best oil for 1.4 i shift engine oil change

[kevinivtec]

hi just bought  on e bay the oil  shell  5w 3o 15 £15.99 for 5 ptrs when i went to pick it up from ECP it was marked £42 on the shelf Grab a bargain guys at this price!!

[kevinivtec]

hi all the link for the oil is https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHELL-Helix-Ultra-Professional-AG-5W30-Fully-Synthetic-Engine-Oil-5L-5-Litre/332462405906
£15 when i went to pick it up at ECP it was £42 on the shelf grab a bargain guys!!!!

[sparky Paul]

hi just bought  on e bay the oil  shell  5w 3o 15 £15.99 for 5 ptrs when i went to pick it up from ECP it was marked £42 on the shelf Grab a bargain guys at this price!!

Sadly, the price has gone back up to 20 quid. Glad it helped you out though!

[123Drive!]

After my recent service for my i-shift, I had another look at the records. Out of the 3 main dealer Honda services, only twice was 0w-20 and one was 5w-30! My independent always uses Fully Synthetic 5w-30. May be next time I should ask them to use 0w-20?

[Jocko]

May be next time I should ask them to use 0w-20?

Are you unhappy with the 5w-30?

[123Drive!]

Not really, but I thought 0w-20 is the recommended one, Jocko?

[sparky Paul]

Either should be fine in the UK climate, 0W-20 gives a little less friction, and in theory, 5W-30 should give the engine a little more protection.

I've always used 5W-30 on modern engines, and according to the service invoice, Honda dealer put 'Shell Helix AG 5W-30' in the new addition to the fleet. It doesn't say whether it's semi or fully synthetic, but I'm guessing the former - seeing as people on service plans are offered pricey upgrades to fully synthetic. Cheapskates.

[Jocko]

Shell Helix AG 5W-30 is a fully synthetic oil. I used it myself this service.

[culzean]

If you look at oil viscosities recommended for any vehicle they all overlap on expected ambient temperatures - just the thinner ones like 0W-20 go down to very low temperatures that you would not expect to occur in UK ( but maybe if you lived north of arctic circle or Siberia ) - as Sparky and Jocko say 5W-30 is fine in UK ( may even be 10W-40 in a few years if global warming carries on )... Personally I don't know why people get so precious about 0W-20 and 5W-30, as Sparky says the thinner one may give a little less churning friction and the 5W-30 more protection - my very high tech, highly stressed motorbike engine uses 10W-40 - so that should give some clue to the MPG vs protection debate...  in addition the ultra thin oils normally carry a premium price.

[Jocko]

Not really, but I thought 0w-20 is the recommended one, Jocko?

This chart is from page 286 of my Honda manual.



As you can see, 5w-30 is recommended for all temperatures likely to be experienced in the UK. 0w-20 is only recommended for European models, probably with Scandinavia in mind. I was recommended, by an oil company engineer, not to opt for the thinnest oil, as once an engine has a lot of miles on it, the thicker oils provide better protection.
But as I have said elsewhere, you pays your money and takes your choice.

[sparky Paul]

Shell Helix AG 5W-30 is a fully synthetic oil. I used it myself this service.

The stuff we bought from ECP was Shell Helix Ultra Pro AG 5W-30, which is full synthetic. Shell Helix HX7 AG 5W-30 and HX7 Pro are only semi-synthetic oils.

The Honda invoice doesn't specify which it is, it only says 'Shell Helix AG 5W-30' - not enough information to work out which one it is.

edit: Just checked the invoice, and the item code for the oil is 'LSYNTH', so maybe it is Helix Ultra. 4 litres at £2.07 + VAT per litre, the invoice is an internal one as the car was on used car stock when serviced, so I guess that will not be a retail price.

[123Drive!]

Thank you for all your help and information. I m sure my independent garage knows what they are doing so 5w-30 is good. Remember the good old days when we used only Castrol  GTx or Duckhams?

Back in 1996, my Honda Civic Bel-Air needed a service, me being a 23 years old brought a litre of GTX 15w-40 and asked dealer to use it, knowing they charge an arm and a leg for oil. I also gave them a empty can to put the old oil so I can dispose myself as my local authority does this free. They were really p.... Off and said the oil I used will invalidate the warranty and that £10 to dispose the oil is standard. My replied was that the car will be out of warranty after this service as in the old days it was two years and that if I can save £10 why not? In the end they didn't even put the old oil in the can as they probably forgot and didn't charge me £10...lol!