Expensive

£13 for a litre of engine oil....sheeezz

 

Blimey! I bought a bottle of champagne for £14.50 the other day.

 

Yes Capney oil is very expensive .. was it a high grade oil or something similar ? .. i know that Synthetic oil is very expensive and thats what your oil sounds like .. i bought a litre of oil for our little 1.2 litre Clio from Halfords and that cost nearly 9 pounds .. i can remember back a long time ago when a gallon of Duckhams oil cost 2.50 .. Micky

 

You get a free pourer..no pleasing some...

Motorists always get ripped off with Petrol, road tax etc.:(

 

Retail or trade price?
I can pay that for the very highest spec trade.
Tell me what you drive (year, make and model) and I can tell you what spec you need. My quick ref engine oil book is 90pages long nowadays - use the wrong one on a regular basis and the costs can be huge!

 

buy in bulk, as it's going to get much more expensive when they invade Iran

 

Now, I know what oil is made from, but what do they make "synthetic oil" from? Fake Chinese Eggs?

 

I have used my local garage for a number of years and the last two cars I have had have been the Skoda Octavia Ambiant. 1.9 DTI s I have just finished the only one litre of Castrol Magatec proffesional 10W 40 oil they have used over about 10 years !
Never had the need to top up between servicing, until today.
I have now got some Castrol Magnatec 10W-40 A3/B4 to complete topping up.
Just short of £13 a litre.

longk.....53 plate Skoda ambiante 1.9 DTI
I thought I knew about oils but seems I`m way behind... Whats with the A3/B4 ?

 

My book is at work, but DTIs is the PD engine I'm sure. This requires low ash oil which is VW505.01 on set service intervals, or VW506.01 on variable service intervals.

Castrol Magnatec 10W-40 A3/B4 is semi-synthetic isn't it? Below spec, but ok as a top up once off..........

Buying in bulk is not really an option Dim, as synthetic oils are hydroscopic and degrade too.

Ziggy - synthetic oil is made from various polymers derived from oil. Energy intensive to produce hence the high cost, but a necessary evil with modern engines, especially turbo diesels, as it is stable.

 

Thanks Longk for the info..
Yes the Magnatec 10w-40 A3/B4 is part synthetic.
I must make a note and ask what the garage use when they do the servicing.
Certainly more confusing then the Duckhams 20/50 days.

 

I just looked mine up, £11.99 from Halfords.

Its a long time since I've topped up a car.

I usually manage to get from one service to the next without bothering.
But then my mileage is not great

 

Thats just the way It has been for me Pete

 

Anything up to a litre per 1000miles is within most manufacturer specs nowadays. Not enough to see, and in all honestly should remain constant (barring leaks) throughout the life of the vehicle nowadays.
Most cars sold today will probably be scrapped after 8,9,10 years due to the cost of repairing the electronic failures!

 

A litre per 1000miles????

Mine only takes about 6 litres

 

In the old days the thinking was that there are places in the engine that oil should never enter (ie; the combustion chamber) so oil control was super tight. Then someone said "if we allow some oil there it'll all last longer" and they were right! Modern engines do not wear out, except through crass stoopidity or lack of care. It is for this reason also that the correct oil is vital - oil is the death of catalytic converters, and of particulate filters as used on modern diesels. Also kills air mass meters and EGR systems.

A litre per thousand is the maximum consumption that can be safely tolerated by these systems, assuming that it is the correct oil in the first place.

So when you see great service deals, ask yourself "are they using the correct oil?".