Switching eng. oil from Mobil1 --> Shell helix *need advi

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:32 pm

i was using Mobil 1 for the past 79,600 kms and it was great, oil change was done at every 5,000 kms... a bit low but all my driving is within city traffic, heat and high revs all the time so...

during the head gasket replacment that i had i noticed that the head was free from any oily deposits whatsoever so apparenty Mobil 1 was doing a good job in the engine.

now i am beeing told that Shell Helix ultra is better oil than Mobil 1 and i got to switch... is was even mentioned that it is the recommended oil for high performance cars as well as turboed cars... i know my car is nither high performance machine nor a turbo application but using it will make a difference for sure.

i was wondering what you guys think?? the Shell is almost the same price as the mobil so the performance is the only judging factor here and given those facts i mentioned, will i be better of using the Shell helix??

the Mobil 1 is rated at 0W 40 whereas the Shell is 15W 50 but i am not 100% sure of the difference here... does this mean that the Shell will lose more viscosity at the same temp. compared to the mobil?? in herer we worry much about heat rather than cold start issues and all.

need your advice guys.

MMamdouh

norman · Post by **norman** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:13 pm

moin,

why to change a running system? if you are happy with the mobil1 oil, use it. for example, i use 10/40 from castrol in my c20xe. no problems.

0/40 is better for cold starts and in cooler areas. 15/50 is better at high rpm and hot areas.

btw: i think, 0/40 or 15/50 are to expensiv for a normal engine. your engine never see 8000rpm or extrem torque at the crankshaft. it use in normal limits, where a normal oil will work perfectly too. you change it every 5000km, so no oil deposits have a chance to form!

tschau norman

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:01 pm

then the Shell is better for hot areas like mine... i just wanted to know if the shell woll be better than the mpbil oil... so far is is better given the operation temp. in here.

MMamdouh

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 11:27 am

57 views.... only one comment...

MMamdouh

lanowoo · Post by **lanowoo** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:41 pm

i will comment... i think the shell would be better on heat, but still friction is the #1 cause of breakdown..

lanowoo · Post by **lanowoo** » Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:43 pm

so id stay with mobil oil, then if its only the heat, part, but if it was the greater comb in the shell helix,t then i would say go for it.. but stick with what u got

headly · Post by **headly** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:06 am

I used to use shell helix ultra (5w 40 I think) and yeah it was a good oil. Here, where I am in Australia we would get summer temps up around 40-45 deg C and winters down to -10 deg C. The oil performed well across the field although I did have to top it up a little more often. Nowdays my engine has close to 130 000 kms on it and Ive gone to a heavier grade of oil (15w 50). One thing I did notice is that the Helix Ultra "gave" a little more mid-range torque.

Im going to be doing another oil change soon as we are in winter and I want to give a particular 10W 40 semi syth a go.

woo · Post by **woo** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 12:53 pm

headly wrote:I used to use shell helix ultra (5w 40 I think) and yeah it was a good oil. Here, where I am in Australia we would get summer temps up around 40-45 deg C and winters down to -10 deg C. The oil performed well across the field although I did have to top it up a little more often. Nowdays my engine has close to 130 000 kms on it and Ive gone to a heavier grade of oil (15w 50). One thing I did notice is that the Helix Ultra "gave" a little more mid-range torque.

Im going to be doing another oil change soon as we are in winter and I want to give a particular 10W 40 semi syth a go.

im also in australia and i use 10w40 Castrol GTX magnatec, and it runs like clockwork

headly · Post by **headly** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 12:41 pm

woo wrote:im also in australia and i use 10w40 Castrol GTX magnatec, and it runs like clockwork

Yeah I want to try Penrite HPR10 (10W 50 not 10W 40...my bad there) , Im running it in my other car and it seems pretty good, and its blended right here in Oz, so its gotta be good !!

http://www.penrite.com.au/html/s02_arti ... 55&dsa=245

genie47 · Post by **genie47** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:40 am

I'm sorry MMamdouh, I missed this post.

I would suggest you keep using a 40wt oil. 50 is too high and will indeed rob your engine of power.

I live in the tropics with 32 deg C ambient temperatures. I use 30wt oil. 5W30 and 10W30 to be exact. No brand loyalties. Anything comfy to my pocket goes in. I have even tried 5W20. No harm was done. Just that the car was very very revv happy.

I have done wear analysis and incredibly the dino oil gave me the best wear results compared to the synthetics.

genie47 · Post by **genie47** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:44 am

lanowoo wrote:i will comment... i think the shell would be better on heat, but still friction is the #1 cause of breakdown..

Engine oil does not feel the ambient temperature. Studies were made. Ambient temperatues do not contribute much to the engine temperature and hence oil temperatures when the engine is at operating temperature.

Ambient temperatures affect only at start up. Have freezing cold weather and you will definitely get high wear at start up.

Friction is not the cause of the breakdown but it is the heat. Engine oil warms up by frictional shear that is subjected to it.

However what is known is that lower viscosity oils result in cooler operating temperatures while higher viscosity oils give higher operating temperatures. Yes, this means higher viscosity oils make the engine hot.

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:16 am

i am switching to Shell helix... Mobil1 price just went up once again and now it is some 210LE/4 liters (36.85 USD) and i am not going to pay that much for engine oil, so far the Helix is still at 165LE/4 liters (28.95 USD).

i remeber when i bought this car brand new on November 1998 the Mobil1 price used to be 85LE/4 liters (14.91)... now it is a bit less than triple it s price... its a really fu#ked up country.

will give more feedback on the Shell Helix when i actually use it.

MMamdouh

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:22 pm

i ended up with BP visco 5000, it is well priced and recommended by a friend that works in BP... any one tried it before?

so far my engine sounds smoother than before... will give more feedback when i put more kms on it.

MMamdouh

MMamdouh · Post by **MMamdouh** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 11:20 pm

first oil change after 7,140 kms.

this is the first time i change oil at such high kms and the oil that came out of the engine was dirty yet still has very good viscosity... the guy at the service station said the oil was still i na good condition and can still be used.

i only changed the oil as i was not fond of leaving it for so long but i have to say that the car didn't feel jerky or loud at all unlike what happens when my Mobil 1 was approaching 5000 kms of service... i actually went past 150 km/h easly on the way to the service station to change the oil so the engine was happy with that oil.

i am going to use it this time up to 10,000kms or so to see how will it performe... the guys at BP told me that i can go up to 15,000 per oil change but i am not going to take that for granted, i am going to keep a good eye on the oil once i pass the 7,000 kms mark and see where will i go past that.

will keep you all posted.

MMamdouh

Markthomasz · Post by **Markthomasz** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:43 am

Just a small addition - I recently took my 1.5l woo in for a tuning check at a small specialist electronic tuning place (near Brisbane in Oz). He gave me a very nice thumbs up and said everything was well adjusted, no misfires, no indications of any issues (nice to hear, given it's done almost 160,000 kms). He told me he has quite a few Lanos clients (they are very common in Queensland for some reason) so I took the opportunity to ask him about any issues I should be aware of.

And here's where it gets relevant (sorry

) - he said the 1.5 and 1.6 engines both seem inherently reliable, with no significant design flaws. Apart from regular timing belt replacement, the only other tip he offered was that he had seen a couple of (very maltreated) Lanoses (Lanosi, Lanii?) that had suffered camshaft damage due to clogged oil channels (the ones that run up to the camshaft are apparently a bit narrow..). He suggested the best thing to do was obviously not to let your oil get sludged up!, but also to use lower-viscosity oils. When I said I was using Penrite synth 5W50, he said it was a very good choice, and to definitely stay with oils under 15WXX. (I don't know how that recommendation might change in cooler climates..)

It was just one guy's opinion, but he seemed to know what he was talking about, and I wasn't buying oil from him at the time... (O;

I also use Mobil SynthS 10W/40 (a synthetic *mix* I think) - but the Penrite happened to be on special..