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-   -   ARTICLE: Synthetic oil vs Mineral oil (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifying-car/17917-article-synthetic-oil-vs-mineral-oil-414.html)

My oil change for the 50k kms service of my i20 petrol 1.2 Active has already been done. Even though I should've asked this prior to the service, nevertheless, here it goes -

This time I went with my FNG for the annual service and wanted to procure the engine oil on my own. FNG generally uses Valvoline or Gulf oils. I decided to either go for Shell or Castrol. Due to shortage of time and immense traffic and straight away went to the nearest shell petrol bunk and purchased 5W-30 Shell Helix Fuelsave Fully synthetic oil. Its MRP is 3850.

After the service I was googling over the oils and on Amazon. I saw that this particular Oil is nowhere listed on any e-commerce websites. The same specification oil listed on the Amazon and Flipkart is a silver colored can with a much much lower price tag of just 1800-1900 rupees. Can anyone shed light what's going on here? Are these 2 different oils or I have fallen for the more expensive oil unnecessarily? Refer the below pics, blue can is what I bought and silver can is what is available on e-commerce.




-NA

Shell Helix HX8 is API SN ACEA A3/B4 and an older spec, now phased out but still available. It is still a good oil for BS4 petrol or diesel cars so if you have one, feel free.

Shell Helix Fuelsave is the exact same oil but updated to API SP ACEA A3/B4 so it works for BS6 petrol and BS4 diesel cars.

https://shell-livedocs.com/data/publ...77fdb3c9ab.pdf

Shell pumps will sell their oils at the MRP, with no distributor, dealer etc discounts applied. Don't buy from them unless there is no other option.

So I paid for the certifications and very minute changes which are irrelevant for my 2017 car!!

I thought of saving some money by going to FNG and skipping Hyundai ASS this time, only to overspend on oil. clap: haha!

Thanks for your reply.

PS: I searched more, I could've got imported Shell Rotella or Mannol engine oils at this price point. I think we all learn something when we take matters into our own hands.

Cheers.
-NA

Rotella is a diesel specced oil that won't be of any use to you with a petrol car.

If you want expensive and high specced oils get Mobil1 0w40 (BS6 petrol, BS4 diesel), Castrol Edge 5w40 / Edge LL 5w30 (BS6 petrol as well as diesel), Motul 8100 X-Clean+ 5w30 (BS6 petrol and diesel).

GS Caltex 5w30 is an awesome synthetic oil at a decent price point! Available online as well.

Hi Folks! My City 5th gen Ivtec BS6 is due for 50K service. I was using 5w30 synthetic oil till date. But now thinking of changing to Gulf 5w40. Anyone used this on new city? Manufacturer recommended oil is 5w30. Any thoughts?

This is fine - api sp 5w40 works just fine for bs6 petrol cars. Especially Hondas.

I spent over five years working with a state-run Oil & Gas PSU, where I gained valuable insights into the energy sector. During a team visit to a lube plant, a senior manager with over 15 years of experience in the lube business and a background in chemical engineering shared an interesting perspective on the advantages of synthetic versus mineral oils.

He explained that the benefits of synthetic oil become significant only after the 7,500–8,000 km mark. Up until this point, both synthetic and mineral oils perform similarly. Consequently, mineral oil is the more cost-effective choice if it is priced at half or less of synthetic oil. On the other hand, synthetic oil is a better option if its price does not exceed twice that of mineral oil, considering its superior long-term performance.

Whoever this chap was has no clue what he is talking about, his experience notwithstanding. The price difference between regular & synthetics has come down drastically over the years and whatever little differential there is gets paid for by the longevity and enhanced characterises of the synthetics. To put things into perspective an average Joe spends more on gas (petrol) in a month than he does on an oil change.

In this day and age when a large majority of cars require viscosity grades such as 0W20/0W-16/0W-8 (Toyota recommends the 3rd viscosity grade for a number of their cars in North America); none of these grades can be blended without using some sort of a synthetic formulation. I have always changed the engine oil every 5 to 6,000 km barring the 2 BMWs as they have a much larger sump which dictates their longer oil drain intervals (as is true of most European cars). A good practice is to drain the oil within the first 1,000 km after buying a vehicle as the sump collects microscopic metal shavings as a result of the seating process of various metal surfaces in the engine.

This topic has been covered ad nauseum on the forum and I won't labour the point, bottom line; Synthetics are the norm for today's cars and there's no getting away from that (This is coming from someone who has spent close to 25 years with the energy companies such as Shell & British Petroleum working for their lubricants division.)

@hserus ji. Quick question.
My car is BS4 2015 Etios Petrol. My driving is around 7000 per year, mostly in city and an odd long drive.
What is most value for money ?
a. Semi Synthetic API SN Shell Taxi
b. Full synthetic API SN - Shell
c. Semi synthetic API SP - Shell

The cheapest of all 3. Also look at Castrol, Mobil etc, any 5w30 or 5w40 that meets the required spec will do fine. I’ve used shell taxi before and it is a very capable oil.

I wanted to know which is the best oil for 2014 turbocharged diesel engine. I have been reading that group 4 and group 5 are the best engine oils. It would be wonderful if someone could also tell me about the prices and availability for the same.

If you want group IV/V (PAO and ester rich oils) just go get the most expensive ones from say Mobil or Castrol. Mobil1 0w40, Castrol Edge, Motul 8100 etc.

Use that if and only if your usage goes above 10k a year. Else you're wasting your money.

Here's the Synthetic Oil Bible (from Mobil) I found while doing a lot of research on engine oils. The benefits are explained in an easy to understand and scientific manner with graphs, pics, etc!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NAS...JmSRywXKm/view

It should put to rest any doubts about using synthetic oil! They offer tremendous benefits, both short term and long term.

If you want to save some money as well, go for cheaper but still excellent oils like BIC, GS Caltex, Petronas, etc! I have used GS Caltex fully synthetic in my Swift for the last 10 years and results have been amazing. It also didn't cost much. Many western brands spend a lot on marketing, branding and distribution and then try to sell sub-standard products in Asian markets at high prices! For ex: I feel Castrol isn't that good but is priced high.