Im having my car serviced in 2 weeks, so im just wondering: What type of engine oil do they stick in your car when you get it serviced? Is it cheap stuff, Or decent? I have a some Magnatec oil just sitting around, so would it be better to tell them to use this oil when they do the service?

when my car goes in for its service they always use castrol magnatec 10W-40 i think :confused:

AFAIK the brand of oil they use really is up to the place you get your car serviced at, I guess you could ask them to use a particular brand if you wanted tho. The numbers in the oil's name, like 10W-40 is the viscosity (how thick), if you car is getting a large milage up, you may want to see about using a slightly thicker oil.

But unless your planning to change it yourself, leave it up to the mechanic. (change it yourself, its easy and cheaper!)

I was using Castrol Edge Sport 5w30, i'll be going back to Mobil 5w50!!!
I recomend Mobil Fully Syn 5w50 to anyone!!

i use the edge 5-30w, no lifter noise at all and with 7000ks since last change (im due now, normally do every 5000) its only gone dark brown.

ur best to find a brand and grade u like and stick to it... then just take a bottle of it when you get the car serviced and tell them to use it.

when my car goes in for its service they always use castrol magnatec 10W-40 i think :confused:

thats what mine got filled up with 2 weeks ago when i dropped it at the mechanics for a service.

my car loves it - such a quiet engine on the magnatech stuff

thats what mine got filled up with 2 weeks ago when i dropped it at the mechanics for a service.

my car loves it - such a quiet engine on the magnatech stuff

+1, ive been using Magnatec 10w40 since I got my car (and on my old car)

Taking your own oil and filter in for a service could save you money aswell as they will most likely bill you for more than its worth.

I was using Castrol Edge Sport 5w30, i'll be going back to Mobil 5w50!!!
I recomend Mobil Fully Syn 5w50 to anyone!!

I always ran Mobil 1 through my turbo cars, a good way to look after an engine.

Price is getting up there these days though.

I always ran Mobil 1 through my turbo cars, a good way to look after an engine.

Price is getting up there these days though.

mobil1 full synthetic is good

Even though this has been covered to death.

I like Penrite HPR5.

Penrite HPR15 here - if only because I haven't gotten around to getting the hydraulic lifters\tappets fixed.

I was using Castrol Edge Sport 5w30, i'll be going back to Mobil 5w50!!!
I recomend Mobil Fully Syn 5w50 to anyone!!
You run 5w weight oil in an asstron? Bit thin dont you reckon.

According to my receipt, Alan Mance in Footscray uses "Mobil Super S 10W-40" (cost me $36.90 last time)

']You run 5w weight oil in an asstron? Bit thin dont you reckon.

i was about to say the same.

i was running Penrite SIN 15, recently switched to Penrite Fully Synthetic Everyday Driving 10W-40, SO much better when cold, gets around the motor much better than the 15

']You run 5w weight oil in an asstron? Bit thin dont you reckon.

Using 5w, has supriseingly good. I was using 20w50, and the oil was burning like a bitch, was almost using a bottle per week.
since swaping over, it has been quite good!
I'll most likeley be swapping to 10w40, next oil change thou!!

The numbers 5W/50 or 5W-50 mean the oil has a viscosity rating of 5 at 40 deg C. That is good as it provides better oil flow into tight areas when the engine is cold. The 50 means at 100deg C the viscosity is holding at a 50 rating when the oil is hot and thinning out. A 30 grade will be thinner and more easily squeezed out of heavily loaded areas like bearings and cam/roller.

I personally recommend Mobil 1 5W/50 for most engines. It relatively cheap, does a good job of lubrication and keeping everything clean, gives good fuel economy(its a low friction oil) and you can get it most anywhere. Mobil 1 0W/40 will give marginally more HP and economy but it doesn't lubricate heavily loaded areas as well and it evaporates more so if used for long oil drain, say 20,000-25,000km, it will thicken and you may need to top up.

Cheers, Alan

I am a strict fan of the Penrite range
my magna get HPR10 in its diet although im considering moving upto Sin10 so i can enjoy 12 month servicing.

Shell Helix, Penrite, and Mobil are excellent oils...synthetics are miles ahead
I am not a fan of Magnatec as ive seen too many cars develop engine noises (including my previous fastidiously maintained car) after spitting out a heap of co**** metal filings with the spent magnatec

May as well chuck in my 2 cents. I put Nulon 15 40 in mine a few thousand ago. It is so quiet and very responsive. I have been using Magnatec in mine but I thought I'd give the ozzie stuff a go. So good so far.

Hi
the_ash

so i can enjoy 12 month servicing (WHY)
Oil is cheap compared to an engine rebuild.

I use 15w50 in my engine (burson engine oil)
And change the filter & oil every 5000km

Even though this has been covered to death.

I like Penrite HPR5.

I know what you mean. For pete's sake who really cares? I guess is what float your boat. People with more spending power will go Mobil 1, Helix Ultra, Castrol Sports. People with less budget will go semi synthetic grade of any other brand which cost about $15-20 less than a full synthetic oil.

Dropped my grade from Ultra to Helix Plus semi synthetic, didnt even think about whether is good. All Magnas of 3rd Gen are recommended to be Semi Synthetic is better for the engine than regular oil.

Wah, another oil thread, that must make 132,485 theads about oil by now???

Again stated, I use Penrite, always have and always will.

If I can not get Penrite I will get Fuches semi synth, if I can not get eihter I will leave the oil change until I can

Im currently using Mobil 1 5W/50 in my Magna and it was recommended by a very well known car guru.

sumpoiler

i dont drive like a maniac..all the time... alot of my travelling is at highway speeds
my magna runs on lpg so it runs cleaner and i use good oil as is

but being in the auto industry the last thing i want is to have to f##k with my car on the weekend if i have the time unless it involves making it more efficient or faster.

full synthetics are less than twice the price of semi synthetics (at trade prices) and last upto 2 years/30000km with the recommendation being 1 year/15000km for urban driving.

bmw's have a service monitor on the dash that gradually decreases until a service is due most of our customers get about 15 months between oil changes but the record was a customer who was coming in every 5 months because he liked to accellerate really fast.. do burnouts..run on 91RON..... really wear out his engine.... thank god that it met a power pole... now it need not suffer anymore

the point is that if good stuff goes into your engine then it saves you on time and money

modern engines dont need oil changes every 5000km they run far more cleaner than the dinosaurs that preceed them... i think its due to something called EFI:ninja:

30,000kms between oil changes? Do a bit of research on how oil effects engines mate. Every single article I've read on engine preservation and anything to do with engine tech comments almost immediately to change the oil frequently. Every 5,000kms is not a huge ask, and a 5L bottle of Magnatec and an oil filter is less than $50. Pretty cheap insurance when consider the alternative is oil that's lost its viscosity, doesn't protect your engine anymore, and blows a rod through the block.

That's a pretty extreme case, but I've had it happen to me before with a Holden Barina, and I've seen the inside of a Holden Astra engine and a Nissan Pulsar engine that hasn't had regular oil changes. It looks like someones smeared Vegemite around the camshafts. The amount of gunge was incredible.

(QUOTE FROM THE_ASH) dont drive like a maniac..all the time... alot of my travelling is at highway speeds
my magna runs on lpg so it runs cleaner and i use good oil as is


Engines That run on lpg will keep the the oil cleaner for longer! (compared to petrol engines)

But that does not mean you do not have to change it?

If doing highway kms you could extend the servicing to 10,000km

Around town & the odd highway trip about 5,000 km

15,000 to 30,000 km is a long time for an oil change (or 15 months)

Maybe i am still old school!

Modern oils are good but i for 1 would not be leaving it in for that long.

Even if you you put in synthitic oil in the engine & a filter about $75 for an oil change (cheaper than a engine rebuild)
Even if you put good stuff in will it save you time & money?


BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY EVERY ONE TO THERE OWN.
I STILL WILL BE CHANGING MY OIL & FILTER AT 5000KM.
IF EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD WAS THE SAME THE PLACE WOULD BE A BORING PLACE.



Car makers have extened the servicing over the years.

From 5000 km to 10-15000 km to keep the costs for the consumer down.

If you dont have to service your car for 15,000 km it would only cost you one service a year.(most people only do
about 15-20000 km a year)
So to run a car for a year 1 service,rego,insurance & maybe some tyres (cheap)

THANKS
THATS MY TWO BOBS WORTH

Just to add to the post above about manufacturers extending servicing periods. Remember too that if a manufacturer can extend the service intervals to 15,000kms (so once a year as mentioned) it does keep costs down for their customer, and the car only needs to last the length of the warranty, which is generally speaking, 3 years/100,000kms. What happens after that they couldn't give a toss about. So if they can appear to be saving their customers some money on servicing over the life of their warranty period it looks good and they will make more money when the engine is stuffed at 150,000 or 200,000kms from the rebuild.

Im with Disciple on this one.

While every 5000km is sometimes a bit much (depending on the car, driving conditions etc), I change mine very 7500km or there abouts (lots of stop start driving, penrite HPR 10 oil).

While modern oils are manufactured (fully synthetic) to last 10000 (city) - 20000km? (highway), I believe 30 000km to be a very long stretch IMO.

Each to their own - oil companies will tell you every 5000km is best, manufacturers will tell you 15000km is ok.....

Each have their reason, oil companies want to sell more oil, car manufacturers want to sell you a car with minimal ongoing costs.

the best thing is to keep tabs on the state of your oil and make an assessment based upon what you see.
lets face it we should all be sticking our heads under the bonnet atleast once a week... even if it is to stroke the engine :woot:
if it is sludgy then your heading for a f##ked engine game over you are a bad person, if its milky then you dont drive enough to evaporate the condensation in the oil and should flush and replace with fresh oil

manufacturers dont specify the use of full synthetic oils so if using anything of a lesser grade i wouldnt even attenpt 1 year/15000km, i would go as far as 6months/12000km for semisynth, but std oils (and i include magnatec in this category) i would suggest definitely 6months/10000km
and half these rates under sever conditions ie peak hour traffic, towing, extended idling, short trips(<10km)

both my magna and my wifes laser are still varnish free, dont lose or consume oil, and dont exhibit any noises.
in retrospect i have slack customers who run 3.5l magnas or cheap oil and service them when something goes wrongand even then they'd prefer to spend their money on something more important... i cringe when they come in but i can remark that even with that kind of abuse a couple of them are sitting around the 300000km mark.

an interesting fact tho is that if you translate the lawyer speak in the warranty book then you will see that the manufacturers dont cover "user damage" from sludge or inappropriate servicing ie extended servicing when driven in an urban environment (severe conditions).

double post i know but i forgot to add that i agree each owner and car is different and if someone wants to waste their time and money on oil changes then thats their baby
same as if they wish to use a full synth for 2years/30000km
in the end its their decision.... unless its a bmw or merc where you get told by the car when to do it for optimal life and performance. even then one can choose to ignore that feature... if they dont mind a constant reminder telling them off for not servicing their car or paying an equiped mechanic to clear the service interval every oil change(requires a diagnosic scanner on most models)

the moral is to read your owners manual and determine what a you and your car need... or take it to a good mechanic who treats you car like its their own.

I would just like to see the condition of your oil after 2 years and 30 000km of driving.