Quality of proline engine oil

Hi

There is a special going on at Pep Boys for 5 qtz Pro Line oil and ProLine filter for just $ 9.95. Don’t know the quality of Proline oil - have 3 car which needs oil change soon

Please advise is proline oil good/okay or not good



Thanks

Ash

If it has the API seal of approval I don’t see any quality problems.

Yes - it should have API seal of approval - without that it is not legal to sell I guess. The Proline oil filter is made by the same company which makes Purolator Oil Filters - so should be fine.

I’m almost certain that Proline oil comes from a major refinery. If the oil has the correct viscosity and the API seal, it should be o.k. In fact, I would guess that oil that appears under the same label in different parts of the nation may be the product of two different oil companies. Some years back, Consumer Reports tested motor oils and the same label had different characteristics depending upon the part of the country where they bought the sample.

I knew a chemist that worked for a canning company. Canned peaches, for example, would have different major brand labels applied to cans going down the same line. In another part of the nation, a different company would put on the lable where my friend work. This saved on shipping costs. I would bet this same things happens with motor oil. All the quart containers are of the same size and shape. I think the best advice is to follow the owner’s manual in your car for the proper viscosity and type of oil (synthetic, non-synthetic) and buy the brand with the best price that meets the specifications.

Such a low price is either a promotion to get you in the shop so they can do other work on the car OR they use recycled oil and the cheapest filter possible. In any case, it is illegal to sell oil that does not meet the normal API and other ASTM tests. However, such cheap oils are only good for garden variety cars; BMWs, Volkswagens, Mercedes and others will need special oil and filters.

It’s OK for you Ford Taurus or Chevy cavalier.

It’s perfectly legal to sell non-API rated oil.

Is the $9.95 the price of an oil change with the Proline oil and Proline filter, or just the price for 5 quarts of oil and filter? If it is the latter and you change your own oil and filter, I don’t see a problem as long as the oil meets the specifications for your car and the filter is correct.

The $9.95 is just the filter and oil, and the ad shows an API seal on it.

I’m pretty sure PepBoys don’t own an Oil Refinery. As with ALL Generic oil it’s made by one of the Major brands. As long as it meets the API spec for your vehicle then it’s fine.

HI all there
Thanks for your replies - checked with my mechanic also an hour back - he is of the opinion that it will be better (for sure) than the oil one gets changed at wallmart or firestone etc. As MIKEinNH said - this oil must be made by one of the major oil refineries from whom most of the generic ones comes from.
Ash

Authoritative, or not, here is the latest info from bobistheoilguy.com about Proline:
“The Pro line oil and the QS oil both have a “G” on the bottom of the bottle. They both have the same type of date code cast into the bottom of the bottle as well. I’m assuming that they both come from the same plant.”

That would lead me to believe it is probably a Quaker State product, and I would have no problems using it if it is SL or SM rated oil.

As to being better than Firestone or Walmart bulk, in this neck of the woods, Walmart uses Pennzoil conventional bulk oil (yellow bottle retail) and Firestone stores were using Kendall branded bulk oils. I don’t believe there is a major difference in the oils, because I think they are all SM or SL rated. To me the API SM or SL classification is most important since those are fairly high standards to meet for oils, anyway.

Same plant doesn’t mean the same additive package. Generally the better additive packages are reserved for the name brands.

What’s molded on the bottle may or may not mean something-those bottles are molded elsewhere and shipped to the refinery.

Frankly we don’t hear of problems that have been caused by substandard oil. We do see problems because the wrong oil was used or it was not change or improperly changed (too much or too little) or someone did not tighten the filter or plug properly. Most of those problems seem to be traced to a quick oil change place.

Perfectly fine.

The truth is oil related problems which are pretty rare arise only in two ways

  1. Owner who over extends the change interval
  2. Poor engine design (VW 1.8T, Toyota engines early 2000’s) that beat up the oil

IMHO, making an engine last related to oil

  1. 90% of the battle is changing the oil on a regular basis at close to proper intervals
  2. 8% of battle using proper spec(easy)
  3. 2% is the type of oil used meaning brand/flavor and synthetic(if not needed) vs conventional