Have done a bit of research on the Canadian Walmart TECH2000, and as others have suggested it appears the 100% synthetic is made by Petro Canada. It also appears to stack up quite well. PetroCan uses the severe hydrocracking process to produce the Group III basestock. I would suggest it outperforms the mystical Castrol GC, and depending on your priorities, does quite well compared to Mobil 1 and Amsoil as well. Some observations:
1. Only TECH2000 and the Mobil 1 qualify to SM/GF-4 standards
2. TECH2000 has excellent low temperature performance, clearly better than Castrol GC and probably equal or better than Mobil 1 and Amsoil. They don't publish enough specs to tell for sure.
3. TECH2000 has the highest Flash Point.
4. No HTHS is given but since it meets GF-4 it is likely very close to 2.9. Amsoil comes in high at 3.4.
5. Amsoil has a very high VI which would seem to infer losts of additives to do it. TECH2000 is 170 which compares very favourably to Mobil 1. Castrol does not give a VI but it has to easily be the worst given the high 40C viscosity. I got that from the GC Forum so I hope that is right.
If anyone is interested in the PetroCan product, here is a link to their product catalogue. This is a good document with lots of information about the base oil refining process(Adobe page 30 of 210). They publish the specs on their base oil(178 of 210) as well as for the finished product (55 of 210). Good all around source of tech info on lubricants.
PetroCan Lubricants Handbook 2005
1. Only TECH2000 and the Mobil 1 qualify to SM/GF-4 standards
2. TECH2000 has excellent low temperature performance, clearly better than Castrol GC and probably equal or better than Mobil 1 and Amsoil. They don't publish enough specs to tell for sure.
3. TECH2000 has the highest Flash Point.
4. No HTHS is given but since it meets GF-4 it is likely very close to 2.9. Amsoil comes in high at 3.4.
5. Amsoil has a very high VI which would seem to infer losts of additives to do it. TECH2000 is 170 which compares very favourably to Mobil 1. Castrol does not give a VI but it has to easily be the worst given the high 40C viscosity. I got that from the GC Forum so I hope that is right.
If anyone is interested in the PetroCan product, here is a link to their product catalogue. This is a good document with lots of information about the base oil refining process(Adobe page 30 of 210). They publish the specs on their base oil(178 of 210) as well as for the finished product (55 of 210). Good all around source of tech info on lubricants.
PetroCan Lubricants Handbook 2005