Oil change intervals in SA

[qscwbt]

When I sent my renault in for servicing at Renault Pinetown (30k service) they used the shyte 15w40 in a 200L drum and charged an astronomical price for ~5L of that oil.

I had to go to the dealership again and demand they drain it properly and replace with synthetic Elf 5w30.
My original sump copper seal was still intact so they used the vacumn to suck out the oil instead of draining it via sump.

Dealerships will rob you blind with cheap parts and replacements.

not a fan of the oil with a viscosity of 5. You well end up burning more oil as the car get some mileage. Personally i think the oil is great for cold weather not for SA conditions

the 15w40 is for temps between -25 degrees and 40 degrees
5w30 is for -35 degrees and 35 degrees

oil is to thin for our hot conditions. But manufacturers do it for stupid reasons.

 

[dj_jyno]

Also, oils have come a looooong way since the ark times.

I have seen oil analysis where the oil is still fine even past the change interval.

As always, YMMV.

This.

With my X-Type, it always received whatever the Jaguar dealership uses. Stuck to the 20 000 km / 1 year manufacturer intervals, and the last oil analysis performed showed that the oil was still good after the 20 000 km (then again, it did have a 6 L oil capacity).

On my XF, intervals are 26 000 km / 1 year, and yes, I do that in a year, but decided to stick to 20 000 km intervals.

The gearbox is every 60 000 km (filled for life my ass).

 

[NR7]

If you meant CVT gearbox oil , think Honda says 70 000 km. And at honda's price of over 1400 bucks for 1 liter and they use about 3.5 liter of oil it is about R5600 for gearbox oil, I aint changing every 30 k at that price.

I have to sort my mom's cvt Honda gearbox oil and will see what midas has that's not as expensive as Honda oil but a similar rating.

Don't neglect it.

A family member's Mitsubishi with a CVT ground to a halt after 90000km and the gearbox was unaffordable to repair.

 

[rh1]

If you meant CVT gearbox oil , think Honda says 70 000 km. And at honda's price of over 1400 bucks for 1 liter and they use about 3.5 liter of oil it is about R5600 for gearbox oil, I aint changing every 30 k at that price.

I have to sort my mom's cvt Honda gearbox oil and will see what midas has that's not as expensive as Honda oil but a similar rating.

Honda oils are the one thing I would buy from the stealership.

 

[greg_SA]

Don't neglect it.

A family member's Mitsubishi with a CVT ground to a halt after 90000km and the gearbox was unaffordable to repair.

Yep, friends don't let friends buy CVTs...

 

[airborne]

I wondered about that, thought he meant regreasing the cv joints.

Hence why I asked because that's a grease and not a fluid.

It’s the CVT oil.

If you meant CVT gearbox oil , think Honda says 70 000 km. And at honda's price of over 1400 bucks for 1 liter and they use about 3.5 liter of oil it is about R5600 for gearbox oil, I aint changing every 30 k at that price.

I have to sort my mom's cvt Honda gearbox oil and will see what midas has that's not as expensive as Honda oil but a similar rating.

Incorrect, it’s R1400 for 4L unless they now charge that for one litre which I highly doubt.
The only other CVT oil that you can use is from Ravenol but best is the original Honda stuff.

Honda oils are the one thing I would buy from the stealership.

Actually their oils aren't so expensive ditto the filter, I use Shell HX8 because I want 5W40 oil and an original Honda filter(near the same price as a GUD), the CVT oil is a bit pricey though but you don't need to change it so often(every 50k km is safe) and it’s an easy DIY job so R1400 and it’s done.

Ravenol fortunately sells a compatible CVT oil and in 1L bottles at a better price so I've started using that and just doing a 3L change, I think it uses 3.2L per CVT change if you do the full drain.

 

[airborne]

not a fan of the oil with a viscosity of 5. You well end up burning more oil as the car get some mileage. Personally i think the oil is great for cold weather not for SA conditions

the 15w40 is for temps between -25 degrees and 40 degrees
5w30 is for -35 degrees and 35 degrees

oil is to thin for our hot conditions. But manufacturers do it for stupid reasons.

That's bs, the 5 in 5W30 is the cold rating, which means the oil is as thin as 5W oil would be when cold which is still much thicker than 30W oil when hot. At cold start the thinner the oil the better to ensure the oil is pumped as quick as possible round the engine to prevent premature wear. The hot number is the business end of oil and 30W is fine for most modern engines till around 150k km and then perhaps use 5W40.

 

[airborne]

Yep, friends don't let friends by CVTs...

If you change the CVT oil regularly modern CVT's are fine, 50k km is a good interval. It's the unfortunate people that listen to some vehicle manufacturers which claim it's lifetime gearbox oil or similar who are the ones that have their CVT's grenade themselves.

 

[Naks]

That's bs, the 5 in 5W30 is the cold rating, which means the oil is as thin as 5W oil would be when cold which is still much thicker than 30W oil when hot. At cold start the thinner the oil the better to ensure the oil is pumped as quick as possible round the engine to prevent premature wear. The hot number is the business end of oil and 30W is fine for most modern engines till around 150k km and then perhaps use 5W40.

Yep, I run 0w20 in my Supercharged, ran way quieter as soon as I stopped using that p.o.s JLR-mandated Castrol that the stealers use.

 

[anthor]

It's clear that 15,000KM oil changes will get you through the warranty period, but if you either really like the car and want to look after it as well as you can, or if you just really want it to last as long as possible, then what?

Here's some interesting anecdotal info: My Toyota has 500,000km. Most of the time it was serviced at the dealer every 15,000km, but then I also used to do 1,000KM+ per week (mostly highway driving). I moved to a different city and started working from home, so the distance of a typical trip went from being 50km+ to around 8km. If you checked the oil after 15,000km, it would still be around the full mark. Now it uses about 1L every 7,500km. It could just be general wear and tear at this mileage, but I also think it's possible that the 15,000km intervals were too long considering the shorter average trip, especially if my dealer was just using mineral oil.

For the last 30,000km, I've been changing my oil every 10,000KM and I've been using Shell HX7 semi-synthetic. On my next oil change, I plan to try out Shell Helix Ultra full synthetic. I've ordered a new PCV valve to see if that is playing a part in my increased oil consumption. It will arrive this week, but I'll only know if that makes a difference after a few thousand KMs.

I first noticed the increased oil consumption after covid and all the restrictions. The vehicle sat a lot during that time and when I drove the car it was usually just to the shop a few KM away. I'm hoping that maybe that just clogged up the PCV valve a little and that my oil consumption will go down again with a new one. This is probably very optimistic of me.

 

[airborne]

It's clear that 15,000KM oil changes will get you through the warranty period, but if you either really like the car and want to look after it as well as you can, or if you just really want it to last as long as possible, then what?

Here's some interesting anecdotal info: My Toyota has 500,000km. Most of the time it was serviced at the dealer every 15,000km, but then I also used to do 1,000KM+ per week (mostly highway driving). I moved to a different city and started working from home, so the distance of a typical trip went from being 50km+ to around 8km. If you checked the oil after 15,000km, it would still be around the full mark. Now it uses about 1L every 7,500km. It could just be general wear and tear at this mileage, but I also think it's possible that the 15,000km intervals were too long considering the shorter average trip, especially if my dealer was just using mineral oil.

For the last 30,000km, I've been changing my oil every 10,000KM and I've been using Shell HX7 semi-synthetic. On my next oil change, I plan to try out Shell Helix Ultra full synthetic. I've ordered a new PCV valve to see if that is playing a part in my increased oil consumption. It will arrive this week, but I'll only know if that makes a difference after a few thousand KMs.

I first noticed the increased oil consumption after covid and all the restrictions. The vehicle sat a lot during that time and when I drove the car it was usually just to the shop a few KM away. I'm hoping that maybe that just clogged up the PCV valve a little and that my oil consumption will go down again with a new one. This is probably very optimistic of me.

With that extreme mileage it'd use 10W50 synthetic or even 10W60, I'd start on 10W50 and see how that goes.
Even 1L every 7500km still isn't hitting VW TSI levels after only 75k km so that engine is still gold
The PCV could also be a good culprit but I’d still use the thicker oil even that does turn out to be the main issue, at that mileage the tolerances in the engine will be getting a bit loose and the thicker oil will keep things running at spec.

 

[ghaye]

No mention here of transfer cases and differentials?

 

[Naks]

No mention here of transfer cases and differentials?

I change these on both my landies every year, but I do a lot of off-roading, and they are modded, so...

 

[ghaye]

I change these on both my landies every year, but I do a lot of off-roading, and they are modded, so...

Change or top-up? Asking for a friend.

 

[dillinger]

When choosing oil don't only look at the viscosity look at the API rating as well and what your manufacture recommends. EG you get normal 15W40 oil and then you get semi synthetic 15W40, the API code will tell you what is what.

 

[bennyblanco]

Can confirm OPs statement about Toyota using 15W40. They use these for all NA petrol motors.

NA petrol engines use 15w40.
Turbo petrols (GR Corolla/Yaris, Lexus 200T models etc) use a 0w20 oil.
Diesels use 10w30.

I service my Lexus at the dealership - which is next to Toyota but has their own workshop. 15w40 were from the drums however when my friend serviced his IS200T, they use the 0w20 from the 4L can.

Over the last 2 years, this workshop has been absorbed in Toyota with "dedicated" Lexus bays. I have seen them now use TGMO 15w40 from the bottle shown below as well as diff oils from the can (75w85).

 

[CB40]

All dealerships have to abide by factory approved oils and they do a huge amount of research on this
Our company does a large amount of bulk oil installations at dealerships.
In some instances they have up to three different grades of oil.
You can easily run a fully synthetic or semi synthetic oil to 20,000 kms as long as it's known brand,ie Castrol,Shell,Mobil,Sasol,Caltex,now known as Astron Energy etc.
Toyota branded oils are actually Totale

 

[CB40]

Oil Categories

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 corporate members, from the largest major oil company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of the industry.

www.api.org

This is an interesting read for oils

 

[Naks]

Change or top-up? Asking for a friend.

Haha, funny guy

 

[airborne]

All dealerships have to abide by factory approved oils and they do a huge amount of research on this
Our company does a large amount of bulk oil installations at dealerships.
In some instances they have up to three different grades of oil.
You can easily run a fully synthetic or semi synthetic oil to 20,000 kms as long as it's known brand,ie Castrol,Shell,Mobil,Sasol,Caltex,now known as Astron Energy etc.
Toyota branded oils are actually Totale

If you are doing low mileage, say 5000 km a year, how bad would it be to extend the service interval to say 2yrs?
Can you ask your oil specialists that question and also how fuel contaminants in the oil affect rubber seals in the engine.