Hi. I was wondering how well Castrol Products compare to other name brand products. I have been using CastrolGTX non-synthetic oil and I was wondering if there was any reason I should change brands. The most available top names would be QuakerState, Valvoline, Pennzoil. Are these brands any better than Castrol? I live in a very cold climate (-30 degrees Celcius some days in January and February. I had condensation problems with QuakerState in my 1987 Chevette so I switched to Castrol and it seemed to cure the problem. What do you guys think? I drive a 2000 jeep cherokee with a 4 litre engine. Thanks for your input.
Castrol Products?
- Thread starter Slippy345
- Start date
- Status
I have used GTX in the past and it worked well for me. If you will look in the used oil analysis section you will find that Castrol products hold us as well or better than most. Ugly3 is right....not much difference between the name brand dinos (Castrol, Havoline, Pennzoil, etc.). Havoline is what I am currently using. It has shown great results and is 2/3 the cost of most dinos. If you like using Castrol....don't change. It will work as well as any.
Rather than get Brand specific, you might want to find out what viscosity range the Jeep prefers. I think many on the board have felt it prefers a slightly thicker oil (40wt.) when the climate is moderate.
Whether the Jeep is garaged, plugged-in, or has to do unaided cold starts will make a big difference in selection, too.
No problems with Castrol products, but ask it as more of a Jeep specific question and you'll get a lot more responses.
You've got a lot more options in Canada than the brands you mention.
Whether the Jeep is garaged, plugged-in, or has to do unaided cold starts will make a big difference in selection, too.
No problems with Castrol products, but ask it as more of a Jeep specific question and you'll get a lot more responses.
You've got a lot more options in Canada than the brands you mention.
I agree with the synthetic recommendation. At those cold temps, dino would be like molasses. You being in Canada have the opportunity to use the Esso oils (in Texas that's virtually impossible to get). Or you could use Mobil 1 but I'm not so sure I'd be using dino in that climate. A 0w30 or 5w30 syn will suit you pretty good I would think.
There's probably so much change among products and companies that it's hard to say whether or not product A of brand X is a great thing all the time. There's so much consolidation and buyouts of oil companies. It's suspected that some of the larger companies are saving money buy making one formula and selling it as multiple brands.
The formulation for Castrol oils sold in the US may be very different than those sold elsewhere. In the past Castrol North America had to buy their base fluids. Now that they're owned by BP, I'd imagine they'd buy from new sources (maybe even BP).
The formulation for Castrol oils sold in the US may be very different than those sold elsewhere. In the past Castrol North America had to buy their base fluids. Now that they're owned by BP, I'd imagine they'd buy from new sources (maybe even BP).
Living in Canada has a lot of advanatages and one of them is that we get to use one of the best oils in the world---ESSO XD-3 OW30. It is a Full Synthetic oil at a great price of less than $4 per litre. Your jeep will love it, especially in the winter on those cold starts. Find a ESSO bulk dealer in your area, there was a list somewhere--use the search. Extending the oil drain is possible with this oil but it is not necessary to make it cost effective with the low price. Roger
The key with Castrol these days is what affect the BP acquisition has. My guess is BP will maintain Castrol's reputation as a good high performance oil.
Basically with conventional oil you want a base component that has had it's wax removed and a good additive package that handle pollutants and can deal with the different extreme pressure occurrences in the engine. So I'd keep an eye on the MSDS for the mix of Group II oils and VOAs for a relative sense of the additive package.
Basically with conventional oil you want a base component that has had it's wax removed and a good additive package that handle pollutants and can deal with the different extreme pressure occurrences in the engine. So I'd keep an eye on the MSDS for the mix of Group II oils and VOAs for a relative sense of the additive package.
Good products but I had one problem with them. Their Syntec is a synthetic by court decision not chemistry. It can be the best oil in the world but I don't like that kind of marketing. They get the same price as real synthetic with a cheaper base product. I guess it's just business as usual because 99 percent of the consumers will never know and in the end it's a good enough oil. When they went through all that stuff with the Mobil law suit to stop the labeling of their oil as synthetic a lot of friends that would only use Castrol stopped and have never gone back. They said that if Castrol would do 'that' then what else do they do with their formulas that we don't know about.
FYI- Gruppe III oils are indeed "synthetic" because they've undergone "synthesis". Please refer to either a professional Chemistry Manual or the correct decision of the Trade Assoc, what you refer to as "court". I have read every page of that tedious document, the commonplace use of synthesis {[Latin] (Sun) -together + (Tithenai) -to put } , THE IDEA OF COMBINING DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES TO MAKE A NEW ONE DOES NOT APPLY TO Chemical Synthesis! A substance need only be "changed signifigantly". So, as I see it, synthetic is the WRONG term to describe the oil, a simple and exact referecnce to the base stock (PAO or whatever), would be far more accurate and usefull. Time to put this puppy to sleep people.
I've heard that when Mobil first came out with Mobil 1, the chemists preferred the term "synthesized hydrocarbon", but lost to marketing that preferred "synthetic". If that had been the choice years ago, I don't believe Group III base oil could have been mistaken for Group IV/V.quote:
Originally posted by Audi Junkie:
FYI- Gruppe III oils are indeed "synthetic" because they've undergone "synthesis". Please refer to either a professional Chemistry Manual or the correct decision of the Trade Assoc, what you refer to as "court". I have read every page of that tedious document, the commonplace use of synthesis {[Latin] (Sun) -together + (Tithenai) -to put } , THE IDEA OF COMBINING DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES TO MAKE A NEW ONE DOES NOT APPLY TO Chemical Synthesis! A substance need only be "changed signifigantly". So, as I see it, synthetic is the WRONG term to describe the oil, a simple and exact referecnce to the base stock (PAO or whatever), would be far more accurate and usefull. Time to put this puppy to sleep people.
We've already seen brake fluid marketed as "synthetic". Perhaps this will apply to our food products, where Crisco (w/ hydrogenated oils) will be marketed as "synthetic shortening" because hydrogen has has been pumped in at high temps and pressure.
- Status
