[sgiitk]

As has been said umpteen times," A little knowledge is a dangerous thing".

[Turbanator]

It's quite an amazing feat that you can actually tell the quality of the oil by checking/looking at it on the dip stick. I have never known anybody else to do be able to do so. Everybody else needs a real laboratroy test to tell whats going on with their oil.

But I am yet to come across any car dealership who will first perform a lab test before recommending an oil change

I remember faintly , some mechanic will pop up dipstick from our old Ambassador and will touch & feel oil - maybe oiliness or whatever but old one did felt differently to new one

[Jeroen]

[quote=Turbanator;3520215]But I am yet to come across any car dealership who will first perform a lab test before recommending an oil change one[quote]


Sure, and probably cheaper too. But for instance in the US you can get these lub oil test done easily. It's interesting now and then, because, if you know how to interpret the result you get a fair idea on wear and tear of your engine. If you ever want to understand the differences between what different oils do to engines the only way is to get a lot of oil samples. Or keep taking your engine apart and measure everything. But for practical reasons just stick to the manufacturer recommended oil chance intervals and whatever you do chance out those filters religiously! Oil last much longer then your filter!

[Chitta Pradhan]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

NVH levels are better off with synthetic and the change interval us longer for synthetic.


I haven't seen any such great difference but my car is silent and smooth. Shall search for any articles for comparison and post it here.

Synthetic oil - 10K kms
Mineral oil - 5K kms.

Anurag.

Hyundai recommends oil change at 10k interval for Verna Diesel with mineral oil. And I am following their recommendations & have not faced any problem till now. I think many other manufactures recommend 10k interval with Mineral oil now a days. If synthetic is also required to be changed at same 10k interval, I do not think it makes any sense for me.

You feel NVH is better with synthetic. Is the improvement tangible? Engine life may become better, but only time can tell, thus am not too keen on this. Any other immediate benefits like increase in FE, power etc. with synthetic?

I am approaching 50k service. At 40k, I was looking for Delvac-1 , but could not fetch one in time & had to use semi-synthetic ( Futura from IOCL). Did not feel semi-synth any better than mineral oil.

If I have to go for Delvac-1, I have to buy 6 lit in advance, since the car consumes 5.3 lit. Should cost me approx 7k with engine flushing, instead of 1.5k for mineral. Net increase in service cost is 5.5k. Should I go for Synthetic then?

Thanks

[straight6]

I've been using the Mobil Super 3000 5W30 for around 800 kms and the car is super smooth and silent. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for that grade .

[a4anurag]

Sorry for the late reply. I don't know how I missed this post of yours.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

Hyundai recommends oil change at 10k interval for Verna Diesel with mineral oil. And I am following their recommendations & have not faced any problem till now. I think many other manufactures recommend 10k interval with Mineral oil now a days. If synthetic is also required to be changed at same 10k interval, I do not think it makes any sense for me.

There is as such no harm to the engine if mineral oil is changed every 10K but I changed it every 5K kms since I have a lot of highway runs. It is upto you whether to stick to mineral or synthetic depending upon your usage.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

You feel NVH is better with synthetic. Is the improvement tangible? Engine life may become better, but only time can tell, thus am not too keen on this. Any other immediate benefits like increase in FE, power etc. with synthetic?

Smoothness is what I have seen to be better off with synthetic. Power, FE may be increasing but I see no change, may not be perceptible. I feel it is just a gimmick by manufacturers to say that the synthetic oil will have an increase in power and FE vis-a-vis mineral oil.

Originally Posted by Chitta Pradhan

If I have to go for Delvac-1, I have to buy 6 lit in advance, since the car consumes 5.3 lit. Should cost me approx 7k with engine flushing, instead of 1.5k for mineral. Net increase in service cost is 5.5k. Should I go for Synthetic then?

You can buy the oil and use it later also and no need to do flushing at all.

Mineral oil 300-400 / lt = 2K
Synthetic oil - 1000 / lt = 5-5.5K

I repeat buddy, if you have the running and are willing to spend that money on every service then please do go ahead.

To give you my usage example:

Usage per day: 102 kms
Usage per month: ~ 3000 kms

So I ideally service my Swift every 3 months that get a bill of 5-7K per service with synthetic oil and no unnecessary jobs.

Anurag.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by csateesh

Karthik1100 - Recommendation would be Mobil 1 5w50

May I know why you are suggesting 5w50 when the manual for Fiesta 1.6 prescribes 5w30? I'd posted the same query on my LTO thread, and the respondents were suggesting 5w40, and that 5w50 would be an overkill.

Incidentally, the trusted S.A. at Mody Ford was also suggesting 5W50.

This apart, the Mobil1 website for India lists only 5W50 and 0w40 types, I don't see any other types.

http://www.mobil1.co.in/products/

Meantime, prices seem to have increased. The quotation I got from a Mobil dealer is Rs 1375 per liter for 5W30 (surprisingly available though not listed in mobil's website) and Rs 1350 for 5w50.

I need inputs fast, as I plan to give my car early next week for service.

Thanks in advance.

[csateesh]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

May I know why you are suggesting 5w50 when the manual for Fiesta 1.6 prescribes 5w30?

Meantime, prices seem to have increased. The quotation I got from a Mobil dealer is Rs 1375 per liter for 5W30 (surprisingly available though not listed in mobil's website) and Rs 1350 for 5w50.

I need inputs fast, as I plan to give my car early next week for service.

Thanks in advance.

Hi vnabhi - Yes I do know that the recommended grade for Fiesta 1.6 is 5w30. I had recommended 5w50 as I haven't seen 5w30 in Bangalore atleast.

Since the ambient temperatures in India are high except a few places going with 5w50 which is slightly thicker at cold temperatures should be a safe option.

But if you are able to find the exact 5w30 pls. go ahead and use the same

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

There is as such no harm to the engine if mineral oil is changed every 10K but I changed it every 5K kms since I have a lot of highway runs.

IMHO, an engine that is utilized for highway running needs reduced frequency of oil changes, not otherwise.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

IMHO, an engine that is utilized for highway running needs reduced frequency of oil changes, not otherwise.

The engine will generate more heat while on a highway run. Hence, oil may degrade earlier due to the breakdown by heat if the car is used more for highway runs.

[JLS]

Originally Posted by saket77

The engine will generate more heat while on a highway run. Hence, oil may degrade earlier due to the breakdown by heat if the car is used more for highway runs.

In my opinion, highway driving means less start/stop, less braking/accelerating. Hence less load on engine (which also results in a better FE by the way) and less heat. This should lead to oil remaining usable (may be there is a more appropriate word) for longer time.

However, on the other hand, highway runs are typically longer and non-stop drives, and may result in a early break down of oil, in case always driven non-stop for 5-6 hours continuously.
If highway drives are with well interspersed with breaks every 2-3 hours, it may help in avoiding oil breakdown due to heat and also may keep engine healthier.

My two cents.

Regards,
JLS

[PatienceWins]

Is anyone using Synthetic oil for Getz Petrol? If so, which one?

My Getz 1.3 has covered 62000 kms and thinking about switching to synthetic in next service. Shell is easily available in shell petrol pumps, so that seems to be a convenient option.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

IMHO, an engine that is utilized for highway running needs reduced frequency of oil changes, not otherwise.

Can you explain why in detail if you don't mind?!

Thanks,

Anurag.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

IMHO, an engine that is utilized for highway running needs reduced frequency of oil changes, not otherwise.

Originally Posted by saket77

The engine will generate more heat while on a highway run. Hence, oil may degrade earlier due to the breakdown by heat if the car is used more for highway runs.

It would be interesting to know what/which component in a lub oil breaks down due to heat? Are you suggesting that your lub oil gets hotter on a motorway run than in city traffic? Again, I don't think so, its not logical.

Truth is that city type of driving is far more detrimental on the engine wear and tear and on the quality of the lub oil then highway runs.

Jeroen

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by latentpotential

My MSM is Thanawala Motors in Thane. They are always happy to use the oil provided by us and change it.

By MSM I mean "Maruti Service Masters", the direct after sales set up of Maruti themselves. The other MASS in my city are accepting our oil.

Originally Posted by creative420

What do you guys prefer? To be there during the oil change or not?

Very much yes. I always take my own oil and tell them I will watch the oil change, before they commence the service. For both car and bike.

I don't feel they will cheat on the oil change, but they may not drain the old oil completely.

Originally Posted by gopa99

I guess thats the reason why branded oems are not doing any counter sale for oil filters at their dealerships. When asked for my hyundai, the store person said politely that oil filters cannot be sold to customers. When asked for a set of wipers, I got them readily

In the Shell oil change facility they stock Bosch filters for most of the common cars. But not many pieces will be in stock. If a couple or two cars of the same model did an oil change on the same day, the filters for that model may go out of stock. So it is always better to buy and take a filter with us. Bosch ones are easily available.