Anyone know about this oil? It seems to be the #1 oil alot of Ferrari people use and i looked around here and didnt find any info on it...
Shell Helix
- Thread starter agpatel
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Luckily a retired Shell employee read your post. http://www.shellusserver.com/products/pdf/HELIX ULTRA.PDF .
I wonder how Helix would stack up to lets say MOTUL E-Tech or even RLI (as its 502.00 approved)
Take a look at the Performance Specifications, Viscosity Indexes, flash point and pour point of those two oils. Should give you an idea.
ya everyone knows shell and ferrari are a married couple, just wanted to know if it was just some normal oil, or something BIG/better then MOTUL, looking at the specs they seem close in may ways...but who knows? i am not that smart in this whole oil think i am still trying to learn....
only so much a 20 yr old can soak up btw engineering classes and this message board
only so much a 20 yr old can soak up btw engineering classes and this message board
And before Ferrari and Shell got together, Agip and Ferrari were also an "item."
Yep, but now they're trying to market Quaker State rather than the Helix IIRC
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Some recent advertizing by Quaker State implies that Ferrari dealers in the U.S. are going to use the new QS Q Horsepower as the "house" oil for Ferraris. That makes marketing sense, I guess, since Shell owns Quaker State. It also owns Pennzoil, and in the U.S. both these brands are placed higher in the pecking order than Shell, which doesn't even market a synthetic PCMO in the U.S. Since Shell doesn't sell Helix other than through Ferrari dealers, there was no way to capitalize on it in the larger market. Now you'll be able to pour QS into your beater with the smug knowledge that you're using same oil as does Ferrari. Why SOPUS didn't decide that Penn Platinum should be hyped as Ferrari's oil I don't know. Maybe QS needed the advertizing boost more than Pennzoil.
I read that somewhere, too; and I think I may have helped propagate that misinformation. Although they both look to be high-grade Group III synthetics, and there may be similarities in their add packs, they do look different on paper. For the 5W-40 versions, Shell Ultra Helix has a -42*C pour point compared to -39*C for the Pennzoil Platinum Euro. The kinetic viscosity differences are 76 vs. 90 cSt and 13.8 vs. 14.5 cSt at 40*C and 100*C respectively.
I haven't yet come across the new Quaker State Q Horsepower product data sheets.
I haven't yet come across the new Quaker State Q Horsepower product data sheets.
SOPUS hasn't released any of the technical data for their horsepower oils on their website yet. They do say it is a blend. They don't say what the synthetic is that makes up that blend.
I would say there is no way that PP is Helix Ultra for the US market. Helix Ultra is a slack-wax feedstock, while PP is a hydroisomerized oil, iirc. I would love to try the Helix Ultra 5W-40 though, the specs look very good on that oil.
Will
I would say there is no way that PP is Helix Ultra for the US market. Helix Ultra is a slack-wax feedstock, while PP is a hydroisomerized oil, iirc. I would love to try the Helix Ultra 5W-40 though, the specs look very good on that oil.
Will
I think you can get Helix for around $10-12/L same as MOTUL and some others...
JHZR2
Staff member
IIRC, buying rotella syn 5w-40 gets you that same basestock (without the PAO that I believe is mixed into helix ultra), the top notch XVHI base... I suppose with jus a few different adds.
Perhaps someone else can comment, but this was the case a few years ago at least... per my research.
JMH
About a year after Platinum was introduced they switched base oils and started using XHVI, which is what is used in a lot of Helix grades.
Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5w30 and 5w40 are nothing but rebranded Helix Ultra. The Quaker State Euro synthetics in 5w30, 5w40, and (the yet to be seen) 10w60 are rebranded Helix Ultra, hence the Ferrari "approval."
I have the Enzo and had several Maranello Ferraris. The Shell Helix Ultra is a good oil I feel. However, it has very high oil consumption in every application I have seen, not only in my cars but in many other Ferraris. For this reason I do not use this oil.
As one example the Maranello 575 used 1 liter in 500 miles. I changed the oil to 0W-20 Mobil 1 and for the next 8,000 miles not one drop of oil was consumed. Several of my neighbors have 360's and 430's and they all use about a liter every 500 - 1,000 miles. This cannot be good for the cats.
The oil is impossible to find and expensive from the Ferrari dealerships. ...Not that the dealerships charge too much but rather that the oil is just an expensive one.
aehaas
As one example the Maranello 575 used 1 liter in 500 miles. I changed the oil to 0W-20 Mobil 1 and for the next 8,000 miles not one drop of oil was consumed. Several of my neighbors have 360's and 430's and they all use about a liter every 500 - 1,000 miles. This cannot be good for the cats.
The oil is impossible to find and expensive from the Ferrari dealerships. ...Not that the dealerships charge too much but rather that the oil is just an expensive one.
aehaas
That is my understanding as well. I am currently using the T-Syn to see how it holds up in the VQ, good base stock with lots of ZDDP so I am hoping for a reduction in Fe over M1 0W-40. The ash content is a bit high in my mind, so I wonder about soot build-up in the combustion chamber. I imagine the real difference in the Helix and T-Syn will be in the ash content and ZDDP amount, making the Helix more street-friendly (read emissions compliant) than the diesel oil would have to be?
Will
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