"Ancient" 0W-30 Neither GC Nor Green?

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I'm new to this elfen magic stuff, but what can you tell me about the following 0W-30 Castrol Syntec find at an AutoZone?

1) The # on the bottom was M01311xxx....

2) I couldn't find "Made in Germany" anywhere on the bottle.

3) The bottle's style was "squarer" than the GC (M052xxx...) bottles along with it.

4) It didn't mention any specific numbers, but it did have a generic statement about meeting BMW and M-B requirements.

5) The color combo was unlike any GC bottle I've seen before.

6) It said "Not for Sale Outside North America".


From what I've read, am I correct in assuming this is not GC, much less green?
 
It probably has the yellow block around the 0w30 weight on the front. It is the american made group 3 stuff. I've seen plenty of it and have steared clear and you should too. Not anywhere close to GC.
 
Black bottle, good amount of red, yellow block and no sign of any copyright year mention.

Oh yeah, the bottle was leaking/"sweating".
 
Must be this one which is Non-GC:

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Compare it to GC:

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We have a winner!

Vad's first one is the culprit.

Just what in tarnation is an "active lubricant", and how can it be active if the "patented stabilizers" are working?
wink.gif


Maybe it's only moderately active, thereby enabling it to still be controllably stable?
grin.gif


Group III explains why it says no go outside North America.
 
> Group III explains why it says no go outside North America.

GC says that as well. It's probably a labeling issue.

Nevertheless, there apparently are a lot of clear differences between "American" 0w30 and GC. Does Castrol even make the American 0w30 anymore?
 
The last non-GC 0w-30 has been produced sometime in the beginning of 2002, when it's been replaced by GC.
 
I found some with the red label, said "Made in Germany" but either had no batch number or an early batch number like M01xxxx. I looked at the clear side window and it was definitely not green. What is it and is it any good???
 
quote:

I found some with the red label, said "Made in Germany" but either had no batch number

I've found the same thing and they were with a group of GC Green with batch numbers but they looked the same in the sight line. I've also seen them where the batch number ran off the bottle's bottom edge and up the side of the bottle as well as some where the number was all scrunched up and unreadable. Just a problem with the synchronization of the production line.
 
I always thought the "Not for sale outside North america" was for tax/export reasons. But now that I've been enlightened that Europe only considers group III and higher to be synthetic, I don't know what to think.
My AutoZone still has the yellow blocked 0w30, so I keep putting it in front. Unfortunately, they are out of the green batches.

Dave
 
Conspiracy theory. i think its a bait and switch 'Scheme' . Don't they know that we are smarter than that. I cleaned out the last of the GC at the Universal City, TX store today. They now have cases of 'old' 0-30. What gives. Did AZ forget the first in first out theory of inventory management? NAH. Its a plot !
 
quote:

Originally posted by nascarnation:

quote:

Originally posted by Racerjk:

How long will it sit there??


as long as elf fans keep putting it "in front" to hide the good stuff.......
grin.gif


I hate you guys! I get tired of having to dig through that mess for GC.
 
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