Cheap Shell engine oil
 

Just been trawling online looking for best price of Shell Helix HX7.
Found carparts4less to be the cheapest at £16.50 for 5L and with a discount coupon of 'payday' taking an extra 14% off that, that makes a price of £14.19. With free delivery that makes a proper bargain.

Helix Ultra 5w40 is what is often recommended on the forum.

Currently £19.35 for 5 litres with the code 'PAYDAY' on carparts4less.co.uk

That is a very good price for a fully synthetic oil of this spec.

I would buy some to keep on the shelf but I've just done an oil change so I don't really need it!

I bought some of this in 10w40 flavour to do an oil change on mine this coming weekend.

Eurocar parts had it for £18.75 with their discount code (crazy70) they're doing at the moment, and since it's free to pickup and collect it was a bit of a no brainer!

I use Helix 10W40 semi-synth on a 5000 mile change interval on my Saab, runs beautifully, and the oil looks nearly as good, just darker and still glossy, coming out as it does going in, so I know its keeping the interior clean

Shell Helix ultra and DPF's ??
 

Not sure if the 1.9d has a Diesel Particulate Filter. Opie oils advises against using this where DPF's are fitted.
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-68976-sh...y-ferrari.aspx
http://www.tg-shell.com/uploads/prod...10W-40_TDS.pdf

Oddly enough HX7 is listed by the Shell oil finder page as the OEM spec 10w40 A3/B4 oil. It's very similar to Castrol GTX or Magnetec 10w40.

The Shell oil finder is original OEM spec based and has not been updated like the Castrol one. Shell Ultra 0 or 5w40 (A3/B4) is a better oil as it is refined from natural gas, not some nasty black liquid as old as the dinosaurs. Any oil that uses a dino base stock is more contaminated and they do not filter them well enough to reduce the increased wear that occurs when the oil is first changed.

I do not wish to stoke the flames of the oil debate, but these are my first hand observations over a long period of time:

I first started driving back in the days when it was either Duckhams Q or Castrol GTX - I chose Castrol and have used it until recently. I switched to Magnatec 10/40 when I was running my 360GLT bought at 7000mls and ran until 270,000mls. Changed the oil every 5-7000mls and always a genuine filter change. Throughout the cars life the oil was always black at changing time and it always needed about half a litre topping up in between.

My first V40 2.0lt petrol bought at 60,000mls run until 370,000ls, same regime as the 360 - changed at 5-7000mls depending on how busy I was at the time and again used about half to a litre of oil between changes. This never seemed to change during its lifetime. Oil always black on changing.

I then bought my current P2 92,000mls, full Volvo service history and since 50,000mls had had Wurth engine flush put through it at change intervals.

Used Magnatec 5/40 and changed at 5000mls, oil black and needed about a litre of top up between changes, a bit disappointed with the oil consumption but put it down to thinner oil and a characteristic of the engine. Surprised at the black oil as the engine had been flushed regularly before my purchase. Then I read on this forum about Shell Helix and how good it was.

Decided it was time to give it a go and change a habit of a lifetime - nothing like living dangerously.

The change regime is the same as before, every 5-7000mls and genuine filter each time and for the last 20,000mls the engine has been run on Helix Ultra 5/40. Oil comes out clean, just as it went in and no topping up in between.

My driving style and use pattern has not changed significantly over the years and the current P2 has been run on both Magnatec 10/40 and Ultra 5/40 with remarkable differences in oil consumption. I also run the C70 on Ultra 5/40, same regime and the oil comes out clean at changes and no topping up in between.

'er indoors '07 Mini Cooper used oil at an alarming rate when we first bought it at 52,000mls - but Minis do have a known drink problem. Now use 5/30 Ultra and no or very little top up needed between changes - again every 7,000mls or so.

I know this is not scientific proof, just my observation of my experiences.

If you use an oil for a few thousand miles in a diesel and it is not black when changed, the oil almost certainly contains very little essential detergent additives. That results in the blowby carbon starting to form sludge cos there are no detergents to keep it in suspension.

Engine wear does not relate too well to mileage, what matters more is the number of cold starts and total hours at idle. Driver style can also make a big difference!

One chap with a Nissan pickup did 165,000 miles without changing the oil or filters from factory fill and his engine was still OK when the oil was finally changed. He was a very careful driver, did mostly long interstate trips in Montana (Very clean roads and air, so no blocked air filter) and knew that the fuel contamination rate was keeping the oil just about thin enough to function.
Both the air and oil filters were almost blocked when finally changed.
The factory fill oil was a Fuchs 5w30 full synthetic (Fuchs own Liqui Moly) that had more Moly than normal for extra running in protection!

Correction to last post.
 

There are 2 reasons why used diesel engine oil might not turn very black, firstly the one I mentioned before, lack of detergents and secondly how well the oil functions in terms of cleaning the rings. If the rings are kept in good condition in both wear and Carbon or varnish deposit terms (The oil scraper rings tend to get
varnish deposits and the compression rings can get Carbon deposits if short tripped a lot without any long periods of WOT on the motorway). The condition of the injectors is also important in blowby terms, particularly if the rings are worn.

The engine oil in a petrol engine should defintely not turn black, even after 10K miles, although the oil in my Twingo 1.2 (16 valves) was real black when I bought it, although that was cos the previous owner had not changed it for 30K miles! I was surprised it had not sludged up, although it did result in a certain amount of wear to the cam phaser (Similar to a VVT) bearing. I can hear it at idle but it's not bad enough to be worth changing.
Petrol engine oil does turn a sort of dark brown in some cases, but often looks like new oil when changed.

Like the oil from a diesel it should not smell of fuel when you sniff a hot dipstick, like wot I like to do every Sunday!

Just to add my experience of Shell Helix in a high miles diesel, I use 5/30 helix ultra and flush with liqui moly before oil change which is annual 5k ish miles.
After using liqui moly the engine oil stays cleaner for longer which I notice when checking the dip stick.
I'm a convert to liqui moly and shell helix and mann filters and in combo, it's made my lazy lifters work better and quieter.