ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil

[anycatd]

What does ACEA A5/B5 mean in engine oil terms?

[shankar.balan]

My Gypsy has run past 120K Kms. Even when I bought it it was hovering near the 119K mark.
On its recent service at a Maruti Authorised Centre - Green Cars, I moved over to Mobil 0W40 Fully Synthetic Oil after a complete engine flush and I added an engine additive called Atomic engine coating too, to improve efficiency, compression and whatnot.
My Dad and I took the Gypsy for a solid 200km run last Sunday and every step of the way I felt that the Gypsy was performing very well indeed for a 15 year old vehicle.
The engine does run way smoother.
I also added in STP Fuel Injector Cleaner to the last full tank of petrol. I intend doing that again alternately (every two full tanks) over four more more tanks full, because this also, to my mind, really makes a difference to the vehicle.
The vehicle engine is feeling really much better and Im happy. Call it snake oil or whatever you want, it gives me peace of mind.
I think I am staying with Synthetic oil from now on!

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My Gypsy has run past 120K Kms. Even when I bought it it was hovering near the 119K mark.
I think I am staying with Synthetic oil from now on!

I completely agree with you on all mentioned points, but in my honest opinion, you should have skipped the engine flush part. It doesn't come out 100% and I am not exactly confident about it circulating in the lubrication system.

I also recently switched to 5w40 grade fully synthetic in my 17 year old MPFI M800, and the improvement was noticeable. I skipped the flushing part though.
Also adding fuel injector cleaner every alternate fuel tank would be overkill IMO. You can use it once in a year, that should be more than enough.

How much did 0W40 Mobil cost you??

Regards,
Shashi

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I also added in STP Fuel Injector Cleaner to the last full tank of petrol. I intend doing that again alternately (every two full tanks) over four more more tanks full, because this also, to my mind, really makes a difference to the vehicle.

STP (I assume you use STP) recommends certain intervals for use of their FI cleaner. Depending on your running it would about once or twice a year @ an interval of every 3000 miles/5000 kms (check the label). I stick to this frequency.

http://www.amazon.in/STP-Petrol-Inje.../dp/B0081RYUNC

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by anycatd

What does ACEA A5/B5 mean in engine oil terms?

As SAE is the American Specification (Society of Automotive Engineers) similarly I think the specs quoted by you are German or maybe European. By and large you can find (near equivalence) between the two. Quite often you will see dual labelling on the containers.

[anycatd]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

As SAE is the American Specification (Society of Automotive Engineers) similarly I think the specs quoted by you are German or maybe European. By and large you can find (near equivalence) between the two. Quite often you will see dual labelling on the containers.

Read this on a PDF
A5 / B5
For use in high performance car and light commercial petrol and diesel engines designed for low viscosity oils where extended oil change intervals are specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by anycatd

Read this on a PDF
A5 / B5
For use in high performance car and light commercial petrol and diesel engines designed for low viscosity oils where extended oil change intervals are specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

means nothing. Can be said for all lubes. This type of terminology is used by firms to push their own products.

[anycatd]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

means nothing. Can be said for all lubes. This type of terminology is used by firms to push their own products.

From whatever I read online I feel it specifies the type of vehicle in which the oil is to be used.

[nitrous]

Originally Posted by anycatd

Read this on a PDF
A5 / B5
For use in high performance car and light commercial petrol and diesel engines designed for low viscosity oils where extended oil change intervals are specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

This is an ACEA specification.

[Vikram Arya]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My Gypsy has run past 120K Kms. Even when I bought it it was hovering near the 119K mark.
On its recent service at a Maruti Authorised Centre - Green Cars, I moved over to Mobil 0W40 Fully Synthetic Oil after a complete engine flush and I added an engine additive called Atomic engine coating too, to improve efficiency, compression and whatnot.
My Dad and I took the Gypsy for a solid 200km run last Sunday and every step of the way I felt that the Gypsy was performing very well indeed for a 15 year old vehicle.
The engine does run way smoother.
I also added in STP Fuel Injector Cleaner to the last full tank of petrol. I intend doing that again alternately (every two full tanks) over four more more tanks full, because this also, to my mind, really makes a difference to the vehicle.
The vehicle engine is feeling really much better and Im happy. Call it snake oil or whatever you want, it gives me peace of mind.
I think I am staying with Synthetic oil from now on!

Shankar, I would suggest that you use 5W-40 in your Gypsy engine next time when you change your oil.

A lot of polymers has to be added as a part of the adpack to achieve the 0W which is primarily for achieving the cold flow characteristics however as a result of that these oils are less shear stable than let’s a say a 5W-40. Majority of the OEM’s actually don’t recommend 0W-40 oil on account of that reason. The difference in pour point of a 0W-40 and 5W-40 oil is barely 4 to 5C (-47 C vs -53C), something that you don’t need in India.

I actually used to recommend 5W-40 even for my clients in Northern geographies such as Fort McMurray where winter temperature dips to -45C in peak winter.

I have dealt with a number of OEMs including GM, FCA & Ferrari & no one recommends 0W-40 except FCA. FCA only recommends 0W-40 for the SRT engines such as the 6.2 ltr. Supercharged HEMI that pumps out 707 bhp and has extremely high compression ratio. This is an engine with extremely close tolerances something which is not applicable for the 21 year old Gypsy G13BB engine (it was introduced in March 1995).

A full synthetic 5W-40 formulation would give you all the benefits that a 0W-40 would provide and then some more with none of the downsides.

My two cents.

[sgiitk]

@Vikram Arya; I tend to agree with you on the 0W40 and 5W40 in a different light. For my less knowledgeable brethren, let me add that 0W is a misnomer, like a 0W light bulb. I will classify it as <5W. As pointed out by you,Next unless you are in high altitude Ladakh this is almost irrelevant.

Basically and multi-viscosity oil is the low viscosity oil with additives to keep the viscosity of the hot oil above the limit. So a 5W40 is essentially a 5W oil with additives to ensure that the hot oil stays above SAE40. Any oil thins down very rapidly when heated. As a demonstration, in a different context, put some Olive Oil in a pan and warm it up.

I agree that a 5W or a 0W are about the same in real life. Only 0W sounds better marketing wise!

[Chitta Pradhan]

My 10 k service is due. For last 4 services, I am using Mobil 1 fully synthetic & am fully satisfied with its performance. This time I want to go for semi synthetic or mineral oil. Any suggestions. My car is Verna Fluidic CRDI.
I have 1 lit Mobil 1 left with me seal packed. Want to use that too this time. Can I mix fully synthetic with semi synthetic or mineral oil. IMO it should not be a problem. Your take please.
Thanks

[hserus]

You don't need to replace your oil every 2500 km!!

Typically a good fully synthetic will last you a year / 10k kilometres

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

My 10 k service is due. For last 4 services, I am using Mobil 1 fully synthetic & am fully satisfied with its performance. This time I want to go for semi synthetic or mineral oil. Any suggestions. My car is Verna Fluidic CRDI.

Why are you downgrading to semi synthetic? Is it due to the cost?

If you want a less expensive but fully synthetic oil try Shell Helix Ultra.

I have 1 lit Mobil 1 left with me seal packed. Want to use that too this time. Can I mix fully synthetic with semi synthetic or mineral oil. IMO it should not be a problem. Your take please

Mixing is not recommended. Synthetics/semi synthetics/mineral have varying types and quantities of additives which may not play well with each other.

Since the Mobil 1 can is sealed, ask your dealer (assuming the same dealer you bought it from) to set it off against the price of a new can of oil.

[devarshi84]

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

My 10 k service is due. For last 4 services, I am using Mobil 1 fully synthetic & am fully satisfied with its performance. This time I want to go for semi synthetic or mineral oil. Any suggestions. My car is Verna Fluidic CRDI.
I have 1 lit Mobil 1 left with me seal packed. Want to use that too this time. Can I mix fully synthetic with semi synthetic or mineral oil. IMO it should not be a problem. Your take please.
Thanks

I have heard that Liqui moly Oils are good options to mix with other oils. But it is mostly recommended to mix oils of the same brand. So you can mix mobil1 with a mobil semi. A lot of people mix oils for multiple reasons with good results, but there are no proven formulas.

When was your last oil change? 4 oil changes in 10K mileage are a lot of oil changes. If the oil change is less than 2000 kms old on mobil1 and the manual does not call for it, persuade the Dealer to skip it unless it leads to warranty issues.

Originally Posted by R2D2

Why are you downgrading to semi synthetic? Is it due to the cost?

If you want a less expensive but fully synthetic oil try Shell Helix Ultra.

There are a lot of reasons including cost that make semi synths a good choice. Good quality blends are almost half the price of PROPER Synthetic oils. A lot of oils claim to be fully synthetic but are high quality blends. For a car that does not run 15K in a year, semi-synths make a good case. My most recent use of a Semi have been Veedol and Liqui Moly.

Shell helix ultra is a good quality oil. but shell hx7 is less than half the price of Helix ultra.