ummmmm isn't superautobacs an import speciality (japanese) shop. In the first post it said the oil was only available at auto zone.

 

what exactly does this mean?

 

Has to do with how they turn group III oil into a semi-synth. Not sure of the exact process.

 

thanks for the great info you guys...

been using M1 for past 60k miles... time to switch...

 

I switched to M1 at 3750 miles. I'm definately switching away from M1, but would it be bad to go back to Dino oil until about 10k miles, or just stay with synthetic since that's what I've been using. The car has about 6700 miles on it now, coming up on the second oil change.

 

Might as well go on using syn. You can switch back and forth whenever you want

 

Sounds like the only Castrol Syntec which is a full synthetic is the 0W30 European formula. I live in Florida- using 0W30 here would be crazy.

 

actually no It wouldnt be crazy
copy and paste from the German Castrol FAQ


Is it "thin"? Come on, 0w-30 has to be watery.


NO! Please don't completely buy into that myth.

At cold temps, the 0w weight correlates to cold cranking viscosity.
That means GC will still flow at cold temps. (Which is a good thing!)
At operating temps, the 30 weight is actually close to a 40 weight.
GC is one of the thickest 30 weight oils around.
I don't want to go into too much detail about this here. It can be very confusing.
My point is, GC is not "thin" in most temperatures that we use our cars in.

M1 5w-30 is actually thicker then M1 10w-30 at operating temperature.

 

For those worriesd about running a 0W oil


Thin Oil Myth
Created: April 10, 2006
Last Edited: Never

Disclaimer:
All the temperatures here are in celcius.

Short answer:
0w-30 and 5w-30 can be thicker than 10w-30.

Long answer: Read below.

Really Basic (but not so intuitive) information:

I'm sure we have all seen 5w-30, 10w-30, 10w-40, 20w-50, but what does it mean?
When talking about viscosities, you must state the temperature.

Lets break this up into two categories: hot and cold.

Xw-20, Xw-30, Xw-40, etc (HOT!)
This is your oil's hot viscosity. The viscosity is measured @ 100c.
This number is relative when the engine is warmed up.
The most common unit is cST. The larger the number, the "thicker" the oil.

Examples
A "30" weight is between 9.30-12.49 cST @ 100c.
A "40" weight is between 12.50-16.29 cST @ 100c



"Why isn't 5w-30 or 0w-30 thin?"
I think a real-life example will help.

Lets compare Mobil1 5w-30 to Mobil1 10w-30.

First the Hot (100 c) setting
Straight from Mobil1's datasheet (Looked on April 4, 2006):

5w-30 = 11.3 cST
10w-30 = 10.0 cST

Looks like the 5w-30 is thicker! (Notice how both oils are a "30" weight)


Now lets look at the cold setting
Based on the 5w and 10w specifications:

5w-30 = 6600 cP or less @ -30c
10w-30 = 7000 cp or less @ -25c

Looks like 5w-30 is thinner than 10w-30!
We can conclude that:

5w-30 is thinner than 10w-30 at -25c.
5w-30 is thicker than 10w-30 at 100c.

The above implies that 5w-30 thins out less than 10w-30 as temperature increases.


My main points are:

5w-30 can be thicker than 10w-30.
0w-30 can be thicker than 5w-30.

 

here's how informative and interesting i've found this thread:

i read the thread this morning, and this evening i went to my local autozone to see if they had Castrol 0w-30 (and they did) and then checked to see how long i have to wait to get it changed without wasting the money i spent on the last oil change

fantastic thread!



also, i know i know i know i know it's been discussed many times and i should just search for it, but this is an extremely popular thread today so i know plenty of people with a good answer will see the question soon, BUT..... i have 3,000 miles on my car right now and about 1,000 left to go before i need an oil change.... is that too early to put some of that good Castrol synthetic in it???

thanks in advance

 

No never too early to change it...its your money. I would leave it in longer to get my moneys worth out of it. Then run GC for 7k-10k miles to get my moneys worth out of that.



edit... you have 3000 miles on the car or the oil???????


if you have 3k on the car....change oil now to remove any breakin materials. If you have 3k on the oil dont worry about it.

 

I've been running Amsoil 0W-30 in my '04 Coupe for 21,000+ miles. Did a filter change at 12,500 miles and added a quart of oil as recommended by Amsoil. No problems whatsoever.

 

Amsoil is GREAT oil, just hard to find locally. I use GC because its just as good, easy to find and priced very well. I plan on trying Amsoil myself. I dont think I have the nerve to run an oil that long, however amsoil is a very long lasting oil especially with a filter change in between. You should def send the oil in for analysis after your next drain. I would love to see how well it held up after that type of mileage

Where do you get amsoil at?

 

I order it online and it shows up in 2-3 days so I just order it early in the week that I plan on changing the oil. I'm going to do oil analysis this time around and see how it held up. I'll post the results as soon as I have them.

 

what oil change interval would you recommend for the 0W-30 Castrol Syntec?


and do you think it's ok to use that type oil (and viscosity) in my 94' Integra LS with 85000 miles?