Could anyone using GC give me their findings on how clean this oil is keeping their engines? I'am thinking of using it soon and would like to know how good it cleans in comparison to Mobil 1?
Engine Cleaniness off German Castrol
- Thread starter Rob Taggs
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Reminds me of the Dow Scrubbing Bubbles commercials, only with little elfin "janitors" scrubbing the engine internals
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I'm curious too and will find out after the ARX cycle. The oil cap on the Beemer is notorious for accumulating a brownish deposit on the underside. I will use this as sort of a gauge to measure relative "cleanliness".
I'm curious too and will find out after the ARX cycle. The oil cap on the Beemer is notorious for accumulating a brownish deposit on the underside. I will use this as sort of a gauge to measure relative "cleanliness".
Und wir sind BMW Eigentumer zartlich von ihnen (and we BMW drivers are fond of them)
should be "zaertlich zu", not "von"...
With all due respect, but this statement is highly speculative. No test has been done to find out the exact composition of GC. For all we know, it could be all ester, 1/4-1/2 ester or maybe even all PAO!
It probably does have some ester content in it.....just like its US counterpart, but no one knows how much.
I can't speak of the ester content or any other parts of the composition. **** , I was starting to feel left out 'cause I can't speak german for a minute there. But I can tell you that my engine (Northstar) is visibly cleaner when looking into the filler cap. It's really not what I can see that concerns me however. It's what I can't see, such as how the ring pack is doing. Since oil consumption is down, I have to assume it is doing OK as well. I'm holding on to this oil until the Oil Life Indicator pops a message, should be about 8 or 9,000 miles. I may even do an oil analysis at that time.
I did the long GC oci thing too. 11k miles at 6 months, twice. The difference being that I also did an ARX cycle since and cut the filters open. My engine saw 30k of dealer dino, Mobil 1 5w-30, 2 changes of SynPower 5w-40 and 2 changes of GC. I did a normal ARX treatment and cut the filters open...nada. ARX did make the engine a lil more powerfull and smoother. I am still on dino Delvac with a shot of ARX but plan on going back to GC for this winter and permanately. My mechanic reported no serious oil leaks and my sparkplugs lack the brown stains the original ones had. 87k total on my 1998 V6 A4q.
Nothing extraordinary, like many others, at least there were some oils (before and after Formula SLX) that showed better performance on this field. Naturally there are number of factors that may influence engine cleanness. Here it's a poor gas quality. Gas does not burn properly (looks like diluted by diesel fuel
), but some oils fight with this defect better than others. Castrol SLX was not among the best ones. If to be based on what I could see through the filler cap, I would suggest that inside it may be similar to Oilcanboyd engine:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005244
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=005244
I thought we understood that Oilcanboyd's problem wasn't from the GC but the engine itself?!?!?
BTW you didn't even read the whole above thread as at the end of page 1, Terry said do not use this post to show something you do not know about. Oilcanboyd even said that his pcv valve wasn't working!!!
We have had many,many more UOA from GC that have great low wearing numbers. If you do not like this oil fine, but stopping others that are thinking of using this oil based on something that has been found to be corrected is just the thing this site doesn't need. Again if more people than Oilcanboyd were starting to have sludge problems w/GC than I can see talking about it, but untill then let be, be.
[ October 24, 2004, 09:35 AM: Message edited by: BIGJ552000 ]
BIGJ552000,
The question was how GC keeps engine clean. I used SLX and found that it does not outperform in cleanness the majority of other oils. In order to give an idea what I could see through the filler cap of my car after 7500 km with SLX I made the link to Oilcanboyd picture. This was a thin layer of soot and of a very specific color: I met it only with GC. After GC I filled Elf Synthese 0W-40 and found that it washed this layer out. BTW, Elf 5W-40, used before GC, did not perform well as 0W-40. Similar soot layer, but with a light brownish color, may be due to Gr.III base stock. Interesting, but this engine part under the filler cap was a real nickel only after 76 Royal Triton 15W-40 that I used as a flush oil. Motul 300V was nearly good as Elf 0W-40.
But my case is quite specific: a poor quality gas and fast drive (often 2-3 hours at 140-200 km/h, a short break at 50-100 km/h, and another 2-3 hours at top speed). Long distances (800, 1200, 2250 km) are usually done with the average speed of over 100 km/h including gas fills, meals and number of police control. That's why I does not blame the oil, such conditions are hard for any oil. The oil consumption of my Prelude 2.2 VTEC does not exceed 0.5-0.8/1 for 7.500 km. After trials of different brands and grades during last 100.000 km I'm convinced that if everything is OK with engine or gas, equal grade and quality synthetics will show more or less similar performance in cleanness (wear rate may be different), but if there are some issues, one oil will fight their consequences better than another one.
The question was how GC keeps engine clean. I used SLX and found that it does not outperform in cleanness the majority of other oils. In order to give an idea what I could see through the filler cap of my car after 7500 km with SLX I made the link to Oilcanboyd picture. This was a thin layer of soot and of a very specific color: I met it only with GC. After GC I filled Elf Synthese 0W-40 and found that it washed this layer out. BTW, Elf 5W-40, used before GC, did not perform well as 0W-40. Similar soot layer, but with a light brownish color, may be due to Gr.III base stock. Interesting, but this engine part under the filler cap was a real nickel only after 76 Royal Triton 15W-40 that I used as a flush oil. Motul 300V was nearly good as Elf 0W-40.
But my case is quite specific: a poor quality gas and fast drive (often 2-3 hours at 140-200 km/h, a short break at 50-100 km/h, and another 2-3 hours at top speed). Long distances (800, 1200, 2250 km) are usually done with the average speed of over 100 km/h including gas fills, meals and number of police control. That's why I does not blame the oil, such conditions are hard for any oil. The oil consumption of my Prelude 2.2 VTEC does not exceed 0.5-0.8/1 for 7.500 km. After trials of different brands and grades during last 100.000 km I'm convinced that if everything is OK with engine or gas, equal grade and quality synthetics will show more or less similar performance in cleanness (wear rate may be different), but if there are some issues, one oil will fight their consequences better than another one.
By the way Primus, according to Leonard Setright(an eccentric guru-journalist), your honda prelude is one of the best cars he has ever owned.
This is a big honour for the honda company and also shows that besides oil you manage to pick the right cars too.
This is a big honour for the honda company and also shows that besides oil you manage to pick the right cars too.
I think the fact that SLX is sold on 2 different continents and is also manufactred now in Maylasia making 3 total indicates it is not flawed somehow. All of the anal oil users here do not seem to report sludge problems at all. I wish I had the oils that Primus has that "washes" away deposits. Frequent changes of HDEOs don't even seem to touch the stuff on aluminium. What's the point anyway?
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