What is the opinion on castrol here on bitog?

I am not trying to bash any brand here, but from what i have observed in the past there was somewhat of a negative view on castrol oils with not delivering super clean engines and for dropping their in the usa popular 0w40 syntetic oil.
After that it seems i dont see many threads or users with castrol which is remarkable because i assume they are in the top 5 biggest brands.
I could be wrong in this.

Is it just coincidence that i dont read about them a lot or are not many bitogers using it (anymore)?

I work at one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers and most of the fluids/greases come from castrol so it would seem they are doing something good. Also VAG group as one of the biggest car manufactures still uses them. BMW dropped them at around 2012 and went to shell which is pretty remarkable because bmw castrol was almost famous in the car world.

Now planning to rebuild my bmw diff and the oem prescribed oil is/was castrol. I am not sure yet if i will go to castrol or different brand but probably will order the oem spec castrol again.

I am curious on what your view/experience is on castrol.
I think it's a good oil. Slightly OT but the best combo my Honda LM has ever run is Castrol 10w-30 and Chevron Gasoline. Noticed the 10w-30 Castrol has a 6.6 NOAK. Runs better than the M1 EP 10w-30. ymmv
 
Thanks for all the replies. I see that its partly created by just a lower market share in the us but also because they where/are known as a marketing oil company. I can kinda agree on that part, also because of the famous castrol vs mobil lawsuit.

Bmw is a famous brand and i guess a lot of oil manufacturers would be proud to have their brand on bmws oil filler cap, however as some suggested maybe this partner ship with bmw also gave them some bad marketing instead of a good one because of the problems there where. (which possible where not their fault)

The early 2000s bmw 6 cyl and v8s where notorious for sludging and creating varnish, if this had to due with design, loads of short trips, too long ocis or maybe the oil who knows. But this was indeed something that maybe became a little bit of a bmw/castrol myth.

Also all the normally aspirated bmw M engines where known for premature rodbearing failures. These cars where specced for castrol 10w60.
From what i personally read bmw designed the tolerances too tight.

I used castrol for one 15k oci in my bmw and i guess it did what it should which is not seizing the engine. However i did notice (From the engine leaks/puddles) that the castrol oil is one of the few oils that turned reddish, if i wiped it with a cloth it would look almost blood/limonade like.

The pic is a pic from the internet but i noticed that on a lot of castrol era bmw's the valve trains seem to have a reddish varnish on it, i guess this had to do with how the add pack colours under heat and also causing their reputation for not delivering engines as clean as mobil/shell engines which looked like they where machined the day before.

I will probably switch to castrol for all my gear/diff oils because they cover almost all types from cars to machines and are one of the few that offer them all in the netherlands, shell for example is much more difficult to get because most of what they offer starts from 20 liter jugs.
Castrol offers it in 1 5 or 20l jugs.


1650825086837.jpg
 
FWIW: For my '12 Turbo/tuned Kia Optima, I run 93 octane (always Top Tier fuel) and an OCI of 4K miles (bought new in 2012). This is my daily driver (about 20 miles each way to work). I used to run Mobil1 0W-40 oil and ran several UOA on it. I found that for my engine, the oil sheared down and had high oxidation levels (was red flagged by Amsoil UOA company - Oil Analyzers Inc.) and always had a high fuel content in the oil (and you could smell it).

I switched to Castrol Edge 0W-40 and have run it every since. My UOA for it showed a lower level of shearing down as well as little to NO oxidation happening to the oil (same company did the analysis), still had high levels of fuel dilution. I repeated this a couple of times to confirm it.
Based on what I've seen, Castrol Edge 0W-40 ran better for me. I normally purchase it from Amazon at $23/jug (5 quarts) and run a Fram Ultra XG filter. YMMV.

Also, no oil usage or leaks to report.
 
Castrol is good. Others may be "more gooder", but it isn't relevant to a commuter/grocery getter.
I know, everyone believes their driving is more demanding, "spirited", or whatever. Fact is: any proper spec oil will suffice in a DD.
Do I pass the Exam BITOG Tutor?
 
Castrol is owned by BP these days, and BP no longer markets lubricating oils. So Castrol is known as a lubricating oil brand, they don't do anything else, and I think they are held in high regard (in markets other than the US) because of this. You don't pull into a service station and use the fuel companies brand of oil, Castrol is stand alone - it's OIL.
 
Castrol GTX was the very first oil I ever bought. Started using it in my lawn equipment when I was in jr high (early 1980s). Used it in all my cars, and still using it (Edge) to this day. I experimented with different brands all the time, and still do, simply because it's fun to me to buy and try out different oils. It's one of the cheapest oils here, with M1 being the most expensive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SR5
I have used Castrol in the past, nothing wrong with it. Price is the only thing wrong with it compared to others. In my neck of the woods anyway.
 
Although I have only used Castrol a few times, I don't have a problem with it. Generally, I would put Mobil, Valvoline, Pennzoil and Castrol at the top of the heap of the market. I think the Castrol Euro oils are comparable to M1 Euro, and have seriously considered using it. But I tend to buy Mobil most often because of the rebates. And M1 Euro has served me very well. So no need to try something different.
 
Been very happy running Magnatec in my Ecoboosts....
Yes Castrol Magnatec in the Ford Ecoboost engine is a well respected combination here, @KJSmith produced a series of great UOAs on it.


 
What can I say, I like the oil.

I put 147k on the'13 eco before trading.
I am at 126k on my '17 eco using the same oil.

273k in 9 years.
Glad I retired 3/1.
 
I have a favorable opinion of Castrol. Prior to 2007, I generally used Castrol GTX in all my vehicles that were given conventional oil. When my 1988 Plymouth Horizon became unroadworthy due to rust, my uncle’s 200k mile Plymouth Sundance became the recipient of the Horizon’s 120K engine. The oil pan needed to be swapped and it showed that the bottom end of my engine looked nearly brand-new. Another oil changed every 3K could have probably delivered those results, but I can say the Castrol did its job well. As for what changed in 2007… my grandfather passed away and left a large stash of Mobil and Trop-Artic conventional SG 10w40. I still have 5 quarts of GTX 20w50 I bought around 2004 and another recently bought quart of Castrol 10w50 motorcycle synthetic (lots of zinc) that I bought at a sharp discount, and those will be used at my ‘74 Bonneville’s next oil change.
 
Castrol is owned by BP these days, and BP no longer markets lubricating oils.




Btw, used Castrol GTX 15W-40 and 20W-50 more than 30 years ago
as it was the cheapest I could find locally at that time.
.
 
Topped off my oil yesterday and noticed the oil fill cap of my 2007 is embossed, "Volvo recommends Castrol".
I've no idea if the marriage is still in force.
I associate Castrol with better products but there are several choices in the 'better' category.
Do-it-yourselfers tend to lean away from premium brands in my estimation.
So, with Covid changing personal buying habits/preferences and warehouse stores enduring supply upheavals and what I believe is a reduction in their advertising (...it's liquid engineering"), there might not be enough flow to establish a group opinion.
We must wonder why Volvo recommends Castrol or any other brand.
 
I'm running Castrol Edge 5W30 A3/B4 in the Nissan right now,

This is my go-to 5W30 oil, high SAPS, high HTHS, high TBN, high ZDDP, and the oil also carries the OEM specs of MB 229.5 and BMW LL-01.

One of the things I really like about Castrol (Mobil too) is that they are very clear with their specs, none of the "suitable for" rubbish when it hasn't really earned the formal specification but they say you can use it anyway. With Castrol they are always very clear on the jug & web page of what industry approvals the oil carries.
 
Last edited:

Wow......BP Visco, I haven't seen that in years, not surprised they still sell it in the UK, being British Petroleum (BP) and all.

Their Visco 5W30 has one of my pet peeves
  • ACEA A3/B4/C3
Sorry not possible, A3/B4 has a sulphated ash >= 1 and
You can't be below 0.8 and above 1 at the same time. Valvoline in Australia do this too, very annoying.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top