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[mr singh]

firstly... my service light came on just before i left for india last year (last week off jan) and when i got back 3 weeks later it was showing -2 and reset it at -6 as the service reset procedure didnt work bue to my timing... now will it come on a year after i reset the service light? iv never really had a car with a service light, iv only had my fortwo before my forfour and that didnt have a service light.
secondly... i saw castrol 10w30 (or 40) fully synthetic oil at halfords for about £19-25 but it was bike oil. now if asked my mate who works with bikes and he says oil is oil, which is what i thought, but i just want to make sure its ok to use bike oil in a car engine

[Alex]

Why don't you use 5w30 from shell, aral, mobil or castrol or whatever manufacturer you prefer, that actually has the MB sheet specs that are required in the manual? I doubt that bike oils have them.

[Problemchild]

12months from reset..............!!

JJ

[CrazyG]

Oil is oil....obviously....but crude oil from the ground is not the same as
oil that has been treated via the complex manufacturing process of an oil
refinery. Therefore not every oil will be the right oil for the job.
As Alex has already 'stated' , the correct oil will be the one that has
been manufactured that meets the specification as defined by MB/Smart.

[mr singh]

its a jap engine so it requires 10w40 (or 30). that's what iv found from past experiences whilst working on the odd jap cars... in fact Nissan in the workshop next to Volvo (i works for Volvo now) use 10w40 oil... and does it HAVE to use MB spec oil? its a Mitsubishi engine.

[Big Dunc]

No, it does not HAVE to be MB spec oil.
I think what G is saying is that if you want to know what oil is best for the engine, look in the book and there will be a list of different grades / brands that are recommended by the maker (whether you consider that to be MB or Mitsubishi).

I personally, use oil of the correct viscosity and get a quality branded oil, rather than Halfrauds own brand etc. 

I am not a biker myself and do not know what the properties of bike oils are, but while it is probable that you will not cause damage in the short term by using bike oil of the correct viscosity, it is also probable that bike oils are optimised for a different set of operating parameters.  Bikes tend to rev harder and do lower milages.  I would not know whether they have more or less oil in the sump or whether they run hotter or colder or take longer or shorter times to warm up or any other subtle engine differences, but if bike oil was magic I imagine we would all know about it and all use it.

[Alex]

What type of oil has your car used up until now? I've always used 0w40 (120.000km) and only on my last two services have tried 5w30, and I'm now thinking of going back to 0w40 or trying 0w30. Other car uses 0w20 oil, and it's a jap engine.

[Unknown]

With the petrols it is 14000miles or 12 months which ever comes first. When it comes close to service time the 30 day countdown starts, miss it and you get minus figures.

My forfour has had 10W30 as recommended by the manufacturer.

Another note at 50k miles the brake system should be stripped, checked and fluids replaced.

[mr singh]

its actually 9000 miles or 12 months. the count down in in KM but it says miles as quoted in another post.
dont know what oil the first owner used (i need to contact the dealer in brentford (i think) for the service history actually) but i got 10w30 when i serviced it last year. 0w30 oil in my opinion is like urine, its too thin.
Alex could i ask why you are returning to 0w30 oil? was your fuel consumption higher on the 5w30? daft as it sounds i put 5w30 in my uncles avensis and he said it was using less fuel on a run over the 10w30 oil that was used before, but i put 10w30 back in when i dropped the oil.

[Alex]

My car has always been very economical. But it's not fuel economy i look for in an oil, it's fast cold protection, and reaching an optimum viscosity as soon as possible. Because i do either very short journeys (2km 5 minutes) or long ones (over an hour) i would like more protection for the cold starts, especially as we have cold winters around here. Of course a thinner oil will allow the engine to return better MPG by robbing it of less power, but it's insignificant and should not be considered when choosing oils, otherwise you'll be disappointed.

0w30 is actually as thick as 10w30 at operating temperature (~10CST), but it's at cold starts and warm-up periods where it is thinner, therefore closer to normal operating viscosity thus better.

As for my service interval, it's 20.000kms (dynamic)  or one year that the car counts from the reset, but i change it when i feel like it's time (12-15K depending on how i drove the car)

[Big Dunc]

The count down is dynamic, depending on how the car is used.

It starts at 14,000, but it took mine 18,000 miles before it reached zero.  If it counts down fast, that would suggest a lot of short trips, or hard use, or some other operational factor.

Every engine is different.  You cannot say that all Japanese engines require the same viscosity, or that just because one oil works really well in a Toyota, it will work really well in a Smart or Mitsubishi or anything else.  My MX5 uses a very different oil to that which my Impreza required, even though they were both made in the same year.  In fact, until you take an engine apart, you dont really know how well the oil has worked.

As Alex said, stick with the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer, or something very close to it, as its primary purpose is to protect the engine.  Unless you use an oil which is completely unsuitable, or your engine is very sick, you will not notice any difference, apart from possibly a slight noise from a cold start if the oil has completely drained away from the top end since the engine stopped.  In that situation, you really want the best oil possible.

[mr singh]

ok majority of the jap engines require 10w30. i have read the manual and it states that the petrol engine requires 10w40, diesel is 5w30.

the shop i get my parts from said 10w40 for the forfour, they know what they are doing and ill take there word for it.

on the topic of service counter... can i reset it before it hits 0?

[Problemchild]

Yup - there is a guide on here. It's a bit hit and miss though

JJ

[Big Dunc]

I was in the reception of my local garage this morning and noticed they had some posters on the wall regarding oil.  They were produced by Comma and obviously marketing / advertising material, but none the less, they did make interesting reading.

Comma do about 5 different grades of oil for EACH of the popular viscosities.  i.e. 5 different 10/30s, 5 different 10/40s etc.  The reason stated was that they could not make one oil of each viscosity that satisfied the requirements to get approval from each major manufacturer.  They therefore have to make different oils to suit the different requirements.  It would appear that the hardest requirements to meet are those designed to protect the cat on diesel cars, with some manufacturers wanting the oil to behave in very different ways to others.

I am not suggesting that it will be instant death to your cat, or engine, if you use the wrong oil, but it does show that there is a bigger difference in oils than just viscosity.

[Problemchild]

good info.....

so i should filter out the burnt potato before pouring the chip fat in then

JJ