Carlube is a brand of Tetrosyl a large group of companies who make filers, car shampoo, Wonderwheel and Bluecol Antifreeze that is used throughout the UK.
Engine oil is not made in a refinery but these base products are sent to a blending plant that blend different base stocks and additives. Therefore every so often Carlube will get the main blenders to bid for say a three year supply contract. So one year you could be getting an oil manufactured by Castrol that is BP or one of the many other oil engine oil blenders.
It’s up to you to make a decision but if anyone repleys to this thread and is either for or against Carlube perhaps they can give a specific reason other than a friend I know would never use it.
So basically its probably ok but its a gamble as to who is the original manfucaturer if I may call them that, and Carlube oil is only a brand applied under contract by Tetrosyl.
It would be interesting to know who bids for these contracts.
I have read loads of info from the opie oil web site on what goes into oils and other details about the brown stuff… all very interesting but I am still unsure if Carlube triple R 10W40 is a good choice or not?
The internet is full of mixed reviews so I am confused as ever!
The website has some info. If this is it it looks good and suitable spec for Mk1 and Mk2 though I prefer fully synthetic. Afaik there is no minimum amount of synthetic oil that must be in a “semi sysnthetic”. It may be thought it would be half and half but apparently not and it can be just a drop.
Yes buy the spec and viscosity for the engine. Mk3 are designed for 5W30. The thinner oil may be more fuel efficient and it will also protect the engine better if the engine is designed to use it. The galleries and tolerances will be designed for it. It will flow faster at start up and squirt/splash/shake more to provide cooling. Thicker doesn’t mean better protection and a thin synthetic will have a higher film strength than a heavy mineral oil. Some interesting stuff here.
If the man bought the oil at a bargain price, and it’s the grade of oil he would shove down the neck of his car…but not a “brand name…” does it really matter how good the oil is if he is changing it every 6000 miles which with todays engines is no time at all…isn’t clean oil the secret? and change it often?..with the filter?
There’s a lot of unsubstantiated assertions written about oil.
For the last few years I’ve been running two cars on 5w40 Fully Synthetic, branded Carlube. I used to change every 5K with semi-synth, and feel better about sometimes stretching to 6K with fully synth. I get 6 oil changes out of a 25 litre container, and wonder why I used to bother buying it in smaller quantities.
However I have no evidence to justify it is any better or worse than the various 10W40 and 5W30 branded oils I used to use.
I simply don’t know. And although speculation is rife, I’m pretty sure no-one else does either.
My suspicion is that, like aspirin and Anadin, the branding premium is a placebo. And while placebos have a geniune measurable effect with humans…
There are those on the forum who change their engine oil twice a year, why not four times a year. It will stay even cleaner, does anyone do that here!!<o:p></o:p>
No one has as yet published a controlled study that compares equivalent engines with once yearly and twice yearly and say quarterly oil changes over the long term and published wear figures to verify that the twice a year change actually benefits the engine. Nor for that matter also with different oils.<o:p></o:p>
OK, if it gives someone a warm feeling carry on and do it twice a year but I have seen no proven linkage giving any advantage between using OK oils at 6 month changes compared to more expensive oils at once a year changes.<o:p></o:p>
None of the engine oil marketers gave any real technical info on their oils and if you get for instance the Castrol spec sheets for Edge, Magnatec and GTX in a number of cases they only publish certain measurements on say Edge that they do not publish on a different viscosity of Edge or at all with Magnatec.<o:p></o:p>
Sorry to say no one on this forum other than an Oil chemist can answer your question so basically do what makes you feel good but there is no proven link between a cheap oil at twice a year changes say Castrol GTX their bargain basement product compared to Edge their top of the range oil at once a year. Assuming both oils are the respective specs required by the engine.<o:p></o:p>
It is not unknown for some lube manufactures producing special mixes to get over a design fault in a car manufacturers engine.<o:p></o:p>
Yes and when I spend the extra on a branded fully synthetic which in reality is unlikley as they will probably use some oil stock, I wonder if I’m being taken for a ride.
The trouble with using cheap oil is it may take a long’ish time to find out but when you do you realise the engine is knackered and it’s too late. Specs like film strength, detergence, etc are tested and provable and indicated on the pack so I think using cheap (spec) oil is a false economy. (In this case the oil looks suitable and sensible but could perhaps be improved on at a cost.)
Cleanliness is only one factor. Oils that have good detergence and keep the muck in suspension may look dirtier after a similar mileage than cheap oils that don’t do this.
Oil has several jobs, the biggest perhaps being cooling and film strength being adequate to keep the metal surfaces apart and seal the bores. A cheap oil may look the same after say 3K miles but how much engine wear has it allowed during that time due to excess friction, maybe just a few times when it was thrashed for fun, or when it got hot stuck in traffic, you’d never know til it was too late even if it looked clean.
Rich can you provide a list of good and a list of poor oils and explain how you have ranked the various oils . I cannot find out which ones are better than others.
Too many to list but I’d consider only known-brand motor oils meeting 5W30 API SG (or better SH, SJ, SL, SM, or latest SN, all superseding and backwards-compatible) as the base spec laid down 20 years ago, but maybe superseded in your handbook depending on year.
The viscosity relates to the ambient temp the car is run in and 5W30 is recommended for UK. The API rating tells you the quality of the additive pack which contains detergents and anti-wear agents. This has steadily been improved over the years since the early 60’s, the biggest change probably coming with SG around 20 years ago which was a big detergent package to prevent “black death” that was affecting many late 80’s cars. Hence it is often quoted as minimum but has long been superseded.
This base spec will be met by economy mineral oils these days but better oils giving longer mileage and preventing wear by contact, corrosion, and clogging are available.
Base would be 5W30 API SG or better mineral
Better would be 5W30 API SL or better part-synthetic
Best would be 5W30 API SL or better fully synthetic
If the engine’s worn you might want to try a heavier 10W40. It will be thicker when cold and may lower consumption up the bores before the pistons warm up and expand, down the guides, or even cushion knock in slack bearings. It won’t flow as well when cold though, may not cool as well as a thinner oil, and I’ve not seen 40 grade recommended by Mazda.
On MKI cars Mazda recomend 10W40 for UK summer temperatures from what Ihave read. I think the MKIII uses a Ford engine does it not? So the 5W30 looks a lot like the oil specified for Zetec engines what I understood was introduced to pass the emissions tests and stretch the service interval for the MKI Mondeo back @ 1990.
I’ve also seen this offer in Tesco. My father has bought 4l for his Euphonic as it is due a service.
The 1.8 engine in the MkI and II is fairly low tech so I don’t really see the need for high spec oils personally.
My car has had a variety of brands of 10w/40 semi synth put in by the main dealer since new and it runs fine. For the last two services I have used Shell Helix as it’s a good deal from ECP but I wouldn’t hesitate to use the Carlube as long as it meets the required spec.
Yes check the handbook for the model and market first. I think some earlier engines said 5W30 winter and 10W30 summer.
From Mk2 onwards, from what I can gather from the service manuals, US spec was 5W20 but 5W30 where that was not available. Bear in mind a modern thin fully synthetic has a far higher film strength than a thicker mineral oil from 20 years ago. The Ford 5W30 you mention for example is now at “C” spec and is fully synthetic whereas the older “B” spec was semi-synth.
Mk3 uses a Mazda designed MZR engine. Ford build it and Mazda buy it back for their production. Ford use it in a detuned version (no VVT I think) as part of their petrol Duratec range.
This site guides recommends 10W40 semi-synthetic for MKI as does the Hanes manual I have. The MKI was designed when standard oils were not as good as they are today so for many of the older cars using a 5w30 fully synthetic may be ok, better when cold but on an engine with high millage a higher viscosity when warm may be better. The oil pressure drops a lot when hot on a MKI so I would go for a 40 hot rating and as good as you can get for the cold. Castrol magnatec 10W40 semi synthetic is what I usw with @ 5,000 mile services. I looked at the graph for MKI in the past and the 5W30 looked a bit marginal for summer temperature. Mind you with this summer???
I think decent semi synthetic and regular servicing is the secret for older engines. For new cars follow the later oils and think about reducing the service interval.