Synthetic oil 5W30: reviews

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:41

Oil (synthetic) 5W30 is widespread in our country. Why do many motorists prefer it and should they flood the engine of their own car? Appropriate tests have been carried out to obtain an objective assessment.

Ford Focus Lubricant Test

The best way to tell the quality of an oil is through independent testing. To do this, experts select several types of lubricating fluid, subject them to various tests, display and analyze the results, and then compare them with each other, determining the best brand of oil.

This test was decided to be carried out on Ford Focus cars. All cars had a run of ten thousand kilometers, an engine capacity of 1.6 liters, having 100 horsepower. The motor belongs to inexpensive, modern gasoline units, without complex accompanying mechanisms. Its device includes a boiler collector, a toothed belt in the timing drive and four valves for each of the cylinders.

Oil brands

Among other things, the experimenters were interested in which 5W30 oil is better: synthetic orsemi-synthetics. Therefore, the following brands with both stems were chosen:

• on semi-synthetic - Total Quartz 9000 Future and Mobil Super FE Special;
• on synthetic - Motul 8100 Eco Energy, Castrol Magnetic A1, Zic XQLS, Shell Helix Ultra Extra, G Energy F Synth EC and THK Magnum Professional C3.

All lubricants listed have been laboratory tested prior to testing.

The essence of the test

Tested at 100 degrees on engine oil. Synthetics 5W30 and semi-synthetics showed different results, although the gap was small. The thickest was Shell grease, and the thinnest was G-Energy. Additives on some samples differed very much. All oils contained 2000 mg/kg of calcium and 1000 mg/kg of zinc and phosphorus. At the same time, Shell had only 1350 mg/kg of calcium, while G-Energy had even less, only 750 mg/kg. Therefore, the first group had a high alkali content with a large proportion of detergent and antioxidant additives. Castrol had the highest amount of lye and Shell the lowest.

Tests were carried out in a cyclic manner, each of which lasted an hour. The weather conditions for all cars were the same. The cars were moving at a speed of 130 kilometers per hour at six thousand revolutions. This regime was followed for half a week.

A separate test consisted of parking at idle for three hours, after which we drove a couple of kilometers and again stood for an hour atengine running.

As a result of a nine-week test, it turned out that the cars covered 10,000 kilometers, 45 cold starts and 72 hot starts. The motors ran for 100 hours at 6,000 rpm and 54 hours at idle.

Thus, it turned out to be a very difficult regime. Therefore, instead of the twenty thousand kilometers prescribed by the maintenance manual, the passage time was reduced to 10,000 kilometers.

Single test results

Darkening of all lubricating fluids was observed after two and a half thousand kilometers. This indicates the good washing qualities of all samples - cleanliness was preserved under the valve covers. The difference was significant when operating at low temperatures. In frost over twenty degrees, the liquid dripped easily from the dipstick for all brands, except Castrol. None of the samples had problems starting even at temperatures below 27 degrees.

In terms of frenzy, the expenses were as follows. The first topping up was required for Mobil semi-synthetics already after 4, 8 thousand kilometers, and after 8 thousand kilometers - again. Another semi-synthetic "Total" was also not far behind her. It took about two liters to top up for each oil. Synthetics 5W30 showed waste much lower. The brands "Castrol" and "Zik" took 1.4 liters, and "Shell" - 1.23 liters, and "Total" - 1.9 liters. This result suggests that synthetic mileage may be longer than semi-synthetic.

Refueling all vehicleswas produced at one station and only with high-quality gasoline. Fuel consumption was almost the same. But the most economical results were shown by oil (synthetics) 5W30 G-Energy, and wasteful by Shell. The difference, however, was very minimal, up to 3%.

The main thing is that all the oils had a good wear-resisting effect. Even after riding at the highest rpm, the chrome piston rings (which are subject to the most wear) did not release chromium into the oil at all. The content of other metals did not exceed the allowable threshold.

Which oil is best?

Summing up the results, we get that the best was the 5W30 synthetic motor oil of the TNK, Castrol and Motul brands. The outsiders here are Shell, G-Energy and Zeke.

But it is worth noting that all lubricating fluids continued to show washing qualities, even approaching the final threshold. The high-temperature viscosity also remained within the normal range.

Semi-synthetics, in turn, were enviably stable: the viscosity decreased by only 3 square mm / s, that is, the same as for synthetic-based lubricants.

Conclusion

For all important characteristics, all samples have proven their performance for 20 thousand kilometers in normal conditions and 10 thousand kilometers in severe conditions. Which 5W30 oil to choose? Synthetics (reviews and objective test results confirm this) with a high base number, which includes samples of Castrol, TNK and Motul,suitable especially for the inhabitants of the outback, where the quality of fuel leaves much to be desired. From semi-synthetics, Mobil can also be attributed to them.

But, on the other hand, semi-synthetics have the most waste, which is why the low cost in the end will not be winning.

But Shell and Zeke 5W30 (synthetic) motor oils, which are traditionally considered elite, turned out to be not really with the highest performance. Therefore, you need to seriously think about whether it is worth acquiring them, after weighing all the parameters that they showed. On the one hand, they had the lowest fumes, excellent additives and oil base, but on the other hand, constant refueling with high sulfur fuels may not lead to the best results.

In addition to the fact that gasoline should be filled only at proven gas stations, after the end of the factory warranty, it is better to use lubricating fluids called Low SAPS, which have a reduced alkaline content. Their load on the converter will be ten times lower than the effect of increased sulfur content in gasoline.

The best option is to purchase inexpensive synthetics, which should be changed more often, that is, every 15 thousand kilometers.