Orange Peel,

By switching oils with different additive packages, you can cause oil leaks. Seals become saturated with a certain type of oil, if another is added that is not compatible it reacts with the oil in the seals. It eventually causes them to be weaker and therefore leak. I'm not sure what exact chemical reaction occurs, but I know it destroys seals and causes leaks.

 

Nice to know, didn't think about that! Thanks! I assume we are safe though, since he as ran all these oils through the car, and he hasn't reported any oil leaks. I will be switching with my next oil change, VERY soon

 

Anykind of factual link to support this?

 

It's hard to come right out and say that any one particular oil is "the best" but this oil is definitely extremely good and you should get very long engine life by using it.

The reason why it's so different is simply because the European standards for oil are much stricter. European car makers like BMW and Mercedes all call for longer oil change intervals and require much stricter testing for the oils they use. So this oil from Germany is simply built much better than the Castrol stuff made in the USA, since frankly speaking, the specs for oils in North America are quite easy to pass.

 

I ran Mobil Delvac-1 5W-40 for a hard day at the Pocono East road course, and my oil drain plug magnet was completely clean. Not even the tiny amount of metal "slush" I normally find on my gen-3 engines...nothing detectable w/ the eye or a white paper towel. Unbelievable. This was with 5 days of communting to & from work, the drive to Pocono, 4 ~30min sessions, the drive home, and 2 more commutes to work.

I snagged a sample and sent it to Blackstone, will post the results when it comes back.

By way of comparison, green Castrol 0W-30 left a tiny amount of metal slush on the magnet with just 3 commutes to work and misc street driving, no road courses.

 

thanks patman for helping me out but one other question what is a good filter to use
i normally run ac delco

 

When I worked at a Ford dealership I talked to an oil rep from Pennzoil. We talked about many topics about oil. He informed me on a lot of things. Like the conventional 3,000 mile oil change no longer exists because oils today are refined much better. Any decent oil brand should go 4,000 to 5,000 with no problems. Bottled oil is better than pump oil you get at lube shops. Some of those tanks are 20 years old and never get the sedement cleaned out. If they are almost empty a lot of garbage gets pumped into your engine. Synthetic blends are wastes since they are 90% conventional 10% percent synthetic. It's funny when we see "blend" we imagine 50/50. He also supported how oils need to be compatible with each other. Additive package mismatches cause leaks. I've always heard local mechanics say this and our dealership went by it as a rule of thumb. My guess is, it's correct.

 

I'm not flaming the issue but I don't think oil additive package really matters for leaks, I work on Toyotas. When doing a timing belt the cam seals or crank seal is often leaking. Its just the fact the engine is 5 years old and seals are hard as a rock, I don't think oil long as its 5w30 would do much to stop these oil leaks. I could be wrong.

 

IT'S GREEN!! lol... I just changed the oil in the Z06 and Z28 and I noticed the Castrol was green. Looked pretty cool.

 

i just changed my oil today and went with penzoil 10w40, as patman said it was a good oil, in another thread.
patman, do you suppose its "okay" to use this oil...i got some funny looks when i bought the oil and they asked what it was going in, etc...but then again autopart stores people are usually retards anyhow

 

Pennzoil 10w40 will work just fine. It's not going to keep the engine as clean as a full synthetic will, and you won't be able to do extended intervals with it, but if you keep to 4000 mile intervals or less it should do just fine.

 

would it hurt anything to go ahead an go full synthetic next oil change?
everyone keeps talkingabout how mixing oils, etc will cause oil leaks, so i'd like to go synthetic next oil change....

 

Some info re: European 0W-30 (from a soon-to-be sponsor- Me!)

Many popular North American engine oils may actually be harmful to European engines. European automobile manufacturers design vehicles to use specific high quality lubricants with specific properties and additives. Most motor oils offered in America do not meet the demanding specifications, and the European lubricants are not readily available. As a result, problems such as premature wear and engine sludge develop.

"Europeans build their cars and impose higher requirements on the type of oil than we are used to here in North America," remarks an oil industry source. "They have more of a multi-tier system within their specifications, whereas the API uses the lowest common denominator as a guideline. It is by its own admission, within API 1509, a minimum Spec.,,

While the American Petroleum Institute (API) sets oil standards in America, the Automotive Manufacturers Association (ACEA) sets them in Europe. "ACEA standards reflect a wider complexity of the offering of engines on the market right now," says Herve Blanquart, VP Automotive of Motul North America. "On top of that, manufactur¬ers have introduced their own standards, most of which start with the ACEA standards, and go further in specific tests to solve specific problems and address specific issues."
In the U.S., the API adopts one standard for all engine oils. "For example they are work¬ing on ILSAC GF-4, and the problems they are running into is that this oil will be too thin for a lot of older engines," explains Blanquart. "In Europe, they decided from the beginning that they would not adopt a lin¬ear standard - rather a standard for each type of application - gas, diesel, turbo, etc."

European vehicle manufacturers keep tight control over which lubricants they, allow to be used in their vehicles. Inner-company bureaucracies are in charge of keeping the approved lubricant lists up-to-date with the latest requirements, and a few companies apply some of the regulations to North America. European aftermarket service stations must stock different lubricants for different automobile brands. Sometimes different models put out by the same manufacturer require different lubricants.

Do-it-yourselfers are less prevalent in Europe. Qualified repair shops, franchised or tightly controlled by the vehicle manufacturers in order to dictate the type of oil being used, typically perform most of the oil changes.

The high quality oils used in Europe allow Europeans to enjoy longer drain intervals. However, when European vehicles are exported to the United States, the concept becomes distorted.
"There is in general a longer drain associated with the higher tier oils in the European system," remarks the oil industry source, "so the thought process is if we don't allow the longer drain in North America, consumers should be able to get by with API spec oils - but it leaves man¬ufacturers open to the type of problem Mercedes-Benz recently experienced."

A recent class-action lawsuit brought forward by owners of certain 1998 through 2001 Mercedes-Benz vehicles claimed they weren't informed that synthetic motor oil was required in order to take advantage of the extended drain intervals afforded through the use of the vehicles' Flexible Service System (FSS). Many using conventional oils experienced pre¬mature wear problems, and the settlement will cost the company over $32 million.

"The long drain indicator used by Mercedes is predicated on using Mercedes-Benz-approved oil, which is a very top quality synthetic oil," explains the oil company source. "When those vehicles came to the States, somehow dealerships weren't impressing upon the consumer the need to use the right oil. And whether or not the dealers were doing so, some consumers were putting in regular API-spec oil, resulting in problems."

Although synthetic motor oils are generally of higher quality than conventional oils, not all synthetics can meet the stringent European specifications. "A good quality synthetic could solve the problem," says the source, "but in the case of M-B, for example, you're dealing with an extremely high-spec oil. Not every synthetic is going to meet that spec. Some only meet the baseline API specs. Just because it's a synthetic doesn't mean it's a top tier prod¬uct.

"Shop owners must keep in mind that there are numerous special requirements for European vehicles and that they shouldn't always be knee-jerking to the stuff in the big tank. If you call M-B, Volvo, or VW, for example, they should be telling you that their vehicle needs ACEA spec products."

Although it's easy to assume that the more expensive the vehicle, the better quality the lubricant it needs, that's not always the case. For example, the mid-priced Volkswagen TDI requires a very specific, high spec lubricant.

 

It won't hurt a thing. Switching to synthetics will usually only cause leaks in very very old engines. (not higher mileage modern engines, but old designs)

 

well my car only has 13k miles on it anyhow

 

I switched over from my normal M1 5w30 to German Castrol 0-30 today. Seems I have more engine noises (lifters make a little noise in my LS1) than normal. I'll probably give the 5w-30 a try.

 

several people told me their ls1's are a little noisier with the GC 0-30. i guess that doesn't mean it isn't protecting though.

 

Yeah, its definately MUCH louder...im about to change over...AGAIN.