Fuchs Titan GT1 PRO C3 5w30 vs Shell helix ultra am-l 5w30 for bmw ll04 N52

[Flyingdutchman]

So i ran my bmw n52 engine now for more than 60k miles on shell helix 5w30 am-l with 15k ocis.
car is now at 242k miles and overall i am pretty happy with results. Engine is clean enough for me inside, no sludge.

Now i see that i can get 20l jug of fuchs titan GT1 pro c3 with bmw ll04, mb229.51 vw approval for 102 euros. This would mean 5.10 euros a litre.
Shell helix 5w30 aml is only sold in 1l bottles and costs 8 euros a litre.
Because my car consumes 1qt/l per 2000 miles and i drive 15k miles a year i use about 14/15 litres a year and saving about 50 euros.

Now my question is what do you think about how the shell am-l oil compares to the Fuch titan gt1 c3.
I added VOA's from both oils (from russian fora but could not find anything else)
The shell is GTL based. The fuchs is based on their XTL formula, i estimate that will be mainly group 3 hydrocracked oil.

 

[NuttCase]

I've run that exact Fuchs XTL in the Audi for a few thousand miles and I've run various releases of the Shell Helix Ultra 0/5W-30 (AG, AV-L, AB-L, ECT etc) in just about all cars I've owned in the last few years. Shell UK have a distribution agreement with EuroCarParts and sometimes (less often now unfortunately) they have very good deals to shift stock. Most of my SHU stock cost less than £3 per litre. If I could buy the Fuchs for similar price, I would.

As you say the Fuchs is a Group 3 base oil. In theory the SHU should have a higher base oil viscosity index and possibly lower Noack though I dont think the latter was tested in the Russian VOA. Whether that results in a cleaner engine over the OCI, I have no clue. I would doubt it. I note the SHU has a higher TBN.

In the UK, the AM-L is available in 5L bottles though doesnt work out any cheaper. 0W-30 ECT could be an alternative with LL04 approval though unlikely to be cheaper.

I generally buy on price once I've found the right approval. Having said that, IF I'd used the same oil in an engine for over 60,000 miles with good experience I'd be tempted to stay with it.

 

[Flyingdutchman]

I've run that exact Fuchs XTL in the Audi for a few thousand miles and I've run various releases of the Shell Helix Ultra 0/5W-30 (AG, AV-L, AB-L, ECT etc) in just about all cars I've owned in the last few years. Shell UK have a distribution agreement with EuroCarParts and sometimes (less often now unfortunately) they have very good deals to shift stock. Most of my SHU stock cost less than £3 per litre. If I could buy the Fuchs for similar price, I would.

As you say the Fuchs is a Group 3 base oil. In theory the SHU should have a higher base oil viscosity index and possibly lower Noack though I dont think the latter was tested in the Russian VOA. Whether that results in a cleaner engine over the OCI, I have no clue. I would doubt it. I note the SHU has a higher TBN.

In the UK, the AM-L is available in 5L bottles though doesnt work out any cheaper. 0W-30 ECT could be an alternative with LL04 approval though unlikely to be cheaper.

I generally buy on price once I've found the right approval. Having said that, IF I'd used the same oil in an engine for over 60,000 miles with good experience I'd be tempted to stay with it.

Mmm okay, if you used it in a r8 v10 then it definatly should be good enough. However i agree on that the car has now done 60k miles on shell and maybe its better to keep it like this. The oem ZF is also shell and in the rear diff is shell aswell.
I also dont want to switch toomuch on oils.
I now its kind of a myth, but when i switched from castrol to shell my car developed an oil leak at the oil filter housing gasket in a couple hunderd of miles.

That might be just bad luck, but now somehow after 60k miles the rear main seal doesnt leak as bad as it used to do anymore and also the oil sump gasket only weeps verry lightly. This has been worse and i would like to keep it like this.

However the valve cover gasket is now slightly leaking again after it was replaced 23k miles ago.
Luckily this time not on the exhaust so i will just let it be like this for now.

BMW = OIL LEAKS

OCI is now at 13k miles so still have some time left to decide.

 

[Flyingdutchman]

Because the shell oil was not in stock and i planned to do my oil change now i decided to order a 20l jug of fuchs oil. Changed it today. Will keep you guys informed on how it will hold up in a 15k oci. Maybe will do a UOA.