Castrol GTX 10W30 UltraClean in Australia

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SR5

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So I have just noticed a new Castrol GTX 10W-30 in the Australian market. It's called "UltraClean" and right now it's sold in parallel with the older GTX 10W-30 "Modern Engine".

NEW: GTX 10W30 UltraClean
API SN and ILSAC GF-5, claims to offer 50% better sludge protection than industry standard.
KV40 = 73 cSt, KV100 = 10.8 cSt
PP = -45C, FP = 200C, SAPS = 0.95
CCS @ -25C = 6414 cP

OLD: GTX 10W30 Modern Engine
API SN and ILSAC GF-4, claims to offer 25% better sludge protection than industry standard.
KV40 = 61 cSt, KV100 = 10.1 cSt
PP = -36C, NOACK = 13%, HTHS = 2.9 cP
CCS @ -25C = 4000 cP

In usual Castrol fashion, their PDS sheets give a fairly random selection of oil characteristics, some of which may be nominal rather than measured. But the old is thinner and GF-4, while the new is thicker (but with a better Pour Point) and GF-5.

They also have a spec sheet for a new GTX 15W-40 UltraClean (there is also a current GTX 15W40 Modern Engine), but the new 15W-40 UltraClean hasn't appeared on their web page yet or in the shops.

Any thoughts on the new GTX UltraClean oil ?
 
I've just noticed that the Oz Castrol web page is titled "Castrol GTX Part Synthetic", so I assume this new oil is a Group II and Group III blend. While the older oil is probably Group II only.

Also a flyer I have says the new UltraClean is 50% cleaner "compared with API SN Seq. VG Sludge test limit". In reality I would assume that many other name brand SN & GF-5 mineral oils would beat this limit by a decent amount. However I also assume the older GTX (SN & GF-4) beat it by 25%, so this is a decent improvement.

Nothing grand on a world scale, but a nice update for the local Australian GTX oils. Which is nice to see.
 
I'm surprised at the mention of SN and GF-4 in the old GTX. I'm not sure that API and ILSAC combination would exactly fly up here, but one never knows.
wink.gif
 
Hi Garak,
To be honest there are not that many GF-5 oils here in Oz, a few but not a lot. It was only recently that we got a GF-5 Castrol Edge (the 10W30), before that most were ACEA spec oils.

Same with Shell, we get the full synthetic Shell Helix Ultra 5W40 that has all the OEM European cars specs, full synthetic Shell Helix HX8 that is SN & A3/B4. But I can't name one full synthetic Shell oil that is GF-5.

Here the full synthetic GF-5 5W30 market is dominated by Valvoline, Nulon and Penrite. The semi-syn and mineral choice isn't much better.

But this is changing very quickly as more cars begin to require ILSAC oils. Until recently we put mostly 20W50 and 15W40 in pretty much everything.
 
Pretty thin for a Castrol 30 @ 10.8, and 10.1 at 100c for the older stuff, Stop/Start Magnatec is 12.4, and Edge 5W-30 is 12.02. That's why I'm going to go with the Edge for the Volvo next, it's closer to a 40 than a 10W-30.
 
Looking at a few other Castrol GTX PDS sheets, some of the values listed above are probably not real values, but the reference value used in the spec.

It's common to see: HTHS 2.9 min, PP -36C max, FP 200C min, so I wouldn't put too much weight in those values when given, except to mean the min/max requirement has been met.

The viscosity values are probably correct.
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
Pretty thin for a Castrol 30 @ 10.8, and 10.1 at 100c for the older stuff, Stop/Start Magnatec is 12.4, and Edge 5W-30 is 12.02. That's why I'm going to go with the Edge for the Volvo next, it's closer to a 40 than a 10W-30.


Yeah both those Castrol 30 grade oils you mentioned are Euro A3/B4 oils which means a HTHS of 3.5 cP or more and a KV100 of about 12 cSt.

But this GTX 10W30 is an ILSAC oil, and they are typically a lot thinner to meet the energy conserving requirement. The Oz Castrol Edge 10W30 is GF-5 (plus SN & A5/B5) with a HTHS = 3.2 cP and KV100 = 10.47 cSt. The Kendall GT-1 10W30 (also GF-5) has HTHS = 3.1 cP and KV100 = 10.4 cSt.

So the GTX is about right for a GF-5 oil, we just don't see many of them here. I'm glad the new one is a little thicker, that old one was on the thin side.

If I was Castrol, I would also spec the new oil Chrysler MS 6395, as it surely meets the spec (or is very close) and there is a vast lack of MS6395 oils in Oz and NZ, yet I'm seeing a lot of new Chryslers and Jeeps on the road that could use the oil. I think sales would jump if they did that.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
I'm surprised at the mention of SN and GF-4 in the old GTX. I'm not sure that API and ILSAC combination would exactly fly up here, but one never knows.
wink.gif



It's a little odd, It must meet SM/GF-4 and also SN. No marketers bother with API licensing here but I do wonder what they would put on the donut if it were licensed.
 
Originally Posted By: SR5
To be honest there are not that many GF-5 oils here in Oz, a few but not a lot. It was only recently that we got a GF-5 Castrol Edge (the 10W30), before that most were ACEA spec oils.

I have heard that. Of course, here trying to find an A5/B5 is like pulling hen's teeth, and, as we've discussed before, just about anything marketed here with A5/B5 is already SN/GF-5, since a non-GF-5 5w-30 with A5/B5 only would be a little counter-productive from a marketing strategy.

supercity: Yes, that's kind of what I was getting at. GF-4 isn't even current and is listed as obsolete by ILSAC and API.
 
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