Thought this interesting article by a leading R&D Chemist would open some eyes.

A word of caution ? You get what you pay for!

Below is an article written by John Rowland, Silkolene/Fuchs Chief R & D Chemist for 40 years.

Quote:

Costs of synthetics vary considerably. The most expensive are the ?Ester? types originally only used in jet engines. These cost 6 to 10 times more than high quality mineral oils.

The cheapest synthetics are not really synthetic at all, from a chemists point of view. These are in fact specially refined light viscosity mineral oils known as ?hydrocracked?. These have some advantages over equivalent mineral oils, particularly in lower viscosity motor oils such as 5w-30 or other oils with a low ?W? rating such as 5w-50 etc and they cost about 1.5 times more than good quality mineral fractions.

We use several different grades of this base oil, where appropriate. This is the ?synthetic? which is always used in cheap oils that are labelled ?synthetic?. Yes it?s a cruel world, you get what you pay for!

Now, you may ask, why are these special mineral oils called ?synthetic??

Well, it was all sorted in a legal battle that took place in the USA about ten years ago. Sound reasons (including evidence from a Nobel Prize winning chemist) were disregarded and the final ruling was that certain mineral bases that had undergone extra chemical treatments could be called ?synthetic?.

Needless to say, the marketing executives wet their knickers with pure delight! They realised that this meant, and still does, that the critical buzz-word ?synthetic? could be printed on a can of cheap oil provided that the contents included a few percent of ?hydrocracked? mineral oil, at a cost of quite literally a few pence.

So, the chemistry of ?synthetics? is complex and so is the politics!

The economics are very simple. If you like the look of a smart well-marketed can with ?synthetic? printed on it, fair enough, it will not cost you a lot; and now you know why this is the case.

But, if you drive a high performance car, and you intend to keep it for several years, and maybe do the odd ?track day?, then you need a genuine Ester/PAO (Poly Alpha Olefin) synthetic oil.

This oil costs more money to buy, because it costs us a lot of money to make, very simply, you always get what you pay for!

Unquote:

This is old news really but most people are blissfully unaware of the facts when they are looking for a "synthetic" oil which although labelled as such and is more expensive probably is not a true synthetic basestock. Always remember proper synthetics are not cheap so don't be fooled.

Cheers
Simon
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Local Vauxhall dealer in Taunton is selling 10/40 fully synthetic ( Shell helix) as the oil for topping up VX 2.0TD engines.
I bought the oil as a precaution, so far this car has done 4500 miles and oil level has dropped about 3mm.
Car is a 2004 Zafira i thought the oil was 5/30 spec am i wrong?

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Hi all - Mrs V's beloved car has been suffering from a battery problem for some time. The car's not much used and we find after about 10 days the battery goes flat.
Recently, although the car would start, we'd find it'd lose revs and cut out when the clutch was depressed. I guessed the battery was probably at fault. Also, coincidentally (?) one of the rear doors has been unlocking itself periodically for no apparent reason. Yesterday I bought and fitted a new battery - got a heavy duty Bosch with a 4 year guarantee from Costco for £30 inc. vat. (Kwik fit quoted £65 for an Exide with 3 year gtee). The car now starts OK, hasn't shown signs of cutting out and the door is still locked but it's very early days and we may want to use the car over Xmas so I'm wondering if the problems we've been having are likely to have been due to the failing battery. Ta all! Read more

Hi Guys

I put the Vectra through its first service at my local Vauxhall main dealers today. It cost me £187...

Anyway, they have refilled the sump with semi synth 10w40 and I queried this with them as it doesn't seem to mention this oil grade in the handbook.
The service manager I spoke to said that they use this oil as "in the past" they have had warranty problems with customers topping up with incorrect grade oil.He also advised me that this oil would be perfectly ok to use for up to 1 year or 20k whichever is first.
So my first question to you would be is this ok , do you agree with this chap?

Second question concerns the Vectra service interval indicator.

On this car when the ignition is off , you can press the trip meter reset button under the speedo and the remaining mileage before the next service will show in the window under the rev counter.
This now does not light up at all when the button is pressed.
I queried this with them and they said it is working , its just recalibrating itself and will start to count down soon. Is this true? I would have thought it should show 20000miles or similar.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

PS They also changed the top rad mounts as they were creaking away like a cheap haunted house front door.... :o)
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I have just had my Mazda`s first year service. Within a few days a rattle appeared from front offside. Took it back to dealer . They said some rust may have fallen behind disc whilst taking off the wheels to check. It appeared OK for a few miles after collection, then it started again. Took it back. They fixed it again but within 35miles it was back. They said it was something to do with disc brake. Anybody any other ideas? Read more