Mineral or Synthetic Oil?


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sorry posting again in short time. just through place where to get shell helix ultra. Is it suitable for both petrol and diesel engines as i don't see anything where it says its for diesel engine's !
 
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THe reason for later engines to use lower viscous oils why because newer engine clearances between the moving parts are very very less comparing to the older engines. So they need lighter oils to slip through it as fast as possible. Since the clearance of older engines are higher, they are also tend to consume more engine oil even though it is higher is viscosity grade. But newer engines with even more lighter oil tend to consume only very little amount of oil. This is what I got to know when searching answers for the same.

Everybody speak about the selection of the engine oil grade only with respect to the climatic condition of that region to where we are going to use that vehicle. IMO that concept it really wrong.
Years back we had 20w-40 or 20w-50 grade engine oils in most of our engines, which was recommended by the manufacturer in those times.
But today most of the manufacturer started recommending 5w-30 for the same region for their newer engines, isn't it?.
We know how much temperature has raised in our region during the past 20 years. But still the grade of oil is lowered instead of increasing. So the point is engine oil viscosity recommended to an engine is not completely proportional to the region's climatic condition. There are also other things which matters for the selection of perfect grade of engine oil for a particular engine.

Do you remember in which region this 0w-20 grade oil used in that honda vehicle?
Asking you why because, recently I came to know 0w-20 is started using in newer Kseries engnes from my MASS, for validating it I wrote a letter to MARUTI asking about it and their reply was positive. I even made a call to the MARUTI AREA SERVICE MANAGER and made double sure with him about the usage of 0W-20. When I presented these things including the contact details of that MARUTI SM, the feedback I got from our TIA forum is really pathetic. [surprise]

Ya when I was looking for synthetic oil for the gear box, about 99% the feedback that I got from the enthus/experts are they do give only a very less difference in smoothness, so it better to invest that money for the better synth oil for the engine.
Sorry for the late reply,but did ask around in two places and they are not using anything less than 30w for A star here in Bangalore(they require a circular to authorize), as a friend i would suggest you do what you feel best for your car,i am feeling the suggestions from MASS can be misleading ,as an example if NASA can fill liquid oxygen in the past in its capsule(highly flammable) its a pointer that no one is perfect.

We are knowledgeable at a level & i have realized its the diesel cars that need to be careful with the Oil grades.The petrols seems to do well always its just the seals that need looking after.(So you can rest easy about it)I remember one of our Santros being close to 1.5Lk km & doing fine ,it used Servo mineral oil.
As for the old & new oil viscosity factor,the APi rating suggests diff composition & i am beginning to believe what "Viru" said about Mineral oil being more semi Syn nowadays . Some of the older engines regardless of viscosity use additives for newer engine oils,older engines prefer Zinc additives or such softener additives.

The APi grades are adapting to newer engines leaving out the old.If you look in the manual there is a suggested Api grade.

PS- Please pm me the maruti contact details.
i tried some months ago & got hold of a call center & when i asked them a technical question they said i need to contact regional office,they gave me the number & i confirmed the number twice & next day called to find out it was a paper mill number[frustration]
 
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Sorry for the late reply,but did ask around in two places and they are not using anything less than 30w for A star here in Bangalore(they require a circular to authorize), as a friend i would suggest you do what you feel best for your car,i am feeling the suggestions from MASS can be misleading ,as an example if NASA can fill liquid oxygen in the past in its capsule(highly flammable) its a pointer that no one is perfect.

We are knowledgeable at a level & i have realized its the diesel cars that need to be careful with the Oil grades.The petrols seems to do well always its just the seals that need looking after.(So you can rest easy about it)I remember one of our Santros being close to 1.5Lk km & doing fine ,it used Servo mineral oil.
As for the old & new oil viscosity factor,the APi rating suggests diff composition & i am beginning to believe what "Viru" said about Mineral oil being more semi Syn nowadays . Some of the older engines regardless of viscosity use additives for newer engine oils,older engines prefer Zinc additives or such softener additives.

The APi grades are adapting to newer engines leaving out the old.If you look in the manual there is a suggested Api grade.

PS- Please pm me the maruti contact details.
i tried some months ago & got hold of a call center & when i asked them a technical question they said i need to contact regional office,they gave me the number & i confirmed the number twice & next day called to find out it was a paper mill number[frustration]
Yes the recommended hot viscous grade for the A-star is 30 and this 0w-20 is not the necessary grade for this car. What I got to know from Maruti Regional Manager(Calicut,Kerala) is, "5W30 is the recommended engine oil in A star vehicle. 0W20 is a superior grade engine oil used in OBD-II compliance vehicles and it is also compatible for the car A-star.". Viru asked me how it is related to OBD compliance. Actually I don't know the reason why.


Similarly, One of my family member had m800, before selling it off he drove it close to 2L kms with the usage of recommended grade of mineral oils and without an engine overhaul. So I know it well.
Prads, I'm not against to mineral oils, and no where I said mineral oils are bad for engines. I think you have mistaken it. "OEM oils are not going to harm unless you dont abuse your engine or you change the oil regularly. Yes in this case OEM oils are good." This is what I said to Mr.Srinivas

Check your Inbox for the contact details.
 
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Hi friends,
I have swift vdi which clocked around 73000 km.I want to use synthetic engine oil from now which is best synthetic engine oil for swift vdi before this is i used only 15w40 mineral engine oil? And how is castrol edge with titanium technology 5w40 engine oil. Please reply
 
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Have not been closely monitoring this thread for a long time. But thought I will share my personal experience with semi-synthetic oil.

On my Ertiga, I replaced mineral oil in 5K after the initial running-in period (recommended interval is only 10K). At 10K I was contemplating whether to go for synthetic or mineral, last moment I decided to go with mineral oil itself. I faced same dilemma at 20k service as well & this time went with semi-synthetic oil supplied by Maruti itself (MGDO - Maruti Genuine Diesel Oil).

Result: Engine definitely felt much smoother when I took delivery of the vehicle and continues to be smooth. And there is marginal increase in fuel efficiency as well. It used to give an average of 16.5 to 17kmpl earlier & now consistently 17.5 or more (1 kmpl increase), which is good. Now, I am tempted to try fully synthetic oil. [:)]

Though I don't have conclusive answer or evidence to say whether synthetic oil is good for engine life, from my experience 2 good points - engine feels smoother and efficiency is marginally higher.
 
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MGDO is not semi-synthetic neither is their Petrol Engine oil. Apart from a few European car manufacturers no one is using either Semi- or fully Synthetic due to the cost I guess. Trying to keep the servicing bill and maintenance cost in control. Try Helix AX7 10W40 for your diesel car. Its a perfect blend between semi and fully, cost and economy.
 
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Hi
I have question in my mind that is
why it not recommended to change the engine oil to synthetic if it been running on mineral engine oil for more than 75000km. Please reply.
 
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Hi
I have question in my mind that is
why it not recommended to change the engine oil to synthetic if it been running on mineral engine oil for more than 75000km. Please reply.
Hi Brijesh,

A high mileage engine running with mineral oil must have thick sludge deposits in it.
Even if your pistons rings are worn, these sludge covers all those leaks and makes it as leak proof to an extend.

Advanced Synthetic engine oil contains additives to remove all those sludge inside the engine and if we have worn out seals then this engine oil will leaks through it, because Synthetic oils can slip through any tiny spaces.

As long as your engine's seals are in decent shape there is nothing wrong in switching to synthetic oil. Be sure to do engine flush, so that a good amount of sludge can be removed even before adding the synthetic oil.

Regards.,
Kiran.
 
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Yes Kiran. This is the reason I heard before too, but wasn't too convinced. But this rises another interesting question.

Does it mean, if we continue to use synthetic oil for 75,000 - 100,000 kms there will be leakage issues (which could have been avoided if mineral oil was used)?
 
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Yes Kiran. This is the reason I heard before too, but wasn't too convinced. But this rises another interesting question.

Does it mean, if we continue to use synthetic oil for 75,000 - 100,000 kms there will be leakage issues (which could have been avoided if mineral oil was used)?
Hi Dhanu,

Actually I'm not sure about that[roll]

Anyways, what I got to know about synthetic engine oil is, these kinds of minor cracks and wears of engine which can lead to oil leaks and engine inefficiencies can be avoided with the continuous usage of synthetic engine oil. So when we are at 75,000 - 100,000 kms, most probably we may wont even have such cracks or wears so as to experience these kinds of leaking issue.[;)]

Regards.,
Kiran.
 
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Synthetic OR Frequent Mineral Oil Change : Your Thoughts.

There is lots of discussion on Synthetic VS Mineral Oil. We all know Synthetic are better and can give longer oil change intervals.

My oil change is nearing, hence getting many thoughts in my mind [;)].

Scenario 1:
I was thinking, if I change Synthetic oil every 10,000 Kms, why not change Mineral oil every 5,000 Kms, this will be cheaper, and oil will be much cleaner and do lesser damage to the engine.

Scenario 2:
If i change Mineral oil every 3,500 Kms, and still be at similar cost levels as changing Synthetic oil. I think it will be better for the engine as it will have nice clean un-burnt oil in the car all the time.

What are your thoughts on this ?
 
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Re: Synthetic Gear Oil?

Hi everybody,

Anybody here using/used Synthetic GEAR OIL?
Did you find any noticeable benefits from it?
I am using Synthetic Gear oil, Synthetic oils have same weight as a normal oil. You wont feel any difference, it just lasts longer. So it will do less wear over time.
 
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Re: Synthetic OR Frequent Mineral Oil Change : Your Thoughts.

There is lots of discussion on Synthetic VS Mineral Oil. We all know Synthetic are better and can give longer oil change intervals.

My oil change is nearing, hence getting many thoughts in my mind [;)].

Scenario 1:
I was thinking, if I change Synthetic oil every 10,000 Kms, why not change Mineral oil every 5,000 Kms, this will be cheaper, and oil will be much cleaner and do lesser damage to the engine.

Scenario 2:
If i change Mineral oil every 3,500 Kms, and still be at similar cost levels as changing Synthetic oil. I think it will be better for the engine as it will have nice clean un-burnt oil in the car all the time.

What are your thoughts on this ?
another thing is that synthetic flows much better than a mineral on a range on temperatures so it quickly circulates in engine at at startup which protects it better. synthetic also has less friction resistance for the engine.
 
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