Team-BHP - ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

Quote:

Originally Posted by vikram_d (Post 1118826)

Anybody have any experience with Castrol Edge? How is it? Any reviews? What is it priced at?

I have Castrol Edge on my S10 -- for past 8K Kms or so. I am happy with it and at the change the engine did really feel smooth. Cost some 2400/- approx.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pace in Blood (Post 1118698)

Hi,

My Name is Tanay Agarwal. The first time I am posting a Query. I hope I am in the right forum.

I Own 2 Cars
1. Tata Indigo LS (2005)
2. Maruti Swift VDi with ABS (2008)

Both these cars are diesel cars.:thumbs up

I am looking out to change their engine oil to synthetic ones, which i have heard give very good performance compared to the normal oil we get.

I just need to know the oil specification which I can use and also If the filter,etc needs to be upgraded for this.
Does this really give a boost to performance or only reduces wear & tear.
Please do let me know.

With Best Speeds,
Tanay

I don't think you need to bother about the filter. Just chage it at every oil change.

I dont think you will see a huge difference in performance. Most people who change over speak about smoothness. However, the smoothness may make you feel like revving up a lot more...

Wear and tear should reduce quite significantly with a good synth oil, when compared to mineral.

Suggest you use a true fully synthetic oil (PAO/Ester based), and not pseudo synthetics. Castrol Edge AFAIK, is a pseudo synthetic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raccoon (Post 1118949)

What I want to ask is that Maruti is suggesting using 15W40 Grade of Oil. Which I am not able to procure in the synthetic range. The best that I am getting is 5W40 so can I use that. Somebody suggested me Mobil Delvac 1, I found out that is also grade 5W40

So now I need to know whether this grade will do or not

With Best Speeds,
Tanay

^^^Cant recall the sources right now. But as far as I recall, according to a US court ruling, even severely hydroprocessed mineral oils can be labelled fully synthetic. This is technically wrong... but apparently its been made legally correct. It was Castrol who started this. Another fact is that these kinda of oils are much cheaper to produce, but are sold at or around the price of a true synthetic. So its a clever method to rip off customers who are not knowledgable about the stuff.

That said, there is nothing wrong with the pseudo synthetics (they wont be as good as a true synthetic, of course)... what is wrong is the pricing. If they are priced significantly lower than true synthetics, then its value for money... otherwise not!

Quote:

Originally Posted by khan_sultan (Post 1118918)

I have Castrol Edge on my S10 -- for past 8K Kms or so. I am happy with it and at the change the engine did really feel smooth. Cost some 2400/- approx.

2400 for how many litres?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raccoon (Post 1118990)

At least in India it is half the price of other synthetics like Mobil1 & Shell Ultra Helix. Shell retails for 1060 per litre.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raccoon (Post 1118990)

C'mon,man!
You're talking about the Castrol Magnatec's story, Raccoon.
Its the "semi synthetic" or pseudo synthetic ,if you insist.
EDGE is their flagship product. They also market a 'Syntec' in other markets.

Btw, I once found a 5L can of Castrol EDGE 5W40 costing Rs.2600. I think they've moved to 4L cans now.

No dude, Magnatec is not even in for consideration as its not branded as fully synthetic (Costrol labels it as "Synthetic Technology"). And I'm NOT using pseudo synthetic as a synonym for semi synthetic!! I'v been very specific in my posts.

^^^Seriously!!! Bought a 1 lt bottle of Castrol CRB yesterday, for my Shogun's transmission, and was shocked at the price - almost Rs. 250! When I bought it last time (2-3) years ago, the price was something like Rs. 100 (if I remember correctly). I noticed that prices of other oils have also gone up a lot!

Its high time the prices are reduced.

Hi everyone,

I bought 3 litres of Mobil 1 5W 50 Fully Synthetic Motor Oil from the authorised distributor in Bangalore for Rs. 2,000 last week. I will be using this for the oil change of my Alto when it heads for its 10,000 kms service on Jan 17. I selected this oil after considering brands such as Castrol & Shell based on recommendations of members on this forum. The manufacturing & import date on the bottle states Mar 2008. Do these synthetic oils have a shelf life? If so, till when is it safe to use them?

Cheers,
gpa

@gpa - No worries with the date.

From CarBible

Quote:

Technically, engine oils have shelf lives of four to five years. However, as years pass, unused engine oils can become obsolete and fail to meet the technical requirements of current engines. The specs get updated regularly based on new scientific testing procedures and engine requirements. But this is only really a concern if you've bought a brand new car but have engine oil you bought for the previous car. An oil that is a number of years old might not be formulated to meet the requirements set for your newer engine.