Well guys last week I went to California and found GERMAN CASTROL 0w 30 at one of the AUTOZONE there with date code M07011 so it must be the gold GC. I bought 5 quarts but now the question is can I use it in a motor that is spec'd for 5w 20 (07 Acura TL) would it be ok to use. What do you guys think? Is anybody using GERMAN CASTROL on their 04-07 TL

 

yeah, it will be fine. AFter searching through all the oil threads since I have to change my oil soon, 20W was chosen to sweeze as much MPG from our engines. A lot of people use 30W that live in high temp climate.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to use it - Castrol is great oil.

You might want change it before winter, if you live somewhere that it gets really cold. Probably wouldn't hurt if you didn't, though.

 

0W 30 is better for extremely cold weather then 5W 20. First number with W is winter grade.

 

I have it in my engine and man this is a great syn oil, one of the best, European, German heavy duty syn oil, real syn if you wish not an American shit. It's hard to come by but it's worth looking for and getting, I called Castrol direct and got them to send me this oil to my door for a good price. I explained how hard it is to find this oil and how loyal I'm to Castrol, bullshit like that got them hooked. Try it yourself, let me know how it goes.

 

Doh!

You're right - don't know what I was thinking

Now, where do I get some?

 

I use Castrol 5W-50 for total protection in the cold and the heat of summer.

 

5W-50? Dude, it don't get that hot in Oregon

 

50 Means that oil stays viscous as single grade oil SAE 50 on high temperatures. It is too viscous for TL. It is not lubricating as well as recommended 20. Also wasting some power.

 

I don't think so. Todays engines run so much hotter than engines of yesterday. Today the engine is totally shrouded in plastic and retains lots of heat. My BMW M3 Couppe requires Castrol 10W-60, yep...60. You can only buy it at the dealer (how convenient for $10/liter) My M3 normally runs about 210° oil temperature normally and about 240° when I run the car on the track. I figure the Acura engine is good for at least 210° normally also so 50 weight is fine with me. Even in the winter my M3 will run at 210° when fully warm.

 

The 3.2 Engine is designed to work with 5W-20. It is also designed for high power delivery and fuel economy with THAT oil.

Thicker oil makes the engine work harder and hotter. There is more resistance to the flow. BMW engines have larger tolerances and are designed for the thicker oil.

Back on topic: I have German Castrol Syntec 0W-30 in my TL as we speak and it is performing well. If it is the real thing, it will say "Made in Germany" on the back label and it will have a red background behind the viscosity. Next change, I will send the used oil to the lab as I always do and I will have a comparison to Mobil 1.

I will report back then but it won't be until January 14th, 2008.

PS: The oil is also green colored. Is that what you are calling "gold"?

 

Xpeditor Thats exactly what I wanted to hear, I have heard so much about this oil that I wanted to give it a try and now that I found it and knowing that you guys are using it and haven't had any problems, I will use it with confidence. Xpeditor I did get the one that says made in germany on the back. But it's not the green colored, from what I understand the green was discontinued in 2005, the new GC is regular gold colored, but people say the gold is just good as the green.


PS: You can still find green but it's very hard to find.

 

Yes, it is. I found this stash in an Autozone about two years ago and bought all they had.

I had been hearing about its mythical qualities on bobistheoilguy.com for months. So, when I stumbled upon it, I asked for the store manager. I tried to stay nonchalant and calm, asking him if he would give me a volume discount if I bought a decent amount. I didn't want him to know he had something special if he didn't already know.

He said, "No. We don't do discounts on oil."

Whereupon, I blurted out, "Then give me all of it..... in a plain bag....now!"

He only had about 15 quarts but I got them all.

 

Jim, Jim, Jim.
You're thinking the way you used to when you were growing up
(I can say that because I feel your pain)
Just the wrong way to go in today's engines

 

dude r u ok?? u ever see what a 454 with a 602 blower emits? engine of yesterday emits a helllll of a lot more heat...waitwait we could even take the blower off and itll still produce more heat.

 

My 256" Buick V6 makes over 100hp per hole and I run 20-50 in the summer and 10-40 in the winter. A V6 making over 600hp is going to make a lot more concentrated heat than a big block V8 making the same. The smaller motors have less surface area to be cooled by both water and oil.

I monitor oil temp and I have a big oil cooler. During normal driving oil only runs ~180 degrees and water stays at 160. Bring it up on 25+psi boost and it quickly gets into the 250 degree range with water remaining below 170. Don't go by water temps to judge oil temps.

The TL makes very little hp for it's engine size. I doubt anyone is going to have to worry about oil temps flashing from a couple 250hp WOT blasts. I have switched over to Mobil 1 5-30 since I moved to Vegas and I do a lot of extended freeway driving. Most of our engines are in good shape which contributes to oil temps. I had an old worn ot motor in the GN years ago and couldn't keep the oil temps below 250 no matter how easy I drove it because of the blowby.

 

Try drinking a thick milk-shake through a skinny coffee stirrer. That's how well 50w oil will lubricate a J32.

It's one thing of the engine recommends 60w oil... It's quite another to assume it's ok.

 

The Buick V6 (before they updated the engine when they renamed the engine to 3800), was famous for having blow-by... We had 2 buicks from that era when I was a kid, and they both had that problem... My dad's solution at the time, was to switch to 20w-50, which at the time appeared to solve a bunch of problems.

 

[The TL makes very little hp for it's engine size.]quote


WTF? How in the hell did we move from factory engines to supercharged custom engines.....let alone off topic?
One of the quickest factory hot rods was the 426 hemi, which created 425 hp from 426 cubic inches. The '07 TL-S creates 286 CORRECTED hp out of 212 cubic inches.
That's called EFFICIENCY!!!!!! And it is much better today. It even has decent gas mileage to boot.

 

I just use 5W-20 Mobil 1 during the Winter and 5W-30 during the Summer.
I have a case sitting in my trunk, it just hasn't been long enough to change my oil. I was going to change it because I don't like the oil dealers use, so I told my friend to snatch me a case. I havn't had time to change it, and I've only put a couple thousand miles since my last change. It seems a little late to fill 30s right now anyways.

But to stay on topic, is this German Castrol oil really that great? I might go get some next year and try it out.

 

It's somewhat effiecient for a factory motor. Still, it makes no hp and is not going to heat the oil that bad assuming it's in good health. You're not going to double the oil temp with a few hard runs like you do in a high performance car. That's why I wouldn't bother running thick oil.

 

I run Total Seal gapless rings now and you would be amazed at how they lowered oil temps and how much longer the oil stays golden colored due to less blowby. Even on the dyno at 27psi boost, there were no visible vapors coming out of the breathers.

 

Go to "bob is the oil guy dot com" and do a search on German Castrol it is geting great VOA's and UOA's. If you can find it I would say get it.

 

Related item. I change my own oil and just bought an STP oil filter (S6607) for My 3.5TLS and I could not believe the size of the filter. It's tiny, about 1/2 the size of the one for my 2004 3.2 TL. What's that about???

 

GC is great stuff. I have a few quarts of it lying around from my old LS1 days.

I've been lurking over at bobistheoilguy forums... and they are also recommending the Mobil 1 that is formulated for Turbo Diesel engines. They say its properties are very close to GC.