I did a search for posts regarding my subject, and found a couple, but nothing much said. Is anyone else noticing if Castrol GTX in 5W 30 or 10W 30 is causing varnish? Or, is varnish indicative of too long an OCI and subject to any brand of oil?
Castrol GTX's varnish?
- Thread starter SFCP
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Yeah the varnish and black powder deposits have me concerned too. I thought I was going with GTX.
Old post but worth the reading, if you search hard enough you may find some more post
http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/s...=true#Post29948
http://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/s...=true#Post29948
Skrew it! I'm about ready to go back to what I began using 2 years ago, (Vavloline All Climate). The only thing I've ever heard is that the add pack is weak, but I've never heard about varnish, sludge using a reasonable OCI on it. And I've never heard of Valvoline having black deposits in their virgin motor oil. Every other brand out there, with Havoline being the exception, has causged problems in motors in recent years past.
Triple_Se7en
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I always thought the varnish was a result of higher temps/hotter engine/oil.
I can certainly concurr that you will get varnish using Castrol GTX. My shop used that on all cars for 12 years if the custoomer did not want to pay for Redline. All cars that used Castrol got varnish over time. The cars were VW, Lotus, Alfa Romeo,Porsche,Fiat, and Audi.
GEEZ!!!.... it's back to Valvoline for me... (possibly, anyway) I'd use Havoline, but sometimes, I like to have a shop change my oil when I'm feeling lazy during the zero degree temps and none of the oil change shops carry it, but plenty of Valvoline and they just opened a Valvoline Instant Oil Change facility around the corner from my home.
If they're talking about fine residue at the bottom of a quart bottle, I've seen the same thing recently with Pennzoil SM. I thought it was just additive settling out that you normally don't see with a darker colored bottle. The fact that Castrol GTX is in a white bottle probably makes it stand out as well. Since noticing this, I've switched to Havoline, but I still shake all oil bottles before pouring them in an engine.
I can report varnish in my TR3 after 25,000 miles on GTX in rebuilt engine. I can also report zero varnish using Mobil 1 after 90,000 on my Mazda Miata. Hope to convert the TR3 over to mobil 1 shortly.
Varnish traditionally is generated by fuel components.
Is the TR3 having fuel loading issues, possibly piston ring blowby, putting excessive fuel vapors into the crankcase?
As far as this recent report of varnish on a dipstick, a wise move would be to check the PCV system, as it sounds like the crankcase is trying to vent thru the dipstick tube.
Not all staining or discoloration on engine components is a direct result of poor performance by the motor oil.
Is the TR3 having fuel loading issues, possibly piston ring blowby, putting excessive fuel vapors into the crankcase?
As far as this recent report of varnish on a dipstick, a wise move would be to check the PCV system, as it sounds like the crankcase is trying to vent thru the dipstick tube.
Not all staining or discoloration on engine components is a direct result of poor performance by the motor oil.
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