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Old 25th December 2012, 22:38   #3661
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by Buffetfan View Post
Guess I am becoming a penny pincher as I age .
The old wag says - as a young single, one wants to save the world, as a family person approaching middle age, one wants to save the salary.

Honestly, I would also perhaps revert back to regular mineral oil since I am unable to 'perceive' the difference. Its a bit like when I was to choose between a plasma TV and an LCD TV a few years back, I was told plasma has 15 years life while LCD has 12 years...or something to that effect. My counterpoint was, will I even be watching the same TV even 5 or 7 years down the line! So I wondered if the synthetic oil is irrational exuberance.

Meanwhile, I remain open to other voices of reason.
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Old 11th January 2013, 19:38   #3662
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

I drive a Chevrolet Spark and going for an oil change tomorrow.
Does anyone know what is the exact spec required? eg- 5w-40.

the a.s.s uses Elf for mineral oil and Mobil1 for synthetic. Don't know which one to get this time. And how much do each of them cost?
Currently I'm using mineral. 80% of my driving is in the city.

how many litres does the Spark drink?

cheers.

Last edited by StrangeWizard : 11th January 2013 at 19:48.
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Old 11th January 2013, 22:04   #3663
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Hi, I have a swift diesel zdi which is soon going to complete 10k running and the 3rd service with recommended oil change coming up.

I guess the car came filled with synthetic oil and Maruti had mandated use of synthetic. However apparently Maruti has changed that now and allowed the customer to choose which leads to my confusion.

Do I continue with synthetic or switch to mineral/semi synthetic? My running is about 10-12k Kms a year, 80% in city bumper to bumper traffic.

And of course, stick to Mass oil or procure some other brand outside. Popular belief seems to be that service centre oils are not as good and are charged much higher
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Old 16th January 2013, 18:21   #3664
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

I did an oil change for my ford ikon petrol 1.6 about 3 days ago. I always thought that the grade was 5w30 or 10w30. I checked the service manual and was shocked to see 15w40 being recommended. I used mobil super 10w30 in the engine. Will i damage anything as I think for the past 10k i have been running the same grade.(2 oil changes). Can anyone out there kindly tell me the correct grade or the grade you are using in your ikon? The oil i used is mineral at 890 rupees for 3 lit.
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Old 19th January 2013, 02:03   #3665
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

Does your Ikon have the same 1.6 motor as the Fiesta 1.6? If yes & subject to how accurately I can recall, Ford recommends 10W30 for the Fiesta Classic petrol & thus, I don't think using the 10W30 is an issue.

But I would still leave it for other Fiesta Classic 1.6 owners to confirm.

Moreover, this is the first time I have actually even heard of Ford recommending anything above a grade 30 for their cars, though their engines can happily take grade 40 engine oils.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi View Post
I did an oil change for my ford ikon petrol 1.6 about 3 days ago. I always thought that the grade was 5w30 or 10w30. I checked the service manual and was shocked to see 15w40 being recommended. I used mobil super 10w30 in the engine. Will i damage anything as I think for the past 10k i have been running the same grade.(2 oil changes). Can anyone out there kindly tell me the correct grade or the grade you are using in your ikon? The oil i used is mineral at 890 rupees for 3 lit.
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Old 19th January 2013, 11:03   #3666
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by blackfire_9 View Post
Does your Ikon have the same 1.6 motor as the Fiesta 1.6? If yes & subject to how accurately I can recall, Ford recommends 10W30 for the Fiesta Classic petrol & thus, I don't think using the 10W30 is an issue.

But I would still leave it for other Fiesta Classic 1.6 owners to confirm.

Moreover, this is the first time I have actually even heard of Ford recommending anything above a grade 30 for their cars, though their engines can happily take grade 40 engine oils.
The motor is a 1.6 Rocam and Fiesta is a duratec. I think 10W30 is fine as well but my mind has this ugly picture of metal touching metal. I will check around more. Thanks
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Old 19th January 2013, 16:35   #3667
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by funkyp View Post
Hi, I have a swift diesel zdi which is soon going to complete 10k running and the 3rd service with recommended oil change coming up.

I guess the car came filled with synthetic oil and Maruti had mandated use of synthetic. However apparently Maruti has changed that now and allowed the customer to choose which leads to my confusion.

Do I continue with synthetic or switch to mineral/semi synthetic? My running is about 10-12k Kms a year, 80% in city bumper to bumper traffic.

And of course, stick to Mass oil or procure some other brand outside. Popular belief seems to be that service centre oils are not as good and are charged much higher
With your kind of driving conditions (bumper to bumper in city) and keeping in mind the ambient temperatures of a city like Mumbai, it would be better to stick with synthetic oil. It would surely provide added protection to the engine and with its longer drain interval, makes economic sense too.

If your MASS allows you to procure oil of your choice, nothing like it.
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Old 25th January 2013, 15:54   #3668
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by Catalyst_delhi View Post
15w40 being recommended. I used mobil super 10w30 in the engine.
I don't think there should be a problem as the oil you've used is only a grade thinner than recommended. More over significant engine damage due to a non recommended oil (Grade) will only be caused in prolonged use, or if you frequently push the engine to its maximum performance in extreme heat/cold.

It's not only important to stick to the recommended grade but also to the recommended product (of specified brands) with required ACI rating. We always want the best for our cars but better performing oils will have additives in an increased proportion which might not be good for our particular engines parts and catalytic converter.
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Old 26th January 2013, 11:23   #3669
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by bijuiser View Post
I don't think there should be a problem as the oil you've used is only a grade thinner than recommended. More over significant engine damage due to a non recommended oil (Grade) will only be caused in prolonged use, or if you frequently push the engine to its maximum performance in extreme heat/cold.

It's not only important to stick to the recommended grade but also to the recommended product (of specified brands) with required ACI rating. We always want the best for our cars but better performing oils will have additives in an increased proportion which might not be good for our particular engines parts and catalytic converter.
My Engine never goes over 3.5 k rpm and max rev limit is around 5.8krpm. I do run long distances but with a nice break in between. Otherwise I start and idle for 15 seconds before moving , i even idle for 15 seconds before shutting off. I will put in 10w40 grade in 6 months for the next change.
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Old 26th January 2013, 19:41   #3670
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

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Originally Posted by bijuiser View Post
I don't think there should be a problem as the oil you've used is only a grade thinner than recommended. More over significant engine damage due to a non recommended oil (Grade) will only be caused in prolonged use, or if you frequently push the engine to its maximum performance in extreme heat/cold.
Its not at all recommendable to put a 30weight oil in an engine designed to work on 40weight oil, especially if its fitted with hydraulic valve lifters, turbo etc.
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Old 27th January 2013, 13:30   #3671
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

I recently picked up a used 2005 Esteem. The machine was in excellent condition and all it needed was a thorough service. I've often pushed it to about 6000 rpm in the 1.5 months that I owned it and the last thing I wanted for the car was an old sludgy engine oil. Maruti recommends 10w40 grade oil and a few hours on the internet would tell you that 5w40 is suitable enough too as are several other viscosity grades. I could have gone for Castrol magnatec 10w40 but came across several threads on team bhp that thumbed it down. Bimal Motors Bangalore sells Mobil synthetic oil at a really high price and I was quite prepared to settle for some other mineral oil. But again, I had used a Shell Helix mineral oil(claimed to have been prepared using "synthetic technology") in an Alto K10 and had been completely unimpressed. Recently, just happened to stop at an oil dealer near Tin factory and found a Shell Helix Ultra 5w40 fully sunthetic oil that he agreed to sell for Rs.3500(4 litre can). Took it to M.A.S.S, Bimal Motors Mahadevpura and had the oil changed. Honestly, I can feel a very distinctive difference. Agreed that the Esteem has an engine that begs to be revved but the refinement at high revs that I'm getting now is divine. Having used a mineral Shell Helix in the Alto before(which was also pushed around quite hard), I am really pleased with fully synthetic Shell Helix Ultra 5w40. Sure, it costs nearly 3 times more than the best mineral oil but the joy of refined high revving is certainly worth it. The M.R.P at Shell outlets is Rs.4400. So, a discount of Rs.900 seemed a good enough reason too for picking it up :-)
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Old 4th February 2013, 23:30   #3672
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

hello,

my Petra D with 80k+ on the odometer is due for an oil change shortly. I want to use Mobil Delvac MX. Kindly advise if Mobil Delvac MX is a good choice for petra D or Castrol GTX is better.

The Owners manual recommends SAE 15W40 multi grade synthetic based oil exceeding API CD CC MCPDZ.

Pls advise...
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Old 7th February 2013, 12:34   #3673
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

Hi Sparkglow,

If these are the only options- I would go for Mobil Delvac MX, that's just because of its brand value among motor enthusiasts in India. Otherwise I would only consider following points in the order of their importance:
SAE 15W40
Exceeding API CD CC MCPDZ
Recomended for Diesel
Cost & Brand

My owner's manual only suggests me to use API CH4 and above. Recently I forced myself to choose for HP Milcy over all the Fully Synth which were available to me at that time. I don't want to take the risk of any non-recommended oil by manufacturer. Cause I am not sure what the manufacturer might have considered while choosing brands, maybe the high performance oils might have a additive that may harm my car's crucial components.

My technical friends in the automobile industry have advised me that the manufacturer is better aware about my car. Other fellow owner's experience would only be supportive but the rule should be your owner's manual or a technical expert whom you can trust.
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Old 8th February 2013, 10:03   #3674
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

I changed to Full-Synth Shell Helix Ultra in my 2007 Petrol Swift around 40,800 Kms in May 2012. Right now my car is with 50,700 Kms in the odo. Do I need to change the oil as suggested (10000kms/1 Yr.) by fellows bhpians here? Or can i stretch it till May (lets say 3-3.5K Kms more).

Note: I do lot of high speed (100-110 KMPH) HWY driving and less City.
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Old 8th February 2013, 10:21   #3675
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Re: ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

@hyper-VTEC; I think you will be quite safe in stretching to May.
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