[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by desertfox

A word of caution here. If you have been useing Mineral Oil 20W/50 or similar, do not switch to synthetic. Your engine oil seals that have bloated to accomodate Mineral oil will develop a leak.

Synthetic oil if to be used must be used from day one that you bought the car or installed a new engine.

Well you must be having special seals. I had switched my Esteem 1996 vintage to Synthetic (Esso) after about 20,000km and again back to mineral two years later with no problems whatsoever.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by desertfox

A word of caution here. If you have been useing mineral oil, 20W50 or similar, do not change to Synthetic Engine oils now.

A word of caution here.

If you wish to use synthetic oil, do it from day one you buy a new car or install a new engine.

Engine oil seals that bloat enough with mineral oil will shrink with synthetic oil and develop a leak.

This has happened with a number of Nissan Patrols, Landcruisers and other saloon cars.

this is not true for all engines
i shifted to fully synthetic at around 40k kms and after 8K+ kms everything is fine

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

See, it meets the highest spec for diesels and API-SL for petrol.
Now what if your car requres API-SM?
Moreover, you can get a petrol only SL for much lower price than this oil. For example castrol Magnatec.
Much cheaper, yet meets the API-SL and is 15W40

Well I do not subscribe to the Synthetic Oil users club. I am quite happy with semi-synths for the past decade! I have just bought Petronas Mach5 which is a semi-synth and is API-SM. Costs about the same as Magnatec.

[srikant]

Originally Posted by Roy.S

I think fully synthetic would be overkill in the diesel bull. However, if he is really keen on it, Delvac would be a better option.

Thanks pal,

but when i checked up with Mobil 1 Dealer here, he says, there is no such fully synthetic oil as delvac. He says only thing you can get is Mobil 1 5W50.

Please give me details of fully synthetic oil for this bullet.

cheers

sri

[desertfox]

It has happened to many vehicles and I am only sharing the practical experience. Service managers at Al Futtaim Motors, the Toyota dealership in UAE have also confirmed this.

As for Mobil 1 5W50, is it suitable for running in these tropical ambient temperature ranges ?

[Roy.S]

Originally Posted by srikant

Please give me details of fully synthetic oil for this bullet.....

Well, I'd be a big fat liar if I said that I was an expert on diesel engine oils. Check out mobildelvac dot com. They have detailed info on diesel engine oils. Most diesel vehicle owners seem to be of the opinion that Mobil 1, being formulated for petrol, is not entirely the right thing for them.
BTW, after a lot of research (mostly on TBHP), I will be switching over from Magnatec to Mobil 1 in a few days. OWS 5w50 fully synthetic seems to be about 25% more expensive than Mobil1. Or am I not looking in the right places?

[janitha]

Originally Posted by desertfox

If you wish to use synthetic oil, do it from day one you buy a new car or install a new engine.
Engine oil seals that bloat enough with mineral oil will shrink with synthetic oil and develop a leak.

In that case one will have to order a new car with oil yet to be filled!

[teknophobia]

Originally Posted by Roy.S

Well, I'd be a big fat liar if I said that I was an expert on diesel engine oils. Check out mobildelvac dot com. They have detailed info on diesel engine oils. Most diesel vehicle owners seem to be of the opinion that Mobil 1, being formulated for petrol, is not entirely the right thing for them.
BTW, after a lot of research (mostly on TBHP), I will be switching over from Magnatec to Mobil 1 in a few days. OWS 5w50 fully synthetic seems to be about 25% more expensive than Mobil1. Or am I not looking in the right places?

Actually, if you want to shift to a good synthetic diesel engine oil, I would suggest you take a serious look at Castrol Edge turbodiesel.

[s3va]

i agree to a large extent to what has been mentioned here about Semi Synthetic Oils. They are the best VFM oil as compared to Synthetic. Recently I had changed the oil to Castrol Magnatec in my Santro and the differences that I found in terms of response, smoothness, reduction of revving noises have been impressive, though not astounding. Synthetic oils are overly priced and would be best suitable for high performance scenarios like races with torturous conditions, where VFM is not on top of the list !!

Having said the above, I am about to try Mobil1 5w50 for my Palio 1.2 , purely for certain other reasons. I shall keep everyone posted on the performance review

[gpa]

Originally Posted by s3va

Synthetic oils would be best suitable for high performance scenarios like races with torturous conditions,

Its not necessarily track conditions that impose huge stresses on an engine. Wouldn't start-stop driving in insane summer heat and constant use of the clutch as are the conditions of city traffic classify as torturous conditions?

Synthetics are designed to minimize damage to engines in these conditions.

[n.devdath]

I had recently been to TAFE Access, the Skoda dealership at Bangalore and was told that if I used the new Shell sythetic engine oil for the Octavia, the service interval goes up from 7500 kms or 6 months to 15000kms or one year.
Worldwide, synthetic oils are taking over as they are better equipped to handle higher engine temparatures, viscous stresses and moreover have a longer life..
In terms of price, they are 30-40% higher priced than the semi synthetic oils but are worth paying the difference.

[s3va]

Originally Posted by gpa

Its not necessarily track conditions that impose huge stresses on an engine. Wouldn't start-stop driving in insane summer heat and constant use of the clutch as are the conditions of city traffic classify as torturous conditions?

Synthetics are designed to minimize damage to engines in these conditions.

The semi synthetic oil should be able to handle those scenarios, like a 15W40 semi synthetic should be able to easily handle engine behavior related to Indian traffic (stop-go)and climatic conditions..

[gpa]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

I had recently been to TAFE Access, the Skoda dealership at Bangalore and was told that if I used the new Shell sythetic engine oil for the Octavia, the service interval goes up from 7500 kms or 6 months to 15000kms or one year.

They are feeding you with wrong information. It is best you direct them to read this thread before they utter such gibberish. Synthetic oils have a standard drain interval of 10,000 kms or 1 year which ever comes first. And Shell's fully synthetic oils (Shell Helix Ultra) are the same. So suppose you drive only 5,000 kms in a year, you will still have to change the oil after a year.

There is no way you should even try to extend the drain intervals beyond the stipulated time. Yes, there are a few brands (Mobil 1) that have a specifically formulated "extended drain interval" oil on which you can run a few thousand extra miles.

[sgiitk]

@gpa: I agree with once a year. In the UK 10,000miles is the norm for most engines and not 10,000km as we do in India. So I am inclined to agree with once a year/15000km. However, I see no problem here with a Semi-Synth as well. All oils after (and including) API-SF are capable of 1 year/ 10000 (km or mile depending on where you are)!!!

[gpa]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

In the UK 10,000miles is the norm for most engines and not 10,000km as we do in India. So I am inclined to agree with once a year/15000km.

sgiitk,

The question to be asked in this case is-what are the driving environments like in the UK vis-a-vis in India? Its only because we have some of the most difficult driving conditions compounded by extreme weather that Indian manufacturers recommend a 10,000 kms drain interval for cars here.

Also, even if one were to be using the best synthetic oil (Mobil 1, Shell, Petronas) I reckon, it will be best to change it at the 10k mark rather than extend the drain to 15k.

Cheers,
gpa