Pennzoil-Quaker State Company Releases Initial Report On Million-Mile Engine

    HOUSTON--Feb. 8, 2002--Regularly changing the oil every 3,000 miles contributed to keeping the engine of a 1995 pick up truck in near optimal condition even after a million miles of severe driving. This is the observation reached by researchers at Pennzoil-Quaker State Company's Technology Center in The Woodlands, Texas, following a detailed inspection and rating process performed on this million-mile engine.
    Pennzoil-Quaker State Company obtained the million-mile pick up truck in August 2001 from William White of Lawrenceville, Ga. Mr. White had driven his truck, a 1995 Chevrolet, approximately 800 miles per day while delivering newspapers to several cities in North Carolina and Tennessee. Every four workdays, Mr. White took his truck to a local fast lube, Lube 3000, to have his oil changed, always insisting on Pennzoil(R) brand motor oil.
    On Aug. 29, 2001, the truck's odometer turned over to 1,000,000 while driving into the Lube 3000 oil-change bay. Pennzoil-Quaker State Company officials were on site to congratulate Mr. White, and take possession of the million-mile truck in exchange for a new pick up. The million-mile truck was then transported to Pennzoil-Quaker State Company's technology center for study.
    "The million-mile truck engine is in excellent mechanical condition," said Jeffery Hsu, senior research engineer. "The engine exhibited very minimal wear considering that it was operational for more than one million miles." Of particular importance, "the million-mile engine is very clean in the category of sludge and varnish."

    Rating & Measurements:

    To rate and measure the million-mile engine for sludge, varnish and wear, CRC (Coordinating Research Council) rating practices were carried out utilizing CRC manuals 12, 14 and 16. The scale of rating is from 1-10, 10 being a part that has not been used and 9.9 being the highest score a clean part can be assigned. The sludge rating of all oil parts had an average of 9.33 with nothing lower than an 8.60, which were recorded on the valve covers. Wear measurements were carried out on applicable lubrication parts with four measurements observed per part and the average being recorded. When possible, the original specification measurements from the manufacturer were used to estimate wear. For example, the cylinder wall measurements averaged 4.001 inches versus the factory new cylinder wall specification of 3.9995 to 4.0025 inches. The wear was so minimal that an average of 11.9 percent of the original crosshatch honing marks were still present.

    Comments:

    The engine seems to be in excellent condition; both by visual rating for cleanliness and instrumentation measurements for wear. The condition of the engine is indicative of an engine that was well maintained with regular oil changes. This is evidenced by only trace amounts of sludge and the light coloration of varnish. Sludge is usually formed from harmful contaminations accumulating in used oil (fuel, moisture, and blow-by gases). Varnish coloring is associated with temperature; the darker the varnish coloring the more the oil has experienced high temperatures.
    Highway driving conditions are typically classified as "normal" driving; however, this vehicle was loaded with bulk papers. The driving cycle of approximately 800 miles a day kept the oil temperature in a very favorable condition where many of the contaminants could be boiled off. The owner's diligence in changing his truck's oil every four days or about 3200 miles provided the engine with fresh lubricant that protected moving parts from sludge accumulation and kept the varnish to a minimum.
    Pennzoil(R) brand products are manufactured and distributed by Pennzoil-Quaker State Company , a leading worldwide automotive consumer products company, marketing over 1,300 products with 20 leading brands in more than 90 countries. Jiffy Lube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, is the world's largest fast lube operator and franchiser. For more information about Pennzoil-Quaker State Company, visit its Web site at http://www.pennzoil-quakerstate.com/.