In Europe - Which of these is most likely to be GC

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richard612

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Buying oil in Switzerland...

Which of these is probably the magic sauce?

1. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Longtec BMW VW MB Opel Motoröl - BMW LL 01 , ACEA B4 , Opel GM-LL-B-025 , API SL , API CF , MB 229.3 , VW 502.00 , Opel GM-LL-A-025 , MB 229.5 , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , ACEA A3 , VW 503.01

2. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Longtec Volvo Motoröl - ACEA B5 , API SL , ACEA A5 , ILSAC-GF-2

3. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Powerflow BMW Longlife 04 Motoröl - ACEA B4 , BMW LL 04 , API SM , API CF , ACEA B3 , ACEA C3 , ACEA A3

4. Castrol EDGE SAE 0W-30 Motoröl - BMW LL 01 , ACEA B4 , Opel GM-LL-B-025 , API SL , API CF , MB 229.3 , VW 502.00 , Opel GM-LL-A-025 , MB 229.5 , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , ACEA A3

5. Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel SAE 0W-30 Motoröl - ACEA B4 , BMW LL 04 , API CF , MB 229.51 , ACEA C3 , VW 502.00 , API SM , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , MB 229.31 , ACEA A3

Don't you just love the oil market here? It's too bad these oils cost 2 to 4x as much as they do in the US.
 
Most everyone you read about using GC would give their left elf ( magical GC talk with the elf) for the oils you just listed. In search of a "real synthetic" people in the US are using GC, I would assume the oils you listed above are the euro long drain oils that are so sought after here in the US.. and to think people on the other side of the world are wanting GC..
 
Number 1 most closely matches the US GC specs.

http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp_internet/castrol/castrol_usa/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/p,q/pds_syntec_usa.pdf
 
"Most everyone you read about using GC would give their left elf ( magical GC talk with the elf) for the oils you just listed."

Until they saw the price. I'm curious, what do those run a quart?
 
Yeah, would love to know the prices of the oils you listed....it would back-up what I said in the Europe vs. NA OCI thread about the reason for long OCI's is the price of oil........
 
Regarding oil prices... The only "everyday" oil on the shelf here is 15W-40 HDMO and it runs 4-5 dollars per liter. Everything else is more expensive and is semi-synth or fully synth. At service stations, it's common to see high-spec oils at $25 per liter. It's all 40 weight, too -- 10W-40 semi-synth, 5W-40 and 0W-40 full synth.

If I cross the border into France, the prices come down a little and there are some 30's on the shelf.

The 5W-20 specified for my exported US Honda is unobtainable here.
 
Richard,

I often vacation in the French Alps, in Annecy just south of Geneva Switzerland. I see that many Swiss go to France to make purchases, like groceries, fuel (carburants) and just about everything, as everything costs less in France than in Switzerland.
 
Originally Posted By: richard612
Buying oil in Switzerland...

Which of these is probably the magic sauce?

1. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Longtec BMW VW MB Opel Motoröl - BMW LL 01 , ACEA B4 , Opel GM-LL-B-025 , API SL , API CF , MB 229.3 , VW 502.00 , Opel GM-LL-A-025 , MB 229.5 , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , ACEA A3 , VW 503.01

2. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Longtec Volvo Motoröl - ACEA B5 , API SL , ACEA A5 , ILSAC-GF-2

3. Castrol 0W-30 SLX Professional Powerflow BMW Longlife 04 Motoröl - ACEA B4 , BMW LL 04 , API SM , API CF , ACEA B3 , ACEA C3 , ACEA A3

4. Castrol EDGE SAE 0W-30 Motoröl - BMW LL 01 , ACEA B4 , Opel GM-LL-B-025 , API SL , API CF , MB 229.3 , VW 502.00 , Opel GM-LL-A-025 , MB 229.5 , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , ACEA A3

5. Castrol EDGE Turbo Diesel SAE 0W-30 Motoröl - ACEA B4 , BMW LL 04 , API CF , MB 229.51 , ACEA C3 , VW 502.00 , API SM , VW 505.00 , ACEA B3 , MB 229.31 , ACEA A3

Don't you just love the oil market here? It's too bad these oils cost 2 to 4x as much as they do in the US.



Oils 3 and 5. Maybe oil 1, but it doesn't meet BMW LL-04. Not 2 and not 4.
Others that would be good are SLX Professional Powerflow C3 TD, and SLX Professional Powerflow C3
Actually the specs between Longtec BMW LL04 and Powerflow C3 TD are identical. I bet they charge more for the oil that says "BMW" on the bottle.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman

Maybe oil 1, but it doesn't meet BMW LL-04.

GC does not meet LL-04 either.

Actually, back in 2006 I did a VOA of 0w-30 LongTec (LL01) and the ad pack was practically identical to gold GC.

Quote:

Not 2 and not 4.


Why couldn't it be 4?
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Why couldn't it be 4?


4 doesn't meet VW 503.01. Number 1 is the right answer.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: A_Harman

Maybe oil 1, but it doesn't meet BMW LL-04.

GC does not meet LL-04 either.

Actually, back in 2006 I did a VOA of 0w-30 LongTec (LL01) and the ad pack was practically identical to gold GC.

Quote:

Not 2 and not 4.


Why couldn't it be 4?
I thought the original poster's question was somewhat strange in that he is in Switzerland asking Americans about which is German Castrol. I spent about 2 hours today on the Castrol website for Germany going through specs. There are about 10 0w-30's there that could be called German Castrol, and none of them are identical to our "GC". His specific question was "Which is the magic sauce?" This I interpreted to mean "Which is the best oil?". Since Longtec didn't meet BMW LL04, I thought that put it one step down from being "best". Maybe that isn't the way to look at it? Anyway, the technical data sheet I was looking at dated from 2007, so it is more recent than the 2006 VOA.

I didn't think that German Edge 0w-30 could be it because the flash point was lower than "American GC", 212C vs 225C.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
I thought the original poster's question was somewhat strange in that he is in Switzerland asking Americans about which is German Castrol. I spent about 2 hours today on the Castrol website for Germany going through specs. There are about 10 0w-30's there that could be called German Castrol, and none of them are identical to our "GC". His specific question was "Which is the magic sauce?"

Hi, I'm looking for "the real" GC simply because of its reputation. I know that all of the listed Castrol products are good stuff but I was hoping that one of them in particular might be identical to the celebrated US product.
 
Looking just at the spec sheets, it doesn't seem like there is an identical Castrol in Europe to America's GC. But there are 7 that are close. Taking the defining characteristics of GC to be: 100C vis of ~12, flashpoint of ~225C, cold cranking viscosity of ~6000, and pour points
American GC; 100C vis=12.1, FP=225, CCS=6200, PP=not listed
SLX Professional Powerflow BMW LL04; 100C vis=12.3, FP=238, CCS=5900, PP=-57
SLX Professional Powerflow C3 TD; 100C vis=12.3, FP=238, CCS=5900, PP=-57
SLX Professional Powerflow C3; 100C vis=12.3, FP not listed, CCS=5900, PP not listed
Formula SLX (available in the UK); 100C vis=12.2, FP=234, CCS=5800, PP=-54
Edge Turbo Diesel; 100C vis=12.3, FP=230, CCS=5900, PP not listed
SLX Professional Longtec; 100C vis=12.2, FP=212, CCS=5800, PP=-54
Edge 0w-30; 100C vis=12.2, FP=210, CCS=5800, PP not listed

None of the oils matches GC exactly in Flash Point and Cold Cranking viscosity. They all have lower CCS, which is a good thing. SLX Professional Powerflow, Formula SLX, and Edge Turbo Diesel all have higher FP's, which may make them "better". SLX Professional Longtec, and Edge 0w-30 have lower FP's.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't believe anything listed on the Castrol American site. Just look for VW 503.01, that's the long life high horsepower turbo spec and is used in the high performance Audi's. If it has that spec, you're at the top of the heap.
 
I take that back about Formula SLX having a higher flashpoint than GC. The 234C value on the data sheet was taken by a different method than was used for GC. Formula SLX's specs otherwise are identical to SLX Professional Longtec.
 
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