Castrol SLX Professional 4718M

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MGregoir

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I just found this oil and picked up a brochure on it at my local GM dealer. I had seen it on the approval list, but never seen it on the shelf or even a data sheet from Castrol on it.

They had it in six by 1 litre cases and said it was custom blended for GM Canada by Castrol (Castrol has a blending plant in Toronto but I did not verify the origin as being Canada). The dealerships are the only places you can get it and they are pushing it for synthetic oil changes. I should copy down the data, but they had the ILSAC GF-4 standards for deposit control, viscosity increase, etc. posted alongside those of the 4718 standard, and then showing the SLX exceeding it.

Traditionally GM's synthetic product for those applications was Mobil 1 5W-30.

I was surprised with the migration of GM to Petro-Canada for many of their packaged fluids and bulk oil in Canada to see Castrol there. Petro-Canada recently introduced a 5W-30 oil that meets Honda HTO-06, and every HTO-06 oil meets 4718M as well so it might be a fluid that could pass that battery of tests as well.

I have a feeling this stuff is uber expensive (I didn't ask how much six litres was) but it looks like it is for sure a better oil than Syntec and might be an oil more in the vein of Edge and Castrol's European synthetics. Be nice to get specs or try it out.
 
$8.95 a litre is the price, $53.70 for a case, and Goodwrench is pushing it for their "synthetic oil changes" now.
 
Plenty of references on Castrol's site about this stuff. Just none of them in English ..ooops Oz's got a line on it ..lots in Europe ..effen Ostreeah ain der Neder-lands ...ach!

Maybe it's SLX Professional OE 5w-30
54.gif


ach!
 
Castrol has apparently launched a campaign for OE oil specs under the SLX Professional name tag-- Last year they discontinued the Castrol TXT oil that met Volkswagen's diesel 505.01 spec and replaced it with "Castrol SLX Professional OE" The old TXT was a synthetic and the SLX Professional OE is also synthetic. The TXT was rated 5W40 but the SLX Professional OE carries a 5W30 designation...


I used the SLX Professional OE for the last oil change on the wife's diesel Beetle (see sig). It is approved for the manufacturer's recommended OCI on VW TDI's of 10,000 miles. So far so good. She got 49.6mpg on a trip down to Nashville a few weeks ago, with the car approx halfway through its OCI (5000 miles on the SLX Professional OE from last oil change), and she *said* she had to maintain about 80mph to "keep from getting run over" on the interstate. She made an Indianapolis trip a year ago on castrol TXT and averaged 46mpg (EPA sticker on the car was 38/46). Not sure if the mpg increase can be attribted to the SLX OE, though-- too many variables.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
$8.95 a litre is the price


GC costs $8.54 per liter now at Walmart, so the price of this new stuff isn't that much more. Very interesting!
 
The brochure specifically mentioned 11% NOACK volatility (4718 requires 13% max, GF-4 requires 15% max), lower piston deposits than 4718 requires (it is a relative scale that higher is better and it scored a 6.9, to pass GF-4 is 3.5 I believe, I will dig out the paper tomorrow.)

SM/GF-4 5W-30 rated 4718M rules out the oils on that link, none of them mention the 4718M spec, none are SM/GF-4 energy conserving and few are 5W-30.

I wonder if Castrol tech would e-mail me a spec sheet. It was interesting getting the brochure to find out some of the components of 4718M. I think between HTO-06 and 4718M those are the two gold standards for "North American" style 5W-30 oils.
 
Quote:
I think between HTO-06 and 4718M those are the two gold standards for "North American" style 5W-30 oils.


Agree. Thanks for sharing.
 
I find this really interesting - In the US, Mobil usually makes GM oils, and is the rec. Corvette fill. If you go to a GM dealership and ask for for syn oil change, I'd assume you get Mobil 1.

In Canada, PC makes GM oils, but the same situation exists with Dealership oil changes - if you ask for a syn oil change, I think you get Mobil 1. The fact that Castrol has manged to 'penetrate' the GM oil-deals system, and become the 'recommended' oil to use for synthetic oil changes I think is big news. Castrol never had much to do with GM in the past.

Thanks for the news!
 
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
lower piston deposits than 4718 requires (it is a relative scale that higher is better and it scored a 6.9,


Quite an improvement for Castrol. Syntec scores 26.4 vs Mobil 1's 5.3
 
I just called Castrol US in NJ. The girl didn't know if this line of oils will be released in the U.S. They were only released a month ago. Looks like they are finally getting serious about the syn lube market.
 
Originally Posted By: OilGuy
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
lower piston deposits than 4718 requires (it is a relative scale that higher is better and it scored a 6.9,


Quite an improvement for Castrol. Syntec scores 26.4 vs Mobil 1's 5.3


That's a different scale, I believe in the TEOST test, and it is done by mass if I remember right. Somebody who does remember right, or has the link can correct me.

The three stats they posted are:

NOACK volatility: GF-4 requires 15%, 4718M requires 13%, and this SLX is 11%.

Viscosity increase in Sequence IIIG: GF-4 is 150%, 4718M is 90%, and SLX is 75%.

Weighted piston deposit rating (higher is better): GF-4 is 3.5 minimum, 4718M is 5.5 minimum, and SLX is 6.9.

They also have pictures of pistons pulled out after testing, this is of course marketing material, and the SLX piston is quite clean and noticeably less worn on the thrust side than the reference oil. I don't know what it actually means (they don't exactly show a Mobil 1 piston), but it looks good.

I would love to get a copy of the TDS and MSDS for this to try and deduce what it is and how it does it. Could be a good "secret" oil, possibly.
 
Eh ..well, the rest is what we spend our time on in between this type of posts. Think of it as "busy work" ..polishing the fire truck ...weight lifting in the recreational area between riots in the cell block.....
 
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
That's a different scale..


Good point - definitely need to compare apples to apples.
 
I would like to see a link to what Honda's HTO-06 spec actually entails, and what 4718M entails besides the few things I posted. It would be interesting to try and compile specifications as a cross-reference, so if an oil meets a given set of specifications you may be able to interpret it as meeting others it was not tested for.

For example, I would go out on a limb and assume any of the three oils that pass HTO-06 pass 4718M. Petro-Canada Turbo 5W-30 passes HTO-06 and meets the spec for 6094M but is not licensed for anything except HTO-06 and SM/GF-4.
 
well m1 5w-30 is on both lists right? So the numbers from each test have to be out there.
 
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
I would like to see a link to what Honda's HTO-06 spec actually entails, and what 4718M entails besides the few things I posted. It would be interesting to try and compile specifications as a cross-reference, so if an oil meets a given set of specifications you may be able to interpret it as meeting others it was not tested for.

For example, I would go out on a limb and assume any of the three oils that pass HTO-06 pass 4718M. Petro-Canada Turbo 5W-30 passes HTO-06 and meets the spec for 6094M but is not licensed for anything except HTO-06 and SM/GF-4.


I would too. I think the one area Mobil 1 really excels in is deposit/sludge control.
 
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