Ever ask yourself why Mobil took Castrol to court over this issue? Ever ask yourself why API Group III stock cannot be classified as true synthetic any longer? Ever ask yourself why claims of API Group III stock, and by virtue of it being branded as "synthetic" therefore, meets a given requirement, when in fact they didn't, and had to discontinue that specific branding and labeling, as well as claims of meeting manufacturer's requirements?

 

hahaha, have you actually tried to get serious tech info out of Jaguar (or many others) along the lines you're claiming? Really? Give us your Jaguar contact and I'm interested.

 

Ever ask yourself why some tech claim ends in court? because money is involved. Well, wow.

 

Contact your local Zone. Your local Jaguar dealer should be able to provide you with this information. I have already provided you information from their own website concerning their recommendation.

 

Castrol Oil | Jaguar Performance | Jaguar UK

Castrol EDGE | Engine Oil - Car Products | Castrol United Kingdom | Car - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol United Kingdom | Products | Castrol United Kingdom | Castrol - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol United Kingdom

 

The point is that they shouldn't.

And when they do it without the tiniest intent to learn anything
new, but rather to impose their own version of reality on everyone
else to the exclusion of any other possibility, then it becomes
very objectionable and tiresome.

ps. not picking on you. your post just seemed to be the
most salient to reply to in regard to that one aspect.

 

Friendly hint ... consider checking for ACEA A3/B4 compliance. There is one key
guaranteed spec HTHS >= 3.5

I think you know why this is a favourable characteristic to look for. That's why
the Castrol Euro in my case. I believe Pennzoil Ultra Platinum also claims compliance
to that spec as do certain variants of Mobil 1.

The preamble to those specs state "... stable, stay in grade ...".

Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes and Ford Europe are members of ACEA.

 

No you haven't. You've provided a more recent web page about an oil that didn't even exist when my car's engine was developed and tested.

It's an assumption that the oil concerned is OK for an S-Type.

I expect that it is but it sure was not the oil specified back when the engines were developed.

Given that multiple people have said you should use whatever oil you like and we'll do likewise then why you continue to try to push your views onto others is a puzzle.

And you appear not to know that the dealers know little in many cases about technical stuff like engines and oils.

 

I was constantly surprised in my working career for an engine OEM how far one had to dig into the inner workings of oil/fuel manufacturers to find anyone that could speak intelligibly beyond lab tests and marketing hype.

 

I looked in my manual and it says API SJ/EC ILSAC GF2 motor oil. I use Valvoline full synthetic 5W-30 which exceeds API SN/SM ILSAC GF5. Reading about the differences, I did find it was backwards compatible with the original recommendation.


"
ILSAC GF-5Introduced in October 2010 for 2011 and older vehicles, designed to provide improved high temperature deposit protection for pistons and turbochargers, more stringent sludge control, improved fuel economy, enhanced emission control system compatibility, seal compatibility, and protection of engines operating on ethanol-containing fuels up to E85."

The Ford spec on this oil is WWW-M2C946-A, Chrysler MS-6395, GM dexos1.


I am not sure if Valvoline is available in the UK, so you all will have to let us know about that but if it exceeds all previous Valvoline oil which is the exact original spec, it should be good.

 

There's no shortage of suitable oils for our S-types in whatever viscosity best matches the temperature range the vehicle is likely to encounter. Beyond the spec and viscosity, it's up to the owner to choose which brand or type he/she likes the most.

If anything we're spoiled for choice.

 

I agree with spoiled. The world seems to have oil figured out. Now if some of the Chinese parts were a little better...

 

I wonder where Bosch made the DCCV...

Or Hella the headlamp mechanisms...

 

Good question. That stuff isn't worth much either.

 

I'm a typical consumer, not someone with an engineering background. I am taking no one's side in this debate, which has been terrific IMHO.

But if we accept accept that Jaguar and Castrol have been partners for the past 11 years in developing engine oil that is best suited for Jaguars, then it makes sense to me that Castrol's recommendation for my specific S-Type engine and year would reflect Jaguar's recommendation as well.

You can see for yourself what oil products Castrol says are compatible with your particular S-Type/year/engine here:

http://applications.castrol.com/oils...en_gb/c/search

I did not check every S-Type year/engine combination. But for those I did, including both my 2001 and 2003 S-Type V6's - which predate the Jaguar/Castrol partnership - Castrol's recommendation (and by inference, its oil development partner Jaguar) was either...

Castrol Magnetec 5W-30 A5
Castrol Edge 0W-30, and/or
Castrol Edge 0W-30 A5/B5

All three of these oils are fully synthetic. No Castrol non-synthetics made the list.

So it would seem that, according to Castrol and it's oil development partner Jaguar, some full synthetics are now approved/recommended for my S-Types.

Am I wrong to draw this conclusion?
For my own enlightenment I'd like to know what other full synthetics meet or exceed the specs of these three Castrol products?

 

Mobile 1 Extended Performance, which contains PAO Group IV true synthetics. $22/5qt Shell's PurePlus method of creating stock from natural gas, sold as Helix Ultra or Pennzoil's Ultra Platinum. $27/5qt Castol EDGE's new FST, which is proprietary zinc content not found in their other oils, and is part of the EDGE Professional OE used by Jaguar dealers. $40/5qt

Zinc leads to higher deposits, but older vehicles need it, (pre-90) and break in oils always use high zinc content. Oil companies have been removing over time (since the mid 90's) the amount of zinc due to the fact catalysts life is significantly decreased by use of zinc in oils.

In mine, I have used all 3, except the EDGE w/FST, but no oil change goes without the addition of one can of BG MOA. (which is ester based Group V synthetics) I use the Mobil 1 extended performance filters exclusively, and if I couldn't, the PurolatorONE.

 

Yes and no.

The Castrol site auto-selector widget showed you some (not all) of the oils it manufacturers for S-types. It essentially picks and chooses, essentially 'upsells' it's own products, not surprisingly. Kinda like the waiter that hands you the wine list already open to the expensive page.

If you dig a bit, you'll find that good old GTX (non synthetic) is still being manufactured and is probably identical to the factory fill when your car was built. It meets the Jag spec, just like it always has.

Castrol GTX - Car Engine Oil | Castrol Canada | Engine Oil - Car Products | Castrol Canada | Car - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol Canada | Products | Castrol Canada | Castrol - Motor Oil & Lubricants | Castrol Canada

It is a huge, absolutely unsupported leap to presume that the newer more expensive oils make any tangible difference in engine life.

 

Forgot to add- the fact that there is a marketing agreement between Jag and Castrol does not mean in any sense of the word that a given oil was developed by them specifically for Jag, nor does it mean that other manufacturer's oils are any less suitable.

Again- the owner's manual states the required spec (API for us in N.Am) and provides a table of viscosities to choose from. Anything beyond that gets into one manufacturer claiming that their soap gets whites whiter than the other guy.

 

This is horribly inaccurate information, and simply your own bias and conjecture.

 

So there is/was no marketing agreement between Castrol & Jaguar?

There was/is, and money does make some claims suspect at best.

Regardless, Jaguar give oil specs and they do not include "Use Only Castrol" or "Use only Synthetic" (as I recall they did not use or recommend synthetic for my car when it was introduced).