ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

[krish82]

Just now i filled full tank till the brim in shell bunk near house, Although the tank capacity is 60 litres for optra, he filled 62 litres and i suppose 2 litres atleast should have been there, but i am not sure the warning lamp was suppose to come at 7 litres remaining, but i did not get the lamp. The fuel guy said that there is some space about 3 litres left for air pocket. i am confused. I have put shell super. By the way optra was gulping the gas i thought it would have gulped 70 litres.

Have any of you faced similar issue in your cars when you fill till brim?

Is the capacity stated by companies till cut off?

But the drive combination with the synthetic oil and shell super is just ssuuuuuuuupeeeeerrrrr. The power delivary is bit quicker now, response eagerness is more.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by khoj

R2D2
You are correct regarding the change intervals and I got the 20K interval from a mobil 1 product data sheet. After reading your post I did some research on the Shell Helix Ultra that I have bought for the Aveo and the recommended interval is 15K, so for me that brings the change interval down to 10K for this oil.

I am curious to know where you read about the 20K oil change. Is that specific to a country with its own 'traffic environment' or to India which is way harsher on the car due to traffic congestion, heat and dust? Also curious to know what GM suggests for your Aveo.

I've used Mobil 1 5w-50 and Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40. The labels on both cans suggest using mfr recommended drain intervals.

Cheers!

[krish82]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I am curious to know where you read about the 20K oil change. Is that specific to a country with its own 'traffic environment' or to India which is way harsher on the car due to traffic congestion, heat and dust? Also curious to know what GM suggests for your Aveo.

I've used Mobil 1 5w-50 and Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40. The labels on both cans suggest using mfr recommended drain intervals.

Cheers!

Volkeswagon Polo service interval's seems to be 15 k, whats oil is it running with and that service interval is for india right?
i think i remember my sis in us said oil change only by 50000 miles for their mazda, and they usually run @ 70 miles / hr and they accelarate fast.

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by krish82

I got four 1 litre cans, the price written was 1100 on each, i could have got for 1050 from another shop but that shop was far away and driving there would have cost me 200 bucks, 3200 Rs for 4 litres is great, but what grade did you get, i heard some grades were cheaper. Can any one confirm average price of Mobil1 5w 50? i dont think there should be much differences in prices between states.

I have always been using 5W50 in my car.
only other grade for Mobil1 on sale is 0W40.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by krish82

Volkeswagon Polo service interval's seems to be 15 k, whats oil is it running with and that service interval is for india right?
i think i remember my sis in us said oil change only by 50000 miles for their mazda, and they usually run @ 70 miles / hr and they accelarate fast.

A 50K mile oil change?! Wow! What Mazda model is this? Or did you mean 5K miles (8K kms) which would be more logical.

Not sure what oil VW uses in India, but Skoda uses Helix Ultra. Even the Fiat Diesels go for 15K kms w/o an oil change. Fiat uses Selenia synthetic in their newer diesels.

Well, Krish82, it all boils down to sticking to the drain interval that the mfr specifies & not some dealer, doesnt it? Which is what I have been saying all along.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Gansan, sump oil capacities are mentioned with and without filter changes. You need to fill the appropriate quantity. If both are not mentoned, better to err on the side of caution and assume the capacity indicated is WITH a filter change.

I did not know about this. But I had once taken the exact sump qty mentioned in the owner's manual for an oil+filter change, and after pouring it all inside, the dipstick check was found to be a little short. That was when the mechanic told me we have to add ~200 ml for the new filter. Thereafter I am taking a round 3 litres for the oil change, and it shows ~ 1 mm above the upper level in the dipstick. Which is fine with me.

[krish82]

Originally Posted by R2D2

A 50K mile oil change?! Wow! What Mazda model is this? Or did you mean 5K miles (8K kms) which would be more logical.

Not sure what oil VW uses in India, but Skoda uses Helix Ultra. Even the Fiat Diesels go for 15K kms w/o an oil change. Fiat uses Selenia synthetic in their newer diesels.

Well, Krish82, it all boils down to sticking to the drain interval that the mfr specifies & not some dealer, doesnt it? Which is what I have been saying all along.

Yes you are right, changing early in indian conditions according to mfr is good, but i had seen a top gear episode where they showed a car and said that oil change is not required for 100000 miles, and it was a family car.

[saintsinner]

Is OWS available in Delhi/Noida?

[khoj]

Originally Posted by R2D2

I am curious to know where you read about the 20K oil change. Is that specific to a country with its own 'traffic environment' or to India which is way harsher on the car due to traffic congestion, heat and dust? Also curious to know what GM suggests for your Aveo.

I've used Mobil 1 5w-50 and Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40. The labels on both cans suggest using mfr recommended drain intervals.

Cheers!

I got that from the Mobil1 literature that I got from the lube vendor eons ago. I went net surfing however could not locate any literature/data sheet from the Mobil web site that recommends a given mileage for change of oil. Though I fished out the details for Shell Helix Ultra which I will be using in the Aveo. It recommends a change at anything upwards of 15000Kms.

Also picked out the oil data sheet for MOTUL 8100 Xcess 5W30 that will be going into my Cedia later today when I take it for its second service. This is recommended by Mitsu/HM and it is only 5W 30. This piece of information coupled with the sheets attached will go a long way in giving out correct relevance of the various grades etc. Again there is no recommendations on mileage prior to change of oil in the data sheet. I guess here I will go with manufacturers recommendation of change of oil which is every 10K Kms. or 6 months whichever is earlier at least till the car is under warranty.

[amalji]

I changed the Engine Oil on my Esteem to Mobil1 Fully Synthetic. It was done at MSM - Autoteam, Cochin. They recommend fully synthetic and told me that Oil should be replaced in 1 year ( or 20,000 kms ) whichever comes early.

Loved the performance. Engine idle sound is much more smoother. And at higher rpms, the car feels much more smoother than before. I've been running on fully synthetic for around 2k kms now. The performance is consistent till now. Happy with this upgrade. Thanks, GTO and other members for the advice.

[Maverick0129]

IMO synthetic oil increases the life of an engine, not sure if there is a improvement in performance (that can be noticed by a layman) - Mineral oil is best during the break-in period as it allows the new engine to "settle" which may not be possible with synthetic oil because of superior fluid properties. Also as far as the change interval is concerned, it's a always a topic of debate - i guess the best judgement can be made if the engine oil is analyzed monthly for it's quality - again that would vary with each car, conditions that car is used in (i.e. extreme conditions smaller interval) and the driver IMHO...

[krish82]

Originally Posted by amalji

I changed the Engine Oil on my Esteem to Mobil1 Fully Synthetic. It was done at MSM - Autoteam, Cochin. They recommend fully synthetic and told me that Oil should be replaced in 1 year ( or 20,000 kms ) whichever comes early.

Loved the performance. Engine idle sound is much more smoother. And at higher rpms, the car feels much more smoother than before. I've been running on fully synthetic for around 2k kms now. The performance is consistent till now. Happy with this upgrade. Thanks, GTO and other members for the advice.

Oh so even if we drive only 5k kms in a year, should do we have to change the oil @ 1 year interval, this seems costly and comes to 500Rs a month for engine oil alone! In that case the bottle of mobil 1 i picked up stated manifacturing date of 2009 and importing date of 2010, is there a shelf life for this oil. So the oil i put in is already 1 year old.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by krish82

Oh so even if we drive only 5k kms in a year, should do we have to change the oil @ 1 year interval, this seems costly and comes to 500Rs a month for engine oil alone! In that case the bottle of mobil 1 i picked up stated manifacturing date of 2009 and importing date of 2010, is there a shelf life for this oil. So the oil i put in is already 1 year old.

That is correct. Whether it is synthetic or mineral oil, it should be changed at the interval mentioned by the car manufacturer - for instance 10,000 KM or one year, whichever is earlier, for my Alto.

Do not worry about shelf life. If it is a sealed can and stored properly, it will be good enough for at least 3 - 4 years.

[amalji]

Originally Posted by Maverick0129

IMO synthetic oil increases the life of an engine, not sure if there is a improvement in performance (that can be noticed by a layman) -

For me, the change was quite noticeable. There was a considerable reduction in idle sound of the engine.
Overall the car felt much smoother.

[khoj]

Krish oil sitting in a sealed can is as different from oil sitting in the engine block as chalk from cheese. Though sitting too long in the can is also not very desirable but 2009 is still OK.

The atmosphere in the can is inert whereas in the engine you have the oil exposed to repeat cycles of heating & cooling, grime, burrs, being pushed around, filtered, circulated all around and what not, you get the picture. So it is advisable to change it once a year give or take a few months if possible. Having said that if it is not done it is still not the end of the world.

Originally Posted by krish82

Oh so even if we drive only 5k kms in a year, should do we have to change the oil @ 1 year interval, this seems costly and comes to 500Rs a month for engine oil alone! In that case the bottle of mobil 1 i picked up stated manifacturing date of 2009 and importing date of 2010, is there a shelf life for this oil. So the oil i put in is already 1 year old.