Technical Oil

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Technical Oil

If the Shell Oil was Helix Ultra ECT C2/C3 would have been on label I think that Fiat recognise meets their spec or similar. My TA 4x4 next month having 4th oil change of 0w 30 C3. Oil supplied by oil company that owns EK's. Car been faultless. Don't suggest anyone follows my lead. If my uniair unit dies it serves me right. But I don't expect it to.
 
Hope your car IS OK.
My real point is one branch of Dealer is saying We don't recommend anything but Selenia, and other branches of the same dealer is selling a variety of other oils.
Doesn't fill me with confidence that "Dealer man speak with forked tongue"
 
One dealer could be specifically fiat or holding up the fiat brand like a beacon the reason being they are all basically franchise owners so each will have their different ways to please the mother company i,e, Fiat.

Others may have been in business with fiat a long time, they may recognise there is no benefit to the specific fiat recommended oils, or have deals with other companies either way when it comes to oil it’s unlikely that fiat say they have to use their own and if you went in the workshop you’d find some large 200litre barrels of castrol that gets used for all cars during dealer services.

You don’t need to get hung up on the make it just had to confirm to the recommended requirements
 
I must have missed something as despite reading all the posts I have failed to understand your query. Your car is 20 months old and at 6400 miles and still running on its original factory oil with a small amount of top up that you bought and put in yourself.

Why would you send a letter to the dealer asking for written confirmation you haven't damaged your engine by you putting this oil in and wanting them to do a free oil change?

Either way it's due an oil change soon, and running fine I presume so I'd just change it then. Your mileage is so low that I wouldn't worry, the rest of the car is likely to fail with age before the engine gives out.
 
Don't know if message in book pack still that if do less than 10k km a year (6,250 miles?) It's advised to have the oil changed. I change mine religiously for peace of mind and because in summer it gets seriously hot and probably not warm enough the rest of the year. Plus used 7 days a week in all weathers. Whereas your situation different.
 
Disposal of used engine oil is an environmentally challenging issue. So much so that all car makers, and all oil brands, now do their best to avoid unnecessary changes. The 18,000 mile oil change is there for that reason. The reason for an early (in miles) change for low use cars is because of the potential of condensation affecting the oil. But actually, much of the rest a car is adversely affected by such low use, not just the oil - so changing oil ‘too soon’ is not guaranteeing the rest of the car is in good order. It does add to oil companies’ profits though.
 
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I’ve commented here before with this answer... a car maker is no longer allowed to specify a *brand* of oil to use, only the specification. My Volvo has an engine made by Ford//Peugeot/Citroen in a shared facility. Each of those car maker quotes their ‘recommended’ brand of oil to use in their models, but they recommend different brands even though the engines the same. By the same token, my dishwasher ‘recommends’ a particular brand of wash tablet... it gets whatever’s on offer in the supermarket at the time and seems happy with it
 
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Disposal of used engine oil is an environmentally challenging issue.

There is a whole recycling industry been established for many years. When I started in the trade, 1972, the garage would put its waste oil into a large tank that was emptied and taken away when needed by a tanker, and taken to a recycling facility.

There is one such facility in the Midlands that I have had the benefit of visiting. It is like a mini refinery. Waste oil is processed to separate it from water/coolant, brake fluid and any other contaminants, which are processed separately. Then the additives are stripped out and the oil cleaned and filtered to create new base stock. (It is a bit more involved than my brief description). Then the base stock can be sold out to oil companies as is, or new additive packages added to create oils for clients.

It is the additives that wear out, the base oil is significantly longer-lived and can be used over again. Most of our 'new' oil we've been buying for many years has used a significant amount of this recycled base stock.
 
Oil..

'Guaranteed to run..and run..' :)

Its your car..your money.. do as you see fit.

I plan to keep mine for 10+ years.. so flushing out the build..and break in debris was important

If you are trading at 3 years.. not your worry.

Ive had various experiences of vehicle oil issues over the years.. so am wary.

And when I go to a FIAT dealer..and they deviate from the agreed schedule.. I dont return

Simples
 
Thanks to all for your advices

Your title reminded me of a couple of mishaps with a motorcylce dealer many years ago.

Having taken on a Honda motorcycle franchise, and until then being used to British stuff, a local motorcycle dealer were caught out by the new Hondas. Delivered empty, the dealer was supposed to fill the engine with oil when the bike was built from the crate. Fine for sold units, but being used to British stuff that was prone to leaks, those for the showroom were left empty. But the warning labels removed as they looked wrong in a showroom. I think they wrecked three engines by starting and running them dry, ignoring the red oil pressure warning light.

Then it got worse, ignoring the Honda advice to fill with 10/40, they used their bulk supply of heavier monogrades, used on the British engines. The thicker oil didn't really get to the camshaft bearings well until the engine was hot, leading to camshaft failures after a few hundred miles. With the camshafts running in the heads, engines were scrap.

Not unique to my local dealer. There used to be an engineering company in the midlands that specialised in line-boring the heads and fitting shell bearings to fit the reground camshafts.
 
I had a long conversation about oils for engines and condensation issues re the Panda TwinAir. Long and short of it was he recommended sticking to the EXACT spec of oil and said engine tolerances are now so tight that manufacturers are designing engines around specific oils. I know one Acea C3 should be the same as another, but additives in brands may be more critical now than when tolerances were greater. I have always favoured the best possible oil particularly with turbo engines but have no evidence it makes any difference at all.

I had a company Astra 1.8 that had never had service since new 75K miles before. I ran this up to about 130K miles and it only ever complained after its first service at 75K. I had a Vectra with variable oil service intervals and the dealer told me they had never seen one before that did not require a change after 20K mine did in over 32K with no service indicator light showing. It did feel much better with new oil but was capable according to its self diagnostics of 40K between changes. It was of course drivenwith sympathy as if stolen 100% of the time doing 400-500 miles a day. I think we worry too much! - including me.
 
I had a long conversation about oils for engines and condensation issues re the Panda TwinAir. Long and short of it was he recommended sticking to the EXACT spec of oil and said engine tolerances are now so tight that manufacturers are designing engines around specific oils. I know one Acea C3 should be the same as another, but additives in brands may be more critical now than when tolerances were greater. I have always favoured the best possible oil particularly with turbo engines but have no evidence it makes any difference at all.

I had a company Astra 1.8 that had never had service since new 75K miles before. I ran this up to about 130K miles and it only ever complained after its first service at 75K. I had a Vectra with variable oil service intervals and the dealer told me they had never seen one before that did not require a change after 20K mine did in over 32K with no service indicator light showing. It did feel much better with new oil but was capable according to its self diagnostics of 40K between changes. It was of course drivenwith sympathy as if stolen 100% of the time doing 400-500 miles a day. I think we worry too much! - including me.

Forgot to say conversing with the GEM Technical Adviser
 
Forgot to say conversing with the GEM Technical Adviser
The Aftersales Director of my Dealer confirms to me in writing the following
"......it is ok to top up the oil when required with THESE OILS in between servicing"
Capitals are mine as earlier emails confirm "these oils" refer to
Selenia Digitek
Shell Helix
Castrol Magnatec
 
Hi Motorcyclist or Colin. Is this of interest to you?
Fuchs TITAN GT1 XTL 5W-40 Synthetic Engine Oil

My FIAT dealer sold me 5L for my last Panda so it should be O.K. You can read about it on the Opie Oil website. Please post what you think about this.

Fergus.
 
That Fuchs oil used by a well known high street fast fit centre who match it with the earlier TA engine. For anyone wondering what said place recommend for later engines it's a 0w 30 C2 diesel spec oil. Think I'd pass on this too. Considering how things gone recently, glad had oil change, brake fluid and wiper blades in October. So pretty healthy for now.
 
That Fuchs oil used by a well known high street fast fit centre who match it with the earlier TA engine. For anyone wondering what said place recommend for later engines it's a 0w 30 C2 diesel spec oil. Think I'd pass on this too. Considering how things gone recently, glad had oil change, brake fluid and wiper blades in October. So pretty healthy for now.

0w-30w c2 is the correct spec for later twin air engines
 
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