and phosphorus additive level as called for by the API CJ-4 specification. (The 15W-40 Rotella T with Triple Protection oil has approximately 1200 ppm of zinc and 1100 ppm phosphorus at the time of manufacture.)

Quoted from online.

Key Word:
Marketing

Believe nothing of what you hear and 1/2 of what you see. The product should be assumed guilty until proven innocent within the confines of the engine that interests you. They all respond differently.

Oohh an oil thread. Yay!

positively promoting your product or service, all while not spending time on negativity and bashing is the KEY to marketing.

Diesel engines actually have different wear mechanisms than gasoline engines. For example, soot control is much much more important and diesel engine than a gasoline engine. In a diesel engine, soot particles can create more wear than anything else. Accordingly the best way to reduce where in a diesel engine is through such control, which means more dispersant additives.

High-speed gasoline engines do not suffer from soot related wear.

The point here is that just because an oil is better for wear in a diesel engine, does not mean it is better for wear in high-speed gasoline engine applications.

Different engines. Different mode of wear, and different lubricant chemistry. Fact is it took Diesel oils longer to be impacted by lubricant changes than gasoline oils, but once it hit them they became even more compromised.

My Duramax Diesel has 180K miles on it and makes 505 RWHP on my chassis dyno (spinning tires) and is filled with Joe Gibbs DP40 Turbo Diesel oil.

That said, I don't sell a single product outside of a complete engine anymore, that includes oil. Thank goodness!

It really doesn't matter to me which oil is used and I would not have even posted if this thread hadn't been sent to me by the owner of one of my engines that saw it. He then wanted to run Rotella, even though it specifically states in my 80 page engine manual NOT to use this oil.

Hell, Maybe we should all be using Mil-L-23699 Turbine Engine oil? If its so cool to use a lubricant thats designed for a completely different application, might as well go straight to Jet engine oil!

I totally agree that you should not let your customers of your engines do anything that would void your guidelines...no question about it.

The overall lack of available oil for the rest of the pushrod community, not just aircooled, has sparked quite a bit of debate, and more than a few real world tests on both dyno's and lab results. These facts may support the decision, may not.

If I was to buy a custom motor from any engine builder, I would never question what they tell me with regards to upkeep and maintenance....that is what I would have paid for.

Certainly the customer that has to rely upon the builder and nothing else, if they are smart.

Rich

Wow, how did this turn into an oil quality debate....?

I was only ranting about the local availability of Brad Penn...
I ended up finding a FLAPS that had cases and cases of VR1, so I got that and was able to do my oil change.

Thanks for commenting on the oil availability though Jake, it's a bummer they make it such a pain on hobbyists.

Jake its MIL-PRF-23699 now it changed back in 08.

diesel oils aren't the solution they used to be
this is a moving target in regards to air cooled engines
the oil manufacturers are changing the target regularly..

anything that was good 2 years ago may or may not still work

I really don't fully trust the VR1 oils either
in fact if you look at actual analysis results... a particular weight of oil has different additives than another weight of the same brand

so while a 20/50 from one company might be ok
the same companies 10/40 is not

be careful out there people

Im a HPS fan of the RP
I don't really trust any of the big name manufactures at this point
rotella, valvolene, etc.