Road Rage

Many months ago, I posted a thread in the S2000 forum (s2ki.com) about "magnetic" oil. What i described was a unique property of Group V synthetic ester-based oils: they have a polar charge. This makes them cling to the negative charge of the combustion chamber's walls, the camshaft lobes, etc. So when the car is first started, no matter how long the car has sat, their will be a film of tough ester oil clinging tenaciously to the high wear areas of your car. A lot of wear occurs at startup - estimates vary, but figure about the equivalent of 300-500 miles per cold start. I recommended Red Line, Motul 300, and a few other brands as being ester-based.

I also found that Castrol marketed in Europe and Australia a conventional mineral oil based engine oil called Magnatec, which I surmised containedf a small amount of G-V esters, to provide a bit of protection at startup. I have no fondness with Castrol after they cheapened the name of synthetic oils when they won their case against Texaco (as I recall) who claimed that a highly refined, hydrocracked GII mineral oil (now a GIII) was not a true synthetic, which is formed molecule by molecule, some from petroleum and natural gas (Mobil 1) and some from naturally ocurring and replenishable sources, like corn (esters can be made by reacting corn alcohol with acids). I lambasted Castrol for not selling a true synthetic in the US (their European Syntec has GIV and some G-V in it).

So what do i see on the tube the other day but Castrol's new product, "Start Up" with - yup, you guessed it - a mineral blended with some esters.

Remember a while back the post on "magnetic oils"? I explained a unique property of esters, which is that they have a polar affinity to the negative charge of the engine's internal parts. I opined that for long-term storage, draining and filling with Red Line or its equivalent might be a good move, since gravity will not pull away all the protection of an ester oil. We even found a product not imported to the US, Magnatec, and lambasted Castrol or another short-change of the American market.

Well, anyone notice that they have introduced "Start Up" oil? Yup, our friends at Castrol USA have added som ester to their GTX mineral oil, et voila, we have an oil that "protects better at start up than conventional oils".

It is likely a decent oil, and if the price is not much more than say Havoline or Motorcraft 10w30, it could be a good investment, espcially for those of you who go weeks without driving the car (like me). Better late than never, this further reduces the advantage of synoils over minoils, esp, if your synoil doies not have ester in it.*

So if you do not drive your car for weeks on end, or will be storing it, I would seriously consider using Start-Up. As yet there is no 5w20 Start-Up, so if this is a big deal to you, RR's advice is to add one quart of Red Line 5w20 to whatever other 5w20 you use.

More info:
http://www.castrolusa.com/products/d...t&sc=hptostart

*Many G-IV synoils (the vast majority being PAO's) have some ester in them, to offset the degrading effects of PAO's on engine seals.