I know, I know..Oil topics are beaten to death around here. BUt... :p

I was at WalMart today looking for something, and I went to the Auto section. WHile looking at the oil, I ran across an ACCEL branded oil. It was $1.24 a QUART. I took a closer look at the container, and it specifically stated that this oil was NOT to be used in cars NEWER than 1988. The container stated on the back that this oil was SF and EARLIER rated...and we know that current oil is rated at SM?, I think?

I couldn't resist cracking open the container to give it the smell test, and you know what? It had that almost gear oil "smell" that motor oil used to have, and it looked the way oil used to look too. This oil was NOT the ACCEL SAE 30 oil, it was a multi-viscosity 10W40 oil. The container WARNED not to use this oil in NEWER cars, as it is detrimental to current technology. It stated that it was for OLDER vehicles ONLY.

Anyone seen this oil or heard about it? For that price, and having an SE/SF specification, maybe this oil would do well for us flat tappet cam people? It might be a new oil to the market, because I looked at the Warren Oil website, and there is no info up for it yet.

I just searched the Accel website and there is no mention of any oil products. I did find a company based in Switzerland called Accel Energy AG, a mineral oil company.:confused:

Ha! Yea, I thought "Accel? Wait a second!" when I first saw it too. It's distributed by the company below....They DO have a SAE 30 oil with info, but this SF mult-vis oil is not up there yet, unfortunately. Like I said, the oil is a 10/40 oil that is SF and earlier rated..

http://www.wd-wpp.com/

At the current rate that oil sells for, $1.25 a quart should have been a tip off that something was wrong.


Rocky

i used that very oil to break in the new cam in my Monte this spring.
it definitely smelled and felt different than the clean oils we have grown accustomed to, and very much like what i remember oil being like 15 years ago..
another good source for SF rated oil is in the ATV section- i found some 10w-30 oil for ATV's that has an SF rating for a couple bucks a quart at Mills Fleet Farm. i forget what the brand is, however.

i used that very oil to break in the new cam in my Monte this spring.
it definitely smelled and felt different than the clean oils we have grown accustomed to, and very much like what i remember oil being like 15 years ago..
another good source for SF rated oil is in the ATV section- i found some 10w-30 oil for ATV's that has an SF rating for a couple bucks a quart at Mills Fleet Farm. i forget what the brand is, however.

..and I guess your Monte is still running fine, and the cam install went well, novaderrik :) ? Did you use the 10W40 or the SAE 30 oil to break in your cam? I am guessing the 10W40? LIke I said earlier, I also noticed a distinct "old school" smell to that oil when I popped the top off. It also had that translucent sort of look to it that oil used to have. If it works well for something as critical as a cam install, I can't see why it wouldn't work as well for regular use. I just want to clarify for others here- this oil is NOT a diesel oil, and not a motorcycle oil. It is an automotive gasoline engine oil with a "legacy" rating, if you will.

Just because something is cheaper doesn't mean it isn't worth using. There are people on this board and elsewhere that use regular and synthetic WalMart SuperTech oil with no complaints, and if I looked at the price tag correctly, it was cheaper than nearly every single oil on the shelves. For all we know, SuperTech could be produced by the same people. Perhaps the reason the ACCEL SF 10W40 is cheaper is that it doesn't have all the additives that today's engines require. This is good for us, because it's possible that it DOES have more of what our engines need to stay alive. If it was terrible oil, novaderrik would have replaced his cam again by now.

I emailed the company to see what they say about this oil...

oh, yeah.. the Monte is running great.
i used the 10w-40 for the cam break in, since it had the "SF" rating, along with a bottle of STP oil treatment just to be safe.
after the cam break in period, i drained that oil out and refilled it with Mobil 5000 mile regular 10w-30, which then quickly leaked out of the leaky oil pan gasket when all the pan bolts decided to loosen up at the same time, and that got replaced with 15w-40 Shell Rotella T with a bottle of STP oil treatment i had left over from the cam break in.
next oil change, i'm going with synthetic Rotella T 5w-40 with the STP or some EOS added just to be safe- unless i can find some of the old blend Rotella synthetic, then i'll leave the additive out.

there aren't very many refineries or packaging. Texstar in st louis packages Quaker State, K.Mart, Sears, Target and many others. Same oil blends in each. I have run Fred's from the Fred's Discount Chain for years with no adverse effects.

Interesting...Fred's is made by Warren Oil/Coastal/Unilube.

The link below is where I found a chart that shows who makes what oil. Evidently, in addition to the ACCEL 10W40 SF oil, WPP makes Proline at Pepboys, Sears brand oil, and some SuperTech oils. They also make oils for what looks like convenience stores.

It also appears that Quaker State and Pennzoil are both SHELL oils...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30636

Yea, Yea, its a rice burner site..The info is good, though :)

My guess is... this is a cheap version of the Vavoline MAX life oil. It helps restore your seals and etc. But if you use it in a never vehicle it probably messes with the O2 sensors or something.

I just looked yesterday at the Accell oil. The WM I looked at only had the SAE 30. It was labeled non-detergent without any grading seal, it also stated that it was mineral oil.

Shell owns Pennzoil now........... that was the big rub with NAZCAR and Kevin Harvick having the Shell emblem on at Daytona..... they weren't happy. Now the Shell emblem is small and the PENNZOIL is BIG...... If you poke down in Quaker State site you get directed to Shell as parent company also......

I just looked yesterday at the Accell oil. The WM I looked at only had the SAE 30. It was labeled non-detergent without any grading seal, it also stated that it was mineral oil.

Yea, they have that one too..It seems to be sort of hit or miss with the 10/40 SF oil at various WalMarts. I wish the company had a spec sheet for this oil on their website, I'd post a link to it.

I don't think the ACCEL oil is a version of any oil around today. It is NOT rated higher than SF like MAXLIFE is. The ACCEL 10/40 states to NOT use it in NEWer cars- anything newer than '88 (which is pretty old these days :p ). The MAXLIFE webpage states "safe for use in new and rebuilt engines, and will not void new car warranties." MaxLife is an API SJ, SH, SG oil. THe ACCEL oil is SF and lower. Warren Performance Products makes this oil, I emailed them a few days ago. I'd like to get a response to see what they have to say.

I was kind of surprised to see that Shell (SOPUS) owns QS and Pennzoil. I didn't know about the Nascar issues with Shell/Pennzoil. Actually, from that other link I posted, kinda seems like throwing money away to buy name brand oils when so few companies are making a huge list of house brand oil and name brand oils..

The 30 & 40 wgt stuff is non-detergent! Didn't find the multi weight specs.

www.warrendistribution.com/specsheet/accel001.pdf

The 30 & 40 wgt stuff is non-detergent! Didn't find the multi weight specs.

www.warrendistribution.com/specsheet/accel001.pdf

Yep....The container for that one states it is an SA oil, which didn't have any specs to meet like later oils.. The SF oil IS a detergent oil, but the thing we are all concerned more with is its anti-wear content.

They need to change the name of this product Kum & Go Super Premium :rolleyes:

Kum and Go Super Premium is an SM rated oil, so it isn't the same oil :) . They do make Kum and Go SUper Premium oil, as well as Pep Boys and Sears house brands. Lots of oil companies do that too. Castrol makes ARCO oil and Exxon makes ESSO house brand oil.

BTW- I'm not trying to get into an argument about X oil being better than Y oil, or whether or not the house brand is better than the name brand.. I just found something that might be of interest as an oil that is geared ONLY towards old cars, so I posted it.

I sure as heck won't be using Rotella anymore, thats for sure. I'm glad SWHEATON updated us all on that.