Hi there,

Just been down to our local ASDA and noticed that they are selling their own brand synthetic motor oil for around £17 for 5(?) litres. Has anyone used it in their Panda?

Just forked out £35 quid for 5 litres of Halfords own brand synthetic oil and was wondering why the huge price difference?

it will probably be the same oil, halfords are a rip off that is why the huge price difference

On this subject, my local Home Bargains had Gulf 10W-40 semi-synthetic oil [the grade that I use] for just £8.99

G Pywell said:

Hi there,
Just been down to our local ASDA and noticed that they are selling their own brand synthetic motor oil for around £17 for 5(?) litres. Has anyone used it in their Panda?

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Can't guarantee the info is correct, but I read somewhere (online) a month or so ago that both Asda/Tesco fully synthetic 5w/40 is actually rebranded Comma synthetic oil.
I've used Comma Syner-D with no probs last 30k.,
http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/index/6/24
but that's about a £10 more expensive.

If the classification numbers are the same as what you require ( A3. B4 etc?) then it should be ok.
The same parent company also manufactures Mobil oils.... sometimes make you wonder how much the price differences are just down to marketing and reputation.

G Pywell said:

Just been down to our local ASDA and noticed that they are selling their own brand synthetic motor oil for around £17 for 5(?) litres.

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I saw this too, was tempted & looked closely at the product labelling.

I've got a 2010 1.2 Euro4 EcoPanda & quoting from the technical specifications given in the handbook:

"The use of products with features lower than ACEA C3 - SAE 5W40 for petrol engines... ...could cause damage to the engine, which is not covered by the warranty".

Unfortunately ASDA 5W40 does not meet this specification so using it in a newish car could invalidate your warranty. My local branch of ASDA were also selling Castrol Edge 5W40 for £30, which definitely does meet FIAT specifications and also explicitly meets FIAT 9.55535-S2, so I'd get that instead if your car is still under warranty.

TBH the FIRE engine is a simple beast & I suspect the ASDA oil would in practice work fine & at that price you could afford to change it more frequently.

What I think is actually more important is using a decent oil filter. The filter on the 1.2 FIRE engines is mounted horizontally, and the correct functioning of the antidrainback & pressure relief valves is essential to prevent oil starvation when the engine is started. (It's less of an issue when the oil filter is mounted vertically, as the oil doesn't then tend naturally to drain out of the filter). So I'd recommend always use a genuine FIAT filter - Chris@Souls willl provide them mail order at reasonable prices, and is diligent in checking part numbers against vehicle details to ensure you get the right one for your car.

Halfords oil is manufactured by Comma, as verified by the safety data sheet available on the halfords website.

Dont know if this link will work (its from a site called MSDS exchange), but this data sheet for Asda 15w40 states it is manufactured by ExxonMobil!
http://www.msdsxchange.com/english/show_msds.cfm?paramid1=3407400

However this does not mean that they dont use different suppliers for different grades or that suppliers dont change (as they often do for other products). All it means is that at one stage 15w40 was manufactured for Asda by Exxon Mobil, however even that does not mean that the product was exactly the same as mobil branded.

I wouldn't rush to buy Asda oil as its on offer though. Asda promotions often run in cycles and usually mobil gets brought in to stores on offer (I paid something like £3 for a litre of Mobil Super S last time it was in (they had mobil 1 as well) shortly after the private label promotion ends.

tarbyonline said:

I wouldn't rush to buy Asda oil as its on offer though. Asda promotions often run in cycles and usually mobil gets brought in to stores on offer (I paid something like £3 for a litre of Mobil Super S last time it was in (they had mobil 1 as well) shortly after the private label promotion ends.

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I'd agree with that - it's only a couple of weeks since our local stores had Castrol Magnatec (various specs; VW, Ford) at £3 per litre. It's usually £10.

i only put castrol magnatec in my panda it is the life blood of the engine so put a good quality oil in your car

castrol magnatec is a naff oil imo

TBH with the FIRE engine i think its fairly academic as people have been running these on all sorts for years.

Low stress, large galleries and no turbo help keep the choice open.

change it 8-10k miles and the engine will see out the rest of the car.

dave said:

castrol magnatec is a naff oil imo

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I've heard a lot about castrol and sludging, but then how much of these observations are put out by competitors or dealers of competing products to get you to buy there brand. Anything that conforms to the spec's in the manual should be OK I would think.

Slight change in topic but related. I see the newer manual says to use 5w40 whereas my 2006 manual says 10w40. Would 5w40 be ok, as its easier for me to get hold of!

EDIT: On page 190 of my original manual it says to use Selenia Performer Multipower which is a 5w30 for very cold conditions. Bearing this in mind would it be wise to switch to this or 5w40 for the winter? I know, I've probably opened up a can of worms now lol

5w40 is perfectly fine. It'll make your car start a tiny bit easier in winter, that's all.

KozmoNaut said:

5w40 is perfectly fine. It'll make your car start a tiny bit easier in winter, that's all.

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That was my thinking, sort of a "half way" between the 10w40 and 5w30. Northern Ireland is usually pretty cold tbh, particularly when you live as close to the sea as I do!

dave said:

castrol magnatec is a naff oil imo

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Agreed. Lidl or oil from local motor factors is what I use. Lidl own oil conforms to high standards than alot of this castrol and esso etc oil.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Agreed. Lidl or oil from local motor factors is what I use. Lidl own oil conforms to high standards than alot of this castrol and esso etc oil.

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Was in Lidl today and spotted the oil. Looks pretty decent. Didnt buy any as I have more than enough mobil for another full oil change. Bro works for ASDA still so he's gonna keep an eye for mobil on offer again

I was always told cheap oil changed often is far better than expensive oil left in too long.
If you've paid top Dollar for oil, you'll be less likely to bin it in 6 months.

I've used Fuchs for a while from http://www.opieoils.co.uk/
in nearly everything I've owned.

Goudrons said:

I was always told cheap oil changed often is far better than expensive oil left in too long.

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Oil left in too long is bad news however much you paid for it and I've never been a fan of extended oil change intervals. Personally I'd never run an oil for more than about 8000 miles however expensive it was in the first place.

However buying cheap oil may be false economy as the use of a fully synthetic oil can improve fuel economy - this was one of the changes FIAT made in order to get the EcoPandas into the £30/yr road tax band.

Think on this - between oil changes you'll likely burn about 1000 litres of fuel - that's almost £1400 at current prices. You don't have to reduce your fuel consumption by very much to justify paying another £10-£15 for your oil.

I'm also wondering if switching to a 0W30 oil might be better in winter for a lightly driven 1.2 - remember that FIAT's 5W40 recommendation has to cater for vigorous driving at Mediterranean summer temperatures & on most commuting journeys in winter the oil won't ever get properly warmed up.

jrkitching said:

Oil left in too long is bad news however much you paid for it and I've never been a fan of extended oil change intervals. Personally I'd never run an oil for more than about 8000 miles however expensive it was in the first place.

However buying cheap oil may be false economy as the use of a fully synthetic oil can improve fuel economy - this was one of the changes FIAT made in order to get the EcoPandas into the £30/yr road tax band.

Think on this - between oil changes you'll likely burn about 1000 litres of fuel - that's almost £1400 at current prices. You don't have to reduce your fuel consumption by very much to justify paying another £10-£15 for your oil.

I'm also wondering if switching to a 0W30 oil might be better in winter for a lightly driven 1.2 - remember that FIAT's 5W40 recommendation has to cater for vigorous driving at Mediterranean summer temperatures & on most commuting journeys in winter the oil won't ever get properly warmed up.

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I cant remember the details but I remember someone mentioning in one of the previous oil related threads that too thin an oil might get past the seals.