[saket77]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

I own a 2000 model 5 Speed 800 DX variant, with more than 2.5 lac kms on its odo and still as healthy as ever. I am badly confused over some aspects of engine oil, and look forward to you.

Hello Shashi,

Regarding the capacity of engine oil, I suggest you go by the manual. MASS keep volume measuring beakers so store 300 ml separately. Then fill the remaining 2.7l in the engine and check the level on the dipstick. If it shows less, slowly add more oil else keep the 300 ml with you for top up, if reqd. afterwards. Excess oil puts more pressure on the seals and they can go bust, esp when they are old. 300 ml may not sound that much but it is more than 10% of the entire capacity.

Regarding grade, I will not suggest 0W oil for a 2.5 l run engine running the original block and all other internals like yours. You may go for 5W-30 or 5W-40 at the max. You may notice slight performance and FE gain as well. But while using thinner oil, keep checking the levels more often than what you usually do. You may face oil burning if you have worn out piston rings.

Update us with your decision and further experience.

Regards,
Saket.

[sgiitk]

@Shashi; If your engine does not sound horrible at startup then whether 0W or 5W or whatever hardly matters, since it moves off the bottom pretty fast. What I did with my surplus oil was to use it for topping up my DG Set! Now we have a new Eicher (the old Usha survived for over 13 years!) so does not need topping up!

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by saket77

Regarding grade, I will not suggest 0W oil for a 2.5 l run engine running the original block and all other internals like yours. You may go for 5W-30 or 5W-40 at the max. You may notice slight performance and FE gain as well. But while using thinner oil, keep checking the levels more often than what you usually do. You may face oil burning if you have worn out piston rings.

Update us with your decision and further experience.

Regards,
Saket.

Thanks a lot Bhaiya. I am a bit scared of going for a thin oil, specially considering the age and number of miles my vehicle has done. I am now thinking for Shell HX5 15W40 or Shell HX7 10W40 semi synth. Will be getting it changed before tuesday, any particular shop in Ranchi which you would like to recommend for getting shell oils??

Since castrol distributor of Ranchi has recently shut shop, I won't go for Castrol as I have found a number of spurious Castrol cans in the past. Though I have had a nice experience with Magnatec 10W40 previously.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@Shashi; If your engine does not sound horrible at startup then whether 0W or 5W or whatever hardly matters, since it moves off the bottom pretty fast. What I did with my surplus oil was to use it for topping up my DG Set! Now we have a new Eicher (the old Usha survived for over 13 years!) so does not need topping up!

No Sir, absolutely no issues during cold startups. I am just being a bit more cautious as my engine has done way too many miles without any kind of overhaul. If you ignore the age and the miles done, there is absolutely no issues with the car.

Regards,
Shashi

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Thanks a lot Bhaiya. I am a bit scared of going for a thin oil, specially considering the age and number of miles my vehicle has done.

I still feel if you are looking at synthetic oil change, then go for 5W40.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I still feel if you are looking at synthetic oil change, then go for 5W40.

I would have loved to, but none of the reputed oil dealers at Ranchi have stock of 5W40 synthetic oil. The only option I have is 0W40, which my MASS also advised me against it, since the condition of engine is unknown, and at such a high odo reading, its best not to fiddle too much.

Secondly running in a year for this car is around 6000kms. Since running isnt that much, I think synthetics or semi-synth will be more economical in my case, drain interval being the same-1 year.

Regards,
Shashi

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

I would have loved to, but none of the reputed oil dealers at Ranchi have stock of 5W40 synthetic oil.

Why not have a look at online stores? Look below:

Amazon.com - Oils

I have ordered once and got genuine stuff.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Why not have a look at online stores? Look below:

I have ordered once and got genuine stuff.

Excellent idea bro. How was the packaging?? I might buy online since its from Amazon.

I have almost stopped buying such fluids from online stores as had a very bad experience from snapdeal when I ordered a 3M glass cleaner-the product arrived empty and much to my disappointment, it wasn't covered under return warranty.

Thanks once again for the idea.

Regards,
Shashi

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Excellent idea bro. How was the packaging?? I might buy online since its from Amazon.

I have bought the following from Amazon till now:

Motul Chain Clean
Motul Chain Lube
Shell MGDO (3.5L pack).

Received all on good packaging and genuine. No issues hence I suggested Amazon over Flipkart and Snapdeal.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I still feel if you are looking at synthetic oil change, then go for 5W40.

I do know Shell had something like 5W or 10W50 synth! i think the only 0W40 is Mobil1. There are some 0W30's around though which are irrelevant for this discussion,

[bullrun87]

I just found out that I have an unopened can of Shell helix HX5 manufactured in march 2015 which makes it 9 months old. I would like to use this when I service my car in feb/march 2015. I generally try to use oil less than 3 months old. What is the shelf life of a typical mineral oil in an unopened can? This can will be a year old in march.

[Blacktop]

Originally Posted by bullrun87

I just found out that I have an unopened can of Shell helix HX5 manufactured in march 2015 which makes it 9 months old. I would like to use this when I service my car in feb/march 2015. I generally try to use oil less than 3 months old. What is the shelf life of a typical mineral oil in an unopened can? This can will be a year old in march.

Shelf life would be 5 years, if not more. I have used 1.5 year old mineral engine oil without any problems. You are definitely fine with that oil. Use it without worrying.

[Leoshashi]

Special thanks to all members, whose posts guided me towards the right choice. Unfortunately, due to an emergency, I needed the oil change to be done immediately, and that meant no online purchase was possible.

Our town was flooded with Servo's which were SC grade oils. Most of them were duplicates. I was in no mood to risk my car. In semi-synth, I got only 5W30 grade Magnatec. I was looking for 10W40 grade.

A quick search on internet gave me some contacts. I played a blind move and messaged a number using whatsapp on 7th December. What was essentially a blind move, it somehow hit the bulls eye!!.
Posting a screenshot of the conversation.



I got a call from the dealer on 8th December that he had ordered a piece for me, and it will come within a week. All this, without any acquaintance or any physical meeting.



Picked up the can yesterday. They had a "cashback offer under cap" going on, in which I luckily got 700 rupees cashback!! So that essentially meant, I paid them Rs. 640 for a 3L can of Castrol Magnatec 10W40.





I called my MASS at 6PM and the SA had everything ready, which meant I was in and out of MASS within 10 minutes.


All in all, a very sweet experience.

Changes felt in the car- Idle is now extremely refined and once windows are rolled up, a very mild sound of engine comes, almost as good as a K-Series engined car. Absolutely no vibrations and so far, I am loving the magnatec experience in my 5 Speed 800.

Regards,
Shashi

[R2D2]

Just purchased a can of SHU 5W-40 for my Altis' annual service. This oil has served my car very well. Its recently clocked a max of 15.3 Kmpl on the highway with 4 passengers, a boot full of luggage + a sub-woofer and of course the AC running.

Was tempted to buy Mobil 1 ESP 5w-30 (also an approved viscosity and the default viscosity of Toyota's Idemitsu oil at the dealer) but went with the tried and tested 5w-40 viscosity that's been my choice for over 7 years.

Also picked up a can of HX7 for my Palio 1.6.

Shell are now offering a lifetime engine warranty with plenty of T&Cs attached. Read more here: www.shell.com/warranty.

[Aston Singh]

Experts,

I have a petrol SX4 that has clocked 53k kms and this time I'm considering buying the engine oil myself.

Manual reads:
Be sure that the engine oil you use comes under the quality classification of SG+.
The recommended Engine oil is SAE 5W30.


My understanding tells that API Service SN would be fine to use and I am considering 5W30 itself. The required limit is 4.3L so in any case, I'll have to get 4L + 1L and if I opt for fully synth oil, that'll cost me anywhere from 4-5k.

So I managed to find Castrol MAGNATEC 5W30, part synthetic. I'll consider it to be as good as a mineral oil cause part synthetic can mean literally anything. The reason for considering this is primarily cause the 5L is costing me around 2300 bucks. (What are we supposed to do with the leftover oil?)

Any feedback/review on this Castrol engine oil? I was considering Mobil 1 ESP 5W-30 but honestly I don't know if I should be spending double the amount for a car like SX4. What would you guys suggest/recommend?

Link for reference
http://www.amazon.in/Castrol-3383757...rds=engine+oil

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Aston Singh

Manual reads:
Be sure that the engine oil you use comes under the quality classification of SG+.
The recommended Engine oil is SAE 5W30.


My understanding tells that API Service SN would be fine to use and I am considering 5W30 itself.

So I managed to find Castrol MAGNATEC 5W30, part synthetic. I'll consider it to be as good as a mineral oil cause part synthetic can mean literally anything. (What are we supposed to do with the leftover oil?)

What would you guys suggest/recommend?

Magnatec will be fine. Stick to any oil that is =/<5 for lower number and =/>30 for the higher number (also =/> the recommended API grade),and you will be fine. I would suggest the MGO used by Maruti service centres which is semi-synth 5/30, is procured from Shell/Mobil in bulk by them, and will be as good as any oil. And there will be no question of spurious oil.

If you wish to consider synthetic, they also measure and fill Mobil 1. But opt for this if your car will do 10k KM in a year. Else it will be a waste as the oil will have to be changed in 12 months anyway, just like mineral oil.

The surplus oil left over from a bigger pack may be filled in a 1 litre can and kept in the car for occassional top-ups / emergencies.

Semi synthetics are better than mineral in the sense, mostly their API rating will be higher than mineral oils, barring one or two exceptions.