Castrol v. Other Dino

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C

CROW

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Aug 5, 2002
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Tulsa, OK.
Dumb question, but here goes. This is causing a dilema for me. Been reading this board for a couple months and find it tremendously interesting. I have used Castrol GTX for over 20 years and have always gotten excellent service from my vehicles. I change oil "a lot". Oddly enough I started using Castrol in the late 1970's when a Honda dealer told me they had had several cars significantly decrease oil consumption when the owners switched from Pennzoil to Castrol (course that is historical now). Even though I have gotten what I consider good results from Castrol GTX, I am considering a change back to Pennzoil 10W30 since, after reading this board, Pennzoil is Group II+ and Castrol GTX is Group II and some seem to have other issues with Castrol GTX. I would definitely also consider Chevron, but it is not readily available in this area in 10W30. I can read the data sheets, but do they really tell the whole story? I would appreciate any thoughts on this potential change. I use Castrol GTX 10W30 in a 99 Honda Accord 4cyl(48K), a 92 Camry 4cyl (126K).
 
Crow, I have also used Castrol GTX for a long time, in several vehicles, with no lubrication problems. GTX seems to work very well in the "real world", so I'm sticking with it.... I change the oil and filter every 4-5K miles.
 
One thing that confuses me is that on Bob's recent virgin sample of GTX, it had about 66ppm of moly, but on the virgin sample on the Maxima.org spreadsheet, it showed none. Perhaps they only started adding it with the SL formulation? I'm still wondering if Pennzoil's 10w30 and 5w30 have moly, like their 15w40 long life does? I see the high mileage Pennzoil has a little bit, but not as much as I thought it would have. Although I don't think we've had a definitive answer yet on how much moly is needed in an oil. Some say Redline at 500-600ppm is overkill, but I wonder if the oils with moly in the 50ppm range will be effective at all? I guess this is another reason I chose to go with Schaeffers, as I figure their 170ppm of moly is probably just about right. Not too much, not too little, just right. Reminds me of the Three Bears! [Razz]
 
quote:
Originally posted by TheLoneRanger: Crow, I have also used Castrol GTX for a long time, in several vehicles, with no lubrication problems. GTX seems to work very well in the "real world", so I'm sticking with it.... I change the oil and filter every 4-5K miles.
I currently have Castrol GTX 5w-30 in my Passat 1.8T turbo engine. It was put in by the dealer at 5000 miles and I was thinking about changing it at 7500 since I don't trust dino to last more than 3000 miles in a turbo engine (owner's manual recommends 5000 intervals). But I'm glad to see these results and I may wait until 10k miles before changing it. Anybody have any thoughts about leaving Castrol GTX in for 5000 miles in a turbo engine?
 
Patman: As for as I know, the Pennzoil 5W30 and 10W30 do not have moly in them. CROW: I am a big believer in the old saying "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It". If you have been using Castrol for over 20 years and you have not had any problems, stay with it. They do make a good product.
 
I would only ask, were you using a 5W30 oil when you had the oil consumption and how much? Most 5W30 oil are volatile and allow some blow-by. If you were using 5W30, try the Castrol GTX 10W30 or the Pennzoil 10W30 and see if the oil consumption drops with hihger viscosity oil. Then do used oil analysis to see what affect it has on your engine and how far the oil can actually go.
 
Regarding using Castrol GTX in a 1.8t VW for 5K miles, I personally wouldn't trust the dino oil to go the distance. In this high-performance engine you're better off with a synthetic, such as Mobil1 0W40. BTW, my Audi dealer puts in the same Castrol oil too, if you let him, but I won't have it in my 2.7t.
 
VeeDub, I have to agree with Williar. As good as GTX is, I would only run a synthetic in a turbo engine, because of the extra heat that is generated. The syns coke at a much higher temperature than do the minerals. Mobil1 10W-30, maybe?
 
quote:
Originally posted by TheLoneRanger: VeeDub, I have to agree with Williar. As good as GTX is, I would only run a synthetic in a turbo engine, because of the extra heat that is generated. The syns coke at a much higher temperature than do the minerals. Mobil1 10W-30, maybe?
Thanks for the tip I had planned on going synthetic at 10k, either Synpower 5w-40 or Supersyn 0w-40. However, my immediate problem is deciding how long I should leave my current batch of GTX in for. The owners manual recommends every 5k but I was thinking of changing it out at 7.5k with another batch of GTX and then putting the synthetic in at 10k.
 
I'm in agreement with all the others. When talking turbo (exhaust-driven compressor) I'd insist on a synthetic as dealing with intense heat becomes the biggest lubrication problem. The oil MUST keep flowing and not harden up ... especially in the bearings. [Eek!] Even with a supercharger (crank pulley-driven compressor) it's not quite the same. The amount of extra heat generated is considerably less. I'd consider 3,000 miles the absolute limit for a Group II or Group II+ oil in a turbo motor. 4,000 for a Group III psuedo-synthetic like Syntec or Synpower. 5,000 miles for most other PAO-based synthetics. Any interval greater than 5,000 miles with ANY oil should be approached gradually with testing at each step-up in interval. Oil (& filters) are cheap, turbos are not. [No no] An a related note, is anyone else sick of seeing an oil that seems to have moly one moment ... and none the next? Or products that start out with moly ... and then drop it to appease the Dark Side of the API? [Freak] Well, I have a $100 order of Schaeffer Oil coming and I KNOW that stuff has a healthy does of moly in it. [Cheers!] --- Bror Jace
 
VeeDub I own a Mazda turbo and only have dino (Pennzoil of course) for use with Auto-Rx cleaner. Turbo bearings like a synthetic IMHO. M1 OW40, D1 5W40 or Redline, Amsoil or Schaeffers would all be much better than GTX. I wouldn't even use that in my lawnmower let alone my car!!
 
Bror, you know I agree with you on this one! One sample of GTX or Syntec will show no moly, then the next one shows moly! Which is it? The consumer just doesn't know! At least I know for sure Schaeffers has moly, and on September 8th it's going in my Firebird finally! I'm going to stick with Mobil 1 5w30 in my wife's Honda for a while, so hopefully Mobil 1 doesn't take out the moly from thier SuperSyn. The moment they do, I'll be switching.
 
I took 1 look at that Virgin Oil analysis post and didn't bother to go through out. Not only is it inconsistent, its testing weird oil weights.
quote:
Pennz Long Life 15w40 API CH-4/SJ Pennz High Mileage 10w40 API SL/SG/SJ/SH Pennz High Mileage 10w30 API SL
Pennzoil PureBase 5W-30 API SL, 10W-30 API SL, and possibly Pennzoil w/ Pennzane 5W-30 API SL would have been much better candidates for the test. Then for a good comparison, test Castrol GTX in the same oil weights and compare. It was nice of the guy to pay and have all that oil tested but its easier to stick to the common weights for a better comparison. I understand some diesel engines run 15W-40 and it might have been more common for the engines they use, but modern gas MPFI engines tend to run 5w-20 through 10W-30, mostly 5W-30.
 
BTW I don't buy into that high mileage nonsense. I'm running Pennzoil PureBase 5W-30 in my 1981 Ford 302 V8. The 81 302 has the original internals, but with new valve stem seals. It started blowing blue smoke during warm starts (its carbd so you hold the gas pedal when cranking, etc... and a nice puff or rather CLOUD of blue smoke comes out the exhaust). I cracked open the valve covers and extracted the nuggets, I meant valve stem seals and installed fresh Fel-Pro seals. The 302 had its oil changed every 1k miles/3 months with fresh 10w-40 (dipstick says to use 10W-40 for warranty, this was back in 1981 tho). Yet it still burned oil. I now run dino 5W-30 in there and the seals actually stopped seeping out oil (front/rear). It used to leak like crazy w/ 10W-40. It's got 96k miles on it, and is about 22 years old.
 
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