ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Hi,
Racoon buddy,if you took the trouble to go to MASS just to verify this, thanks a lot.

No dude, I had to go to the MASS to check in on the work being done on my car. They have frames put up for stuff including oil viscosities for different cars. I just had to note that.

IMHO, you should use a 20W40 / 15W40 / 10W40 unless you are driving in very hot conditions. Personally I use 10W40 in my car.

[Gansan]

@sumeeth

What is the odo reading of your car? If it is > 60k KM, use 20W50. Else, stick with 20W40, 15W40 etc.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

IMHO, you should use a 20W40 / 15W40 / 10W40 unless you are driving in very hot conditions. Personally I use 10W40 in my car.

I currently have 10W40 (MAK supreme) oil in my engine as well.

Originally Posted by Gansan

@sumeeth

What is the odo reading of your car? If it is > 60k KM, use 20W50. Else, stick with 20W40, 15W40 etc.

Hi Gansan,
My car's 12 years old and has just 31,100 KMs till date.I will be trying for the shell 15W40 rather than 20W50 since shell themselves recommend 20W50 for older engines( i hope they mean high mileage).BTW read in your posts that you purchased a 4 litre can, what did you do with the remaining 1 litre?

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I currently have 10W40 (MAK supreme) oil in my engine as well.


Hi Gansan,
My car's 12 years old and has just 31,100 KMs till date.I will be trying for the shell 15W40 rather than 20W50 since shell themselves recommend 20W50 for older engines( i hope they mean high mileage).BTW read in your posts that you purchased a 4 litre can, what did you do with the remaining 1 litre?

I am just keeping it! Planned to use it for my Splendor but everyone advises me not to. So trying to buy two 1 litre packs and use them together for the second service. Else I will have to buy a 4 litre pack again, use 3 on FIFO basis and keep the remaining 2 litres for subsequent use.

[rock75]

For Alto recommended quantity is 2.8 litre engine oil but I have noticed machanics putting fpouring full 3 litre can of engine oil, is it OK or we should categorically tell him to put only 2.8 litre engine oil?

[rakesh_r]

Changed my zen carb's engine oil day before yesterday.Earlier used petronas 15w50 syntium 800.Now had to use castrol magnatec,thanks to the non availability of petronas.Now I have two querys-
1-Earlier my car used to have erratic idling which disappeared after the oil change.Is it because now i am using a 10w40 grade oil,and 15w50 grade was thick for the engine.
2-I noticed,the new oil had a slight burnt smell,is it possible that the oil was spurious,though the engine has become very smooth.Just did a 250km trip.
help

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by rock75

For Alto recommended quantity is 2.8 litre engine oil but I have noticed machanics putting fpouring full 3 litre can of engine oil, is it OK or we should categorically tell him to put only 2.8 litre engine oil?

No, only 2.8 litres should be used. I actually have 1.2 litres balance from the last oil change.

[Raccoon]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I currently have 10W40 (MAK supreme) oil in my engine as well.


Hi Gansan,
My car's 12 years old and has just 31,100 KMs till date.I will be trying for the shell 15W40 rather than 20W50 since shell themselves recommend 20W50 for older engines( i hope they mean high mileage).BTW read in your posts that you purchased a 4 litre can, what did you do with the remaining 1 litre?

Isn't MAK Supreme available only in 10W30 grade?

For cars burning oil, 20W50 might be a better idea. But then if its doing that, its probably better to think about an engine rebuild, if feasible.

Originally Posted by rock75

For Alto recommended quantity is 2.8 litre engine oil but I have noticed machanics putting fpouring full 3 litre can of engine oil, is it OK or we should categorically tell him to put only 2.8 litre engine oil?

If I were you, I would use 2.8 only. IMO, its better to drain out 200 ml from a 3 litre can, instead of having to measure 2.8 ml.

Originally Posted by rakesh_r

Changed my zen carb's engine oil day before yesterday.Earlier used petronas 15w50 syntium 800.Now had to use castrol magnatec,thanks to the non availability of petronas.Now I have two querys-
1-Earlier my car used to have erratic idling which disappeared after the oil change.Is it because now i am using a 10w40 grade oil,and 15w50 grade was thick for the engine.
2-I noticed,the new oil had a slight burnt smell,is it possible that the oil was spurious,though the engine has become very smooth.Just did a 250km trip.
help

I have used Magnatec, and I certainly do not remember any kind of burnt smell. It might well be spurious... max. probability of that with any Castrol oil.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Isn't MAK Supreme available only in 10W30 grade?

yes, you are right it's 10W30 and not 10w40.

[rock75]

coming again to alto manual, it only recommends SF, SG, SH grades but off late higher grades like SL and AM are easily available even in mineral oil. Does it make any difference if we put higher spec oil like SM instead of recommended grade?

[Raccoon]

^^^ You can use higher grades. The higher grades in fact will save a bit of gas.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by rock75

coming again to alto manual, it only recommends SF, SG, SH grades but off late higher grades like SL and AM are easily available even in mineral oil. Does it make any difference if we put higher spec oil like SM instead of recommended grade?

All the mentioned grades are obsolete. The only currently valid grades are SJ, SL and SM! Of course our dinosaurs will even sell you SC (MGO from IOC). One of then had big ads recently claiming that now they are SG (or was it SH).

[rakesh_r]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

I have used Magnatec, and I certainly do not remember any kind of burnt smell. It might well be spurious... max. probability of that with any Castrol oil.

So,should i replace it cause recently i am noticing it in all castrol oils,be it sae 90 gear oil,activ 4t or power one.Or is there a major scam of sale of castrol duplicates going on in mumbai.

[nitrous]

^^Could be the engine too. Check engine compression.

[rock75]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

All the mentioned grades are obsolete. The only currently valid grades are SJ, SL and SM! Of course our dinosaurs will even sell you SC (MGO from IOC). One of then had big ads recently claiming that now they are SG (or was it SH).

MGO from IOC is SF grade which is minimum recommended by maruti, i've used it six month back and read it on the label on the can. I had no problem whatsoever with this oil too. It is cheaper than others (around Rs 425/3 litres) and I am getting a mileage of 17-19 kmpl on my alto. I find it perfectly OK for regular driving usage though I change at 5-6k kms instead of recommended interval of 10k kms.