Technical Ordering new engine oil!

[SB1500]

I'm ordering new oil for the Panda, want to know what brand and grade you all use for your Panda?

CASTROL says 5W-40 C3, this is what I used last time, but Halfords and Euro Car Parts are suggesting lots of 10W-40 for the Panda?

Surely I can't just switch between the 5W and 10W without doing damage?

Also ordering for a VW Bora which has about a thousand different 1.9 Diesel engined and a 1.6 Astra which also has a lot of petrol engines for the year.. :bang:

Thought I'd take advantage of the 30% off on ECP so hope someone can reply tonight so I can get it all ordered

 

[AAB1992]

I'm ordering new oil for the Panda, want to know what brand and grade you all use for your Panda?

CASTROL says 5W-40 C3, this is what I used last time, but Halfords and Euro Car Parts are suggesting lots of 10W-40 for the Panda?

Surely I can't just switch between the 5W and 10W without doing damage?

Also ordering for a VW Bora which has about a thousand different 1.9 Diesel engined and a 1.6 Astra which also has a lot of petrol engines for the year.. :bang:

Thought I'd take advantage of the 30% off on ECP so hope someone can reply tonight so I can get it all ordered

I would just stick with 5w-40, it will give better engine protection and reduce fuel consumption. All new 1.2 8v engines use 5w-40 and a C3 grade.

 

[SB1500]

It's out of stock on ECP but eBay it is! I'll just get the Astra and Bora filters and oil from here.

Can any harm be done by the following..
The Astra last had Castrol Magnatec and the Bora normally just gets the motor factors own brand oils... As the Astra is my mums and I doubt she cares too much about the brand and my uncle who owns the Bora actually told me to get the cheapest stuff possible for it .. would it do harm to buy cheaper branded oil especially if its a different brand to what those two cars have had? OR am I best forking out and getting the same brand they both respectively last used? Don't want to be responsible for causing damage.

Otherwise I'll bite the bullet and buy us all Magnatec

 

[dozer]

For the vw and astra I'd go to asda and buy the green asda branded bottle. It's 5w30. It's actually comma oil but cheaper.
Of course for the fiat I would use the best! Fuchs 5w40 supersyn from eBay is a brilliant oil for about £23 for 5 litres.

 

[SB1500]

Ended up ordering the following:

4L CASTROL MAGNATEC 5W-30 C3 for the Panda

4L CASTROL MAGNATEC 10W-40 for the Bora + filter (Crossland)
4L CASTROL MAGNATEC 10W-40 for the Astra + filter (Crossland)

*already have a genuine Fiat oil filter for the Panda

Collecting it at our new Euro Car Parts shop tomorrow, reserved it. Total £65.19, not so bad!

Going to ask them what sort of clutch hydraulic fluid I'll need, Think it's Dot4. Anyone know how much of this I'll need for the new master cylinder?

 

[jrkitching]

4L CASTROL MAGNATEC 10W-40 for the Bora + filter (Crossland)
4L CASTROL MAGNATEC 10W-40 for the Astra + filter (Crossland)

Crosland filters are rubbish; the company used to have a reasonable name but went bust; ECP bought the name and now use it on basically the cheapest c**p they can source.

Try MANN filters instead.

 

[jrkitching]

Going to ask them what sort of clutch hydraulic fluid I'll need, Think it's Dot4. Anyone know how much of this I'll need for the new master cylinder?

Dot 4 is fine for the clutch; basically just use the same stuff you use for the brakes.

There's not much fluid in the clutch hydraulic circuit; 500ml should suffice.

This will do just fine; it's actually made by Comma, which is reputable enough. Check the manufacturing date on the bottle and don't buy it if it's more than six months old.

Once you've bled it, chuck what's left away to avoid the temptation of using it again.

 

[SB1500]

I will ask for MANN filters and get some DOT4 , oh how I miss England, we don't have Wilko's here. A bunch of corrupt terror..'politicians' keep stopping some good mainland stores/companies from setting up here :-/

Thanks for the tips, I wonder when the stuff was last changed! Can't do any harm to have new stuff. Thanks again. Fitting the cylinder tomorrow will let the forum know how I get on

 

[DaveMcT]

My 1200cc twin cylinder bike makes 100bhp and is specced for 10 w 40 semisynth. Full synthetics only come into play for heavily loaded engines like turbo diesels and very high revving petrols. They can all be very thin making more basic engines sound rattly.

The Panda 1200 makes 1/2 of the power of my bike so there's no reason to suggest it needs anything more fancy than 10 w 40 semi synth.

 

[SB1500]

My 1200cc twin cylinder bike makes 100bhp and is specced for 10 w 40 semisynth. Full synthetics only come into play for heavily loaded engines like turbo diesels and very high revving petrols. They can all be very thin making more basic engines sound rattly.



The Panda 1200 makes 1/2 of the power of my bike so there's no reason to suggest it needs anything more fancy than 10 w 40 semi synth.

Interesting, it's just now I'm on the fully synthetic and thinner stuff I'd be afraid to switch back. Especially as it's a well run in engine which touch wood performs well and id hate to accelerate any performance or dependability at such a grand age!

She has just surpassed 110,000 miles and I'd be so proud to get to 200,000 over the next few years

 

[DaveMcT]

I used Mobil One on a car with 100,000 miles and it just bunt the stuff away at scary rate. It's great stuff sewing machines wit fine running clearances. But old engine clearances were just too much. Ordinary spec oils were fine for another 40K miles.

Ful synth makes the bike rattle. 10 w 40 is ok. 10 w 50 would be better but its very expensive stuff to be throwing away every 6000 miles.

 

[bluejohn125]

Do not trust Eurocarparts, they do very well giving an average service selling average products to gullible / lazy internet customers or average garages. Crosland filters are indeed rubbish now, and Magnatec is overrated and under-specced for modern cars like your Panda - they were stopped from calling it semi-synthetic in many blends and had to say "part synthetic" instead. You should be buying Edge if you want Castrol.

 

[SB1500]

Do not trust Eurocarparts, they do very well giving an average service selling average products to gullible / lazy internet customers or average garages. Crosland filters are indeed rubbish now, and Magnatec is overrated and under-specced for modern cars like your Panda - they were stopped from calling it semi-synthetic in many blends and had to say "part synthetic" instead. You should be buying Edge if you want Castrol.

I ordered online (30% off see) and collected it in their store, double checked the spec. I mentioned to my mum and uncle (who the Crossland filters are for) and they think they'll be fine - or at least they are fine to risk those filters! Otherwise I'd have swapped them. The Panda is getting a genuine filter - which was cheap enough too!

I used Magnatec last February - fully synthetic, Fiat used it at the service I assume theirs is fully synthetic, and I also assume what I've ordered it too...

if it's semi-synthetic what should I do?! Will it ruin the engine if its used to fully?

 

[bluejohn125]

Semi-synthetic varies a lot in terms of price, specification and performance. The cheaper you go the less protection you will receive as mileage increases, so if you change the cheap stuff frequently you will be OK. But the higher the spec the longer it will stay in shape, which is why the extended service intervals of modern cars and engines require top spec synthetic oils (plus the newer light thin formula oils must be fully synthetic).