General Maintenance & Repairs - Oil analysis results with German Castrol 0w30

I got back my first oil analysis results from my 98 Corvette, and the numbers look great! Lowest engine wear I've seen yet on an LS1 vehicle. This engine loves German Castrol Syntec 0w30! Here is the data:


5000 miles on oil
Aug7-Oct 11 (2 months)
37,000 miles on engine
German Castrol Syntec 0w30
K&N oil filter
K&N air filter
Daily driver, lots of full throttle
9 quarter mile runs, 10 dyno runs
7L oil capacity
no top up oil
Onboard computer said it had 39% oil life left


Iron 8
Lead 1
Aluminum 3
Copper 2
Chromium 0
Nickel 0
Titanium 0
Tin 0
Silver 0
Vanadium 0
Silicon 7
Potassium 0
Sodium 0
Boron 5
Barium 0
Manganese 3
Calcium 2419
Magnesium 101
Moly 26
Phosphorus 737
Zinc 831
Sulfur 2420
Oxidation 56%
Nitration 39%
Sulfation 42%
Fuel 0
Water 0
Glycol 0
Viscosity 11.5 cst at 100c
TBN 6.2


I'm most impressed with the K&N air filter! I've told people to avoid them in the past since they often show high dirt (silicon) in the results, but in some cases (like this one!) they really can do a good job! I think a lot of people probably over oil them or under oil them, while this one here was probably just put in fresh out of the box by the previous owner.

Sorry to revive an old thread Patman, but I'm floored how no one on LS1tech has adopted the German Castrol as oil of choice in the LS1. This stuff is awesome and considered the "fountain or youth" for all gen III engines.

I'll stick with Valvoline Racing 10/30 in my car :)
45psi at ilde and 70PSI threw the traps..

Sounds like the PSI I run everyday. Nothing unique there my friend.

I never said it was but the cars bearings looked brand new after 300 passes on them and the oil comes out looking clean with no consumption at all.

i would use it but i cant find it anywhere :\

Yes, very hard to find, but I search high and low to find it. Won't put anything else in my engine.

I use it in mine. The last change intervals I took were about 4K miles. After seeing this though, I'll go 5K. I'm running this oil with the longer wix filter and wix air filter.

Just bought the stuff last night but i have about 2000 till my next oil change....can't wait to see how my ta likes it.

I finally found it today after 3 Autozones. It hurt a little though. $39.00 for 6 quarts and a K&N filter and that was with an $8.00 discount for some reason. Just FYI, The part # I have been seeing for the K&N filter is 1007. I had bought some online in the past and the part # was 2006. I'm assuming this the truck filter because it is about one inch taller.

You want to buy the 2006 filter. It is the longer version of the 1007 and will allow your LS1 to take all 6 quarts.

how do you know it is the german castrol??? what makes it different tan the regular castrol? how does it compare to royal purple??

sorry for all the dumb questions :D

doug

On the back it will say:

ACEA A3/B3, B4
VW 502.00, 505.00, 503.01
BMW LL-01
MB 229.1, MB 229.3
Porche Approved

& It will say, "Made in Germany"

I'd use it if I could find it... I check every time I'm at Autozone or Discount, but no luck so far. M1 0w40 will have to do.

39 bucks for a change,No thanks...
I'll stick with 20 a change and run my Valvoline...

It is on sale right now at Autozone if you can find it, picked up 17 quarts last Saturday. I use it in all six cars.

I'd use it if I could find it... I check every time I'm at Autozone or Discount, but no luck so far. M1 0w40 will have to do.
Same here. I look but can't find so I go with Mobil 0w-40 also.

I'm going to be hitting 6000 miles on my current batch of this oil and will do another oil analysis. It won't be as good as the last one due to the colder weather though. Wear is higher in the wintertime.

JS, why do you keep plugging valvoline? Its not a synthetic, of course its going to be cheaper than GC. I double dog dare you to post some oil analysis results that youre getting with your valvoline so we can see how well its actually protecting your engine. It would be interesting to see what kind of trade off you see... how much more wear do you experience for the 20 bucks per change you save.

Maybe I'll do it someday but I take the word of drag racers who run $$$$ engines in there cars.Just about all of them run the Valvonline,I dont think it would be a good idea to test this oil because it has no additive package.Its a race oil which I change out every 3 times I run the car or 1000 miles.

I've been told be a few racers that syn tend to pull heat from the valve springs and thats not a good thing.I'm sure this syn. that Patman is talking about is great for the most street guys but IMO for a drag racer its not needed.

JMHO.....But I'll send a sample out just for S&G's,maybe I could find a better,safer Dino than Valvoline..

Maybe I'll do it someday but I take the word of drag racers who run $$$$ engines in there cars.Just about all of them run the Valvonline,I dont think it would be a good idea to test this oil because it has no additive package.Its a race oil which I change out every 3 times I run the car or 1000 miles.

I've been told be a few racers that syn tend to pull heat from the valve sporings and thats not a good thing.I'm sure this syn. that Patman is talking about is great for the most street guys but IMO for a drag racer its not needed.

JMHO.....

Ahhh, now this makes a lot of sense. I keep forgetting that not everybody's f-car is a daily driver.

I got back my first oil analysis results from my 98 Corvette, and the numbers look great! Lowest engine wear I've seen yet on an LS1 vehicle. This engine loves German Castrol Syntec 0w30! Here is the data:


5000 miles on oil
Aug7-Oct 11 (2 months)
37,000 miles on engine
German Castrol Syntec 0w30
K&N oil filter
K&N air filter
Daily driver, lots of full throttle
9 quarter mile runs, 10 dyno runs
7L oil capacity
no top up oil
Onboard computer said it had 39% oil life left


Iron 8
Lead 1
Aluminum 3
Copper 2
Chromium 0
Nickel 0
Titanium 0
Tin 0
Silver 0
Vanadium 0
Silicon 7
Potassium 0
Sodium 0
Boron 5
Barium 0
Manganese 3
Calcium 2419
Magnesium 101
Moly 26
Phosphorus 737
Zinc 831
Sulfur 2420
Oxidation 56%
Nitration 39%
Sulfation 42%
Fuel 0
Water 0
Glycol 0
Viscosity 11.5 cst at 100c
TBN 6.2


I'm most impressed with the K&N air filter! I've told people to avoid them in the past since they often show high dirt (silicon) in the results, but in some cases (like this one!) they really can do a good job! I think a lot of people probably over oil them or under oil them, while this one here was probably just put in fresh out of the box by the previous owner.


Hi Patman
Two simple Questions - why not use 0-40? Maybe because you live in the cold north. What are normal ranges for the oil analyzes?
Thanks
Bill :usa:

Iron 4 9
Lead 5 8
Aluminum 2 3
Copper 3 9
Chromium 0 0
Nickel 0 0
Titanium 0 0
Tin 1 0
Silver 0 0
Vanadium 0 0
Silicon 3 3
Potassium 0 0
Sodium 0 1
Boron 0 0
Barium 0 0
Manganese 1 0
Calcium 2112 2312
Magnesium 13 22
Moly 23 26
Phosphorus 808 828
Zinc 899 1000
Oxidation 13 13
Nitration 19 20
Fuel 0.5 .6
Water <.1 <.1
soot <.1 <.1
Viscosity 10.4 cst at 100c 10.9
TBN 2.46 2.47
Mileage on oil 4,082 6930(mileage 108786 truck)
I do have results up to 6930 miles posted too
This on a 00 chevy pu 5.3 119,000 miles
Kendall 5-30 Semi Syn GF-4. Enjoy John

Maybe I'll do it someday but I take the word of drag racers who run $$$$ engines in there cars.Just about all of them run the Valvonline,I dont think it would be a good idea to test this oil because it has no additive package.Its a race oil which I change out every 3 times I run the car or 1000 miles.




All oils have an additive package in them, even racing oils. They often have lower levels of detergents in them, but they must contain antiwear additives! Usually higher amounts too.

Hi Patman
Two simple Questions - why not use 0-40? Maybe because you live in the cold north. What are normal ranges for the oil analyzes?
Thanks
Bill :usa:

Blackstone keeps track of the average numbers on all of their LS1 reports, and they are much higher than the one I posted. Whenever someone with an LS1 gets their oil analyzed by them they include those averages, in fact I believe they are posted a few posts up. But you need to know the mileage that average is for also.

I don't use 0w40 simply because this 0w30 oil is working so well. I would love to try Castrol's 0w40 someday but it's not available in North America.

Yes Patman racing oil does have some kind of additive package but we both know they dont have nearly the ingredients of say a Mobil One has or your beloved German Castrol so I dont wanna see street guys running the racing version on the Valvoline and thinking its a good idea for prolonged intervals.

I might try to save the oil in my car and send it out just to see what u think,it has 20 HARD runs on it and about 1500 miles.My engine is new 2000 miles so I dont know if this will be a great test but it I'd still like to see the reults.

I'll save some,what do I put it in to send to blackstone labs...

Blackstone keeps track of the average numbers on all of their LS1 reports, and they are much higher than the one I posted. Whenever someone with an LS1 gets their oil analyzed by them they include those averages, in fact I believe they are posted a few posts up. But you need to know the mileage that average is for also.

I don't use 0w40 simply because this 0w30 oil is working so well. I would love to try Castrol's 0w40 someday but it's not available in North America.

Hi Patman,
Thanks for the info - also Mobil1 has a 0w40 at Advanced Auto Parts stores.
Bill :usa:

Here are some pics of the back of castrol 0w 30 oil that everyone is asking for...i really think it should be a sticky. http://community.webshots.com/photo/221560002/271567282tNkCmS

http://community.webshots.com/photo/221560002/271567184VoFtFR

Webshots are a lot higher resolution.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/524000-524999/524825_16_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/8/web/524000-524999/524825_15_full.jpg

You want to buy the 2006 filter. It is the longer version of the 1007 and will allow your LS1 to take all 6 quarts.

I ran the long version for a couple of oil changes, then changed back to the short version. I was uncomfortable with how far that extra piece on the end of filter hung below the oilpan. It was lower than my slightly flat-spotted headers. I still run 6 quarts.

Just went to three autozones in my area and bought every quart of German 0W-30 Castrol they had. Found 17 Qts. in three stores and I only spent 73.42 total. Now that's a deal. Don't know if this is a national thing, but worth the look. I will add that the shelves were not marked indicating the sale and I didn't know it until they added it up at check out. It's worth the trip to see what they have in stock and the price. Still have one more store to check out this weekend to see if I can find more. :D

If you cannot find GC the M1 T&SUV, 5W-40 oil is good stuff also as you can see in my oil report on my 98' SS...

3000 miles on oil
May ?-Nov 27 (7 months)
57,000 miles on engine
AC oil filter
AC air filter
No Oil Added

ALUMINUM 2
CHROMIUM 1
IRON 7
COPPER 3
LEAD 2
TIN 0
MOLYBDENUM 13
NICKEL 0
MANGANESE 4
SILVER 0
TITANIUM 0
POTASSIUM 0
BORON 52
SILICON 8
SODIUM 3
CALCIUM 3499
MAGNESIUM 589
PHOSPHORUS 1187
ZINC 1327
BARIUM 0
SUS VIS @ 210 71.3
Flash Point 385
Fuel <0.5
Insolubles .3

:D

Patman informed me in another thread that some guys in another forum were buying this oil from Autozone for 1.00 per quart. Damn, wish I was that lucky.

What! How did he do that?!

I was reading this on another site.....patman is this true? "Castrol Syntec is not real synthetic oil. It is just highly purified dyno oil. It does not have very controlled olefin chain distribution. If you can find Castrol Syntec with "made in Germany" label then it is likley to be fully synth. Just that gimmick alone would turn me away from the whole Castol line of products." http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/430403 guy's name is blueiedgod

I was reading this on another site.....patman is this true? "Castrol Syntec is not real synthetic oil. It is just highly purified dyno oil. It does not have very controlled olefin chain distribution. If you can find Castrol Syntec with "made in Germany" label then it is likley to be fully synth. Just that gimmick alone would turn me away from the whole Castol line of products." http://www.fatwallet.com/t/18/430403 guy's name is blueiedgod


It's true, most of the Castrol Syntec products (with the exception of German made 0w30 and Belgian made 5w40) are not true synthetics.

But this is the case of almost all of the "synthetics" commonly sold, such as Valvoline, Quaker State, Havoline, etc. Mobil 1 is fully synthetic though. So are the specialty oils like Amsoil, Redline, Neo, and Royal Purple's racing oils.

And is it true that auto zone is going to stop carrying the german made 0w 30?

And is it true that auto zone is going to stop carrying the german made 0w 30?

This is the latest info I've got on that subject, from someone on BOBISTHEOILGUY.com:


I called Autozone Corp office and talked to the oil buyer. I asked him if they were going to quit carrying the Castrol 0w-30. He said that it and the Mobil 0w-30 have been dogs for sales. He said they will be discontiued in the stores with small oil racks less than 20'long to make room for other oils. They will continue to be sold in the stores with the 20-30' racks. He said one section was 5' long so it's easy to tell which stores would quit selling it. He also said that they will be carrying the Castrol 5w-40 in all stores as it has been a good seller in it's limited markets.

Patman could u or would u ever test Valvoline Dino in your car..
Or another Dino thats equivalant to it...

Just would like to see the comparo,Maybe I'll run syn. if u show me its really worth it.
Remember my car is primarally a race type car,I only drive it 4K a yr at most,I race it about 10 times a yr so I dont need a prolonged oil interval,at best 2K miles.

Do u think most Dino's would be okay for me or do u think I could still benefit from Syn...

This is the latest info I've got on that subject, from someone on BOBISTHEOILGUY.com:


That sucks!!! I just found a place where I can get it and now this.....damn.

Its too bad that its tough for some of you to find the Castrol 0W30.

I have run it in my car and I can honestly say that I was very impressed.

I'm not sure how much it matters but even after 3000Km of hard driving the oil looks very clean. It doesn't darken like the Mobil1 that I used previously.


This was in my 02 LS1. I really do drive my car hard. Every chance I get that car sees redline :devil:

Patman could u or would u ever test Valvoline Dino in your car..
Or another Dino thats equivalant to it...

Just would like to see the comparo,Maybe I'll run syn. if u show me its really worth it.
Remember my car is primarally a race type car,I only drive it 4K a yr at most,I race it about 10 times a yr so I dont need a prolonged oil interval,at best 2K miles.

Do u think most Dino's would be okay for me or do u think I could still benefit from Syn...

I would never run dino oil in my Corvette. No dino oil meets the GM4718M spec required for the C5.

I still think you could benefit from using synthetic in your car, it can handle higher oil temps better and will provide better protection under extreme stress.

Its too bad that its tough for some of you to find the Castrol 0W30.

I have run it in my car and I can honestly say that I was very impressed.

I'm not sure how much it matters but even after 3000Km of hard driving the oil looks very clean. It doesn't darken like the Mobil1 that I used previously.


This was in my 02 LS1. I really do drive my car hard. Every chance I get that car sees redline :devil:

I have the same results with my GC. It didn't seem to get dark/dirty until the 4-5K of use. This oil also solved a cold tick morning start problem I had so I'm not looking forward to changing to another oil if the GC can't be found.

I would never run dino oil in my Corvette. No dino oil meets the GM4718M spec required for the C5.


:werd:

Patman,didnt u run Schaffer in your car....
Thats dino?

Now honestly,race motor spinning to 6600..
10/30 or 5/30 syth????

Or the German 0/30 Castrol.....

"I've been told be a few racers that syn tend to pull heat from the valve springs and thats not a good thing."

Care to elaborate?? :confused:

"I've been told be a few racers that syn tend to pull heat from the valve springs and thats not a good thing."

Care to elaborate?? :confused:

"I've got ocean front property in Arizona. From my front porch you can see the sea."

:eyes:

Honestly I have talked to 2 NMCA racers that run turbo cars and both of them told me that dino is better at keeping heat in the valvetrain...

These were 2 WORLD CHAMPION RACERS that people know on here but out of respect to them I will not tell u there names.

I am not BSing anyone.....
Maybe others have heard of this too?

This was for drag race type setups,not street cars....

"I've been told be a few racers that syn tend to pull heat from the valve springs and thats not a good thing."

Care to elaborate?? :confused:
Heat kills valve springs... This is why endurance motors have gone to oil squirters in the valve covers to spray oil on the springs to cool them.

Honestly I have talked to 2 NMCA racers that run turbo cars and both of them told me that dino is better at keeping heat in the valvetrain...

These were 2 WORLD CHAMPION RACERS that people know on here but out of respect to them I will not tell u there names.

I am not BSing anyone.....
Maybe others have heard of this too?

This was for drag race type setups,not street cars....
Not sure what they are talking about unless they are just concerned about running the springs too cool, and since they do not run the motors long enough for them to really warm up, they do not want the oil to cool the springs any more than it has to. As mentioned in the previous post, there is a reason endurance motors are deliberately spraying oil on the springs (and it is not to keep them warm or lubricated).

Patman,didnt u run Schaffer in your car....
Thats dino?

Now honestly,race motor spinning to 6600..
10/30 or 5/30 syth????

Or the German 0/30 Castrol.....

I ran Schaeffer's synthetic blend in my LT1 Firebird, not in my C5. As soon as I got my C5 home, I switched it to German Castrol.

I'm going to have 6k on my current run with GC by this weekend so I'm going to change it and send it for analysis and will post the results here next week (Monday or Tuesday). The following run will be another 6k run, then from that point on I plan on following the oil life monitor in order to determine how long I go. (which will most likely mean 7-8k intervals based on how I've seen the oil life monitor countdown so far)

Gotcha Patman...
Thanx :)

thanks to patman i have switched over to GC this past summer.

and i must say, it feels like a new car.

It is on sale right now at Autozone if you can find it, picked up 17 quarts last Saturday. I use it in all six cars.I finally found some, and it was mixed up with the US made 0-30. I looked like a wack job sifting through the rack looking for the good stuff. :loco: I bought everything they had (12 quarts), it was only 3.99/qt. :)

I bought some (0W-30 today and it was $5.15 a quart. :eek:

The american stuff is the normal brownish color while the German stuff has a radioactive green tint about it.

"I've got ocean front property in Arizona. From my front porch you can see the sea."

:eyes:

"If you buy that I'll throw the Goldengate in free."

:)



Jason

"If you buy that I'll throw the Goldengate in free."

:)



Jason

:cheers:

Has someone done a side by side comparison with Royal Purple? Just curious. I would like to try the GC, but if they stop carrying it I will have to switch back to Royal Purple. Anyone switch from RP to the Castrol, and if so what differences did you see?

I love working at a shop and getting that nice discount! Mobile One is some very expensive oil but very cheap with a discount!

Has someone done a side by side comparison with Royal Purple? Just curious. I would like to try the GC, but if they stop carrying it I will have to switch back to Royal Purple. Anyone switch from RP to the Castrol, and if so what differences did you see?

I ran Royal Purple 5w30 in my wife's Honda, followed by GC, and GC showed a dramatic improvement in bearing wear. My lead content went from being in the 8-10ppm range every 5k, down to 1-2ppm with GC!

I just changed my oil in the Corvette yesterday, with 6100 miles on it. I did not need to add any oil whatsoever during the interval. I should hopefully get the analysis results Monday afternoon. (I will drop the sample off at the lab first thing in the morning)

Sorry for bumping an old thread but any oil test results Patman?

Sorry for bumping an old thread but any oil test results Patman?

Yep, I posted them a few weeks ago. Here is the link:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280043

I sure hope that GC really works as good as everyone says it does. I bought some last night and it cost nearly $6 a quart. I talked to the store clerk and he looked at me like I was stupid or something by talking about it like it was different than the American Castrol. I am currently running M1 10W-40 and will change my oil this weekend. I'll do an oil analysis and let everyone know how it went with the M1. I may even have to print this thread and show the guys at Autozone what the real difference about GC is. I think that if I show him this along with Patman's analysis compared to my M1 analysis (which will probably not be near as good) I can get him to purchase more GC and get him to advertise it. He'd be surprised how much it will sell if he had the analysis comarisons at the front counter. I'm just worried that if I start using this GC and it works great that my Autozone will quit selling it. I just hope that GC 0W-30 is not too thin for my climate, especially with it getting hotter down here. Our average highs for the summer are from 85 to 100. Guess I can try it out and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the advise Patman. :thumb:

I think I may have found some in KMart, BUT while it says Porsche approved, etc, it says "Made in USA" on it. Is this the same?? BTW all they had was 10-30 and 5-50. I think on my next day off I will head across the border to Canada as the town I live in is pretty small and I have exhausted all places. Yeah at every auto parts store I went to they all thought I was strange to be "....lookin for Castrol from Germany....???" (their words, not mine). Is there someplace you can order it online if I can't find it locally?? Thanks.

i work at Valvoline Instand Oil Change (not much to be proud of) but my car sees a new oil change once a week like every 200 miles....:-d hopefully my car will last a while....

i work at Valvoline Instand Oil Change (not much to be proud of) but my car sees a new oil change once a week like every 200 miles....:-d hopefully my car will last a while....


Is that safe?

even if its cheap or free there is no use in that at all.

I think I may have found some in KMart, BUT while it says Porsche approved, etc, it says "Made in USA" on it. Is this the same?? BTW all they had was 10-30 and 5-50. I think on my next day off I will head across the border to Canada as the town I live in is pretty small and I have exhausted all places. Yeah at every auto parts store I went to they all thought I was strange to be "....lookin for Castrol from Germany....???" (their words, not mine). Is there someplace you can order it online if I can't find it locally?? Thanks.
The Castrol you found at KMart isn't the GC that everyone else is using. The key is for it to say "Made in Germany". All Castrol Syntec is Porsche approved, BMW approved, etc. The GC will only come in 0W-30. The bottle looks slighly different than the American made stuff. If you look at this post on page 2 and thread 28, you will see what to look for.