Shell 5W-20
 

Its late, no auto stores open and I couldn't find Castrol GTX. Where do you buy your Castrol from?

Has anyone tried shell 5W-20 yet?

2

The Shell clearly states that it meets API SL spec. Your 8 won't know that it's not Castol.

I use "Ford Motor Oil" 5/20 I get from Wal*mart.

In my opnion oil is oil as long as it's API SL Spec, and not like Bob's oil. Just my .02

I use Mobil Drive Clean SAE 5-20. If you look at the backof bottles they have all kinds if interesting informations about the oil.

This one says guards against sludge and harmful deposits, and meets all requiements for a gasoline engine. It's API, SJ,SG,ILSAC and GF3. I use it in my car with no problems.

Any name brand oil will do.

Pep Boys carries Castrol.

What is "API SL spec"? Or "API, SJ,SG,ILSAC and GF3" ?

I just picked some Quaker State (I know it's not the same) but still a big name brand 5w-20 from Zellers.

That oil does NOT meet your warranty requirements. You have to use an oil that meets API SL, that Mobil Drive Clean 5W20 is only SJ. Not good enough!

Regards,
Gordon

go get some redline 5w20. at only 8bucks a quart it'll put a big dent in your wallet, but if you're a performance freak, allow you to push the engine to its limits. since most people dont drive this way, just go buy whatever oil you want, as long as its 5w20, your car will run just fine with it.

Actually, my Manual says "The quality designation SL or ILSAC must be on the label."

He does state it meets the requirements for ILSAC.

SL.....
 

Once again, "Gord is right", (I get tired of saying that....)

If it don't say SL, it is not good enough.

API (the ammerican petroleum institute) puts out the specs for oils to meet, and their ratings go alphabetically, so an SJ spec is newer than SG etc. We are now up to SL, the latest and 'almost' greatest. It is more restrictive in how much an oil can thicken up after long use, and how much it can 'shear', or lose its protective film. You wants the best, you got's to go with the latest spec - SL.

ILSAC is the international lube standards/approvals committee, they are currently up to a class called 'GF-3', and are rapidly trying to get refiners to meet 'GF-4'! The hold up with GF-4 is that it pretty much REQUIRES a good percentage of synthetic 'groupIII' oil in the mix, to do the job. Regular old dinosaur juice can't.
There are a lot of concerns from the small independant oil companies, (who used to just blend the latest additive package with the right grade of 'dino' oil to meet the specs). They fear that they big companies, with their high tech equipment are going to price the independants out of the market, by making the specs immpossible to meet, without high-tech high priced synjuice.

For the oil consumer, it probably means higher prices, but for those interested in really good engine protection, it is just good news. You can already see the price effect in some of the 5w20 oils that meet GF-3, they are expensive, and most already contain quite a proportion of the 'synthetic' groupIII oils.
Ford has already been granted API approval for 'Motorcraft Full Synthetic 5w20'.

The standards committees are not satisfied with GF-3, and want to withdraw their approval, in April 2005! GF-4 oil starts to hit the shelves in July 2004, and I will be using that, as soon as it's available.

So much for the 'no-synth-in-rotaries' argument, this time next year, you will not be able to buy an approved grade oil that is all dino.
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doc

$8/quart. I hope there are gold flakes in that oil.

GF-3 or 4?
 

In Europe, the recommended oil is GF-3? Will we use the GF-4 when available, or will Mazda still recommend the GF-3?
felix

I cannot believe you couldn't find a Walmat open. You can get Castrol 5W-20W there. I have been using it for 25 years and never had a engine problem with all cars going over 150,000 miles.

I don't think so.....
 

You have used Castrol 5w20 in all your cars for 20 years?

Step away from the keyboard, nice and slow, and nobody gets hurt....

S

Re: I don't think so.....
 

You're BS flag may have been a bit premature. Recommend you re-read his post. I'm pretty sure he meant he'd been using CASTROL (the brand) oils for 25 years, not strictly Castrol 5w20, though that weight of oil was not totally unheard-of 20 years ago.

BTW, just thought I'd say thanx to Doc -- excellent info on the API/ILSAC specs.

I haven't yet done the first oil change yet. I'm considering using the motorcraft blended or full synth oil.

Using $8/quart oil in an engine that deliberately burns it... what's wrong with this picture?

Nothing at all. How much do you think it burns? Out of 7.5 litres capacity, I might have to add 3 litres in 5K miles (at most).

So what are the rest of the 7.5 litres doing on any average day while a few drops are being burned? They're lubricating and protecting. That's what the oil is for. I don't really care about the few drops being burned or the couple of extra pennies per month that using higher grade oil costs - I care about the lubricating. Synthetic oils lubricate and protect better.

Sure, you can go ahead and run cheap crappy oil in your RX-8 because a few drops get burned every day. IMHO, that's a very poor area to try to save money.

Regards,
Gordon

Reading through this thread, one major thing jumps out at me. I am based in the UK and have been told to use 5W30 SL (not 20).

In the boot (trunk) of the car they give you 5W30 SJ but I couldnt get that over here. So after speaking to the dealer he said that you can only get SJ in Japan. In the UK I needed to get SL. HE reckoned it worked in grades ... where anything over G has some form of synthetics (then the higher letter you go the more additives/better it is).

So I am using 5W30SL (which is what Mazda use when it goes in for its bi-weekly cleanup of the milky oil (I got my dealer to agree to do this as often as required as I dont accept that its "normal")).

Anyone know whether the US cars are that much different to the UK ones relating to the oil required (I know the BHP is slightly different but assumed that it was tuning/emissions laws that dictated this - not a major mechanical change)???

Mike

Welsh Wales....
 

As far as I know, the 5w20 thing in the U.S. is a fuel mileage ploy....

If they factory fill it and spec that the buyers use it, they can claim about 4% better results on the CAFE tests.

I am pretty sure that the engines are identical.

Anyway, Cymru Am Byth! and all the best....
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doc

Sorry to go off topic, but what exactly is your dealer's "cleanup" procedure? Are they just sponging out the dipstick tube?