[anjan_c2007]

My experiences with the Castrol Magnatec has been superb.Its one of the best in the market.Under dusty conditions of rural use, oil changes need to be much more frequent.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Btw, which car do you have? Asking because I'd like to know which manufacturer is forcing you to use oil this way. As far as I remember, we only used the Maruti oil (MGO) once in the Esteem... at the 1st service. After that it was something else. And as far as I can remember, there was no threat about voiding the warranty over this

I have a Corolla Altis. Ex owner of a 9G Corolla, OHC and an Esteem. The owners manual does not explicitly say that you have to use their genuine motor oil which is the Idemitsu crap made by Savita Chemicals. In the 9G owner days, I asked the dealer and he advised me not to take a risk and stick to the GMO.

My experience with the OHC and Honda's dealer was a little weird. The Honda dealer was actually one step worse, he refused to change the oil if it wasnt GMO even after the car was out of the warranty. It was only my power of persuasion that got the workshop mgr to accede to my request in the post warranty period.

Trust me, life's simpler with a Maruti. I used Magnatec in my Esteem even when new without a worry about the warranty.

Rgds,

[Raccoon]

Hmmm... totally unacceptable on Hondas part. If the dealer refuses to use the oil you want (esp. after warranty), then I'd just go to some other garage and get the job done. Actually thats what I do as of now, as I'd want to get it done in front of me.

Why are you calling Idemitsu crap??? Is it really THAT bad??

[sgiitk]

@R2D2 i never had problems with Maruti or Hyundai. I provide my own oil and they change it happily for me. With Hyundai since the first year's consumables are included in the price, I did this after a year.

[swathyd]

Have anybody used valvoline durablend which claims to have semi synhtetic properties . It is cheaper to magnatec .

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Dude, this depends quite a bit on your riding style, and where you drive. In general, if your driving is mostly in crowded cities, then change oil more frequently. On the other hand, if its mostly steady highway driving, then you can stretch the oil change quite a bit.

my drivingis 50% city 50% highway.

Why did you change from Motul to Magnatec?? I'd be inclined to do the reverse!

but i m .

do you mean to say Motul is better than castrol Magnatec.

I was always a fan of castrol back from the days of my junior college when i was barely 18 and used to fill up the castrol 2T pouches in my 60cc Sunny Zip. (had a 50cc license after i was 16) even today i use power1 in my caliber.

Now this is news to me . Motul is better than castrol. Please give more info on this. I never knew motul was so good.

Can other lancer owners shed light on what oil do their A.S.S. use?

frankly i did not notice much diff in the 2

[Raccoon]

Leadf00t, it seems you are another victim of clever and dubious marketing. :(

Can you just strip away all the hype created by Castrol for a moment? What do you find so special about Castrol? Lets take just one eg.: you are talking about 2t. I presume you must have been talking about Castrol Super TT pouches. I had made the mistake of trying that oil once too (years ago). It was one of the worst oils I had tried - bike/moped (had both that time) used to smoke like a smoke bomb. Ok, thats a slight exaggeration, but thats what I'd say after comparing it to the other better oils that were available in the market that time. Also, I felt it decreased acceleration a bit and very likely left lotta deposits in the engine! Now the best part is that the better brands I had used advertised way less than Castrol! So they were li'l cheaper than Castrol and much BETTER!!! Super TT, at that time, was better when compared to BPCL (and other PSU) 2t products. So most people not much informed about other brands (and helped by effective marketing), quickly started perceiving Super TT as a superior product.

I have mentioned a few v valid points in an earlier post here, against Castrol's marketing... esp. wrt Magnatec (& its dubious claims about sticking to engine walls) and Power 1. So I wont repeat again... In fact, now that I'm talking about it, many more points come to mind.

You could do some research about this online, if you need more details.

As for Motul, its quite a reputed brand dude! Their bike oils esp. have quite a fan following. Actually, its quite difficult for an end user to make comments about something like engine oil because there are SOOOOOOOOOOO many factors that we have no way of testing. In general, most major companies have similar/comparable products. There is no rationale in thinking that Castrol is in any way better than Motul.

[sgiitk]

@Raccoon: Till a few years back Castrol was the only 'non sarkari' oil available. The other brand Veedol was available in very few places. Petrol pumps were forbidden from selling 'other brands' so many used to keep in the back room.

So we all developed a liking for Castrol. I guess this habit has continued. Also, this is what led to massive faking of Castrol lubricants. Remember for a short period Castrol was renamed Indrol as per the diktat of New Delhi.

[Raccoon]

Yes, thats true. When compared to PSU products of that time, Castrol was better. Now there are loads more options. Even the PSUs have improved products now...

The bottomline is, the best products are not necessarily the ones that are most hyped about.

[Shashank.A]

Originally Posted by simply_sunny001

From where exactly did you buy this Shashank ? my zen is nearing 60k service

please give exact address and phone number.

thanks

I bought it from a shop near my place. Harpreet Lubricants, near Patel Nagar Metro station.

Rates in my part of world are usually cheaper than what people on t-bhp pay generally. Maybe it has something to do with proximity to Karol Bagh.

[Shashank.A]

Originally Posted by swathyd

Have anybody used valvoline durablend which claims to have semi synhtetic properties . It is cheaper to magnatec .

It is similarly priced as Magnatec, a small variation only.

[simply_sunny001]

Originally Posted by Shashank.A

I bought it from a shop near my place. Harpreet Lubricants, near Patel Nagar Metro station.

Rates in my part of world are usually cheaper than what people on t-bhp pay generally. Maybe it has something to do with proximity to Karol Bagh.

Thanks shashank
i just wanted to make sure i buy from a reliable store cos there is a lot of duplicate stuff in castrol these days.

Do they stock other things like engine flush etc.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Yes, thats true. When compared to PSU products of that time, Castrol was better. Now there are loads more options. Even the PSUs have improved products now...

The bottomline is, the best products are not necessarily the ones that are most hyped about.

Agreed.

I would however avoid the so called <x> Genuine Oil where <x> is a vehicle manufacturer. You end up paying a Premium for nothing other than a re-badged oil from the same firm.

[Raccoon]

^^^Yes, the higher cost is most probably to pay for royalties to the auto manufacturer. But I guess its not always more expensive - for eg. Hero Honda oils retail for about 170 approx. Considering the long drain period, they offer best VFM, compared to any other oil. I guess one reason for that would be that they dont really have to spend much on marketing. Dunno how it is in cars. After the 1st can of MGO for our Esteem (IIRC it was manuf. by IOC), have never bought any "genuine oil since then (xcept HH)".

[aerohit]

What about Castrol Tranmission oil?

I am running normal Maruti (shell) oil in my swift, but dont really like the way gears feel.