Best full synthetic 5w40 for Alfa Romeo Diesel

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I am a newbie here, and need the forum’s collective brainpower to assist me in deciding on the best oil. The tricky part of my request, is that the vehicle is not one marketed in USA ( a 2006 Alfa Romeo GT 1.9 Jtd – a turbo diesel rated at 110 kw @ 4000 rpm and torque 305 Nm @ 2000 RPM). ECU tuning can increase this to 132 kw/ 380 Nm.

Most of the oils either manufactured or available in USA e.g. Redline, Delo, GC, Amsoil, Pennzoil, Sunoco, Valvoline etc. do not appear in our market.

Alfa Romeo recommends only Selenia WR 5W40, a API SF full synthetic that meets Fiat 9.55535-N2 qualification as lubricant for the Multijet diesel engine. The instruction manual states that should “non genuine” oil be used that it must as minimum meet ACEA A3 spec for petrol/ACEA B4 spec for diesel engines and must also meet Fiat 9.55535-M2. This is for extended 20 000 km drain intervals.

This product is not marketed in South Africa; the Alfa stealers mostly use Castrol Edge 5W40 as Castrol is readily available with Castrol being one of the biggest players in our oil market. I am however not convinced that their 5W40 is the best synthetic I can buy.

In price order, I have the following as choices:

Shell Helix Ultra 5W40 API SM/CF 76.3-13.8-187
Agip Tecsint SL 5W40 API SM/CF 94-14.3-158
Castrol Edge 5W40 API SL/CF 83.7-14-172
LiquiMoly Top Tec 4100 5W40 API SM/CF 85-14-170
Total Quartz 9000 5W40 API SM/CF 82.19-13.6-169

Helix Ultra is the cheapest - equivalent to $40 per 5 litres.

Being somewhat of a recreational oil changer and worried about the oil contamination brought about by our 50 ppm "ultra low" diesel fuel sulphur content, I will be doing oil and filter every 10 000 km's, so long life - or extended drain oils, holds no specific appeal - I in fact noted on the LiquiMoly data sheet for Top Tec 4100 5W40 that it is to be used only with sulphur free diesel fuel, so they seem to share my concerns ?
 
Hi,
Johan - Welcome to BITOG - enjoy your time with us

Of the lubricants you mention I would select one from the order
given by you!

Shell
Agip
Castrol

All are good products - don't discount Edge or Ultra lightly!!
 
welcome2.gif
to BITOG

I agree with Doug 100%. I would probably stay with the oil you are using now. Some folks just get all the neat cars.
 
Thanks guys for the warm welcome and replies so far ..........

Total & LMoly are difficult to source - Agip is no longer distributed and what I can get looks like old stock of a year or two ago. It is perhaps going to end up as a comparison between Edge & Ultra.

Castrol Edge was launched locally a few years ago and soon become popular with the drag racing and modification fraternity; much of this caused by clever marketing aimed at them -it is from within these communities that some negative sentiment( perhaps mostly subjective) has arisen ........ then there is also the TDS that refers to "synthetic technology" rather than fully synthetic that has made many believe that Edge is not a synthetic at all. This has not in any way been helped by test results showing Edge as superior product,but when compared to 20w50 mineral oils instead of other synthetics !

Shell Ultra on the other hand shows itself as fully synthetic lubricant.

When looking at specs & approvals:

Shell Helix Ultra 5w40
API SM/CF
ACEA A3-98,B3-98, B4-98
Mercedes Benz - 229.3
BMW - Longlife 98
VW - 500.00, 502.00, 505.00
Rover - registered
Japanese engines - qualified
Porsche - approved
Peugeot-Citroen 98 - meets requirements of PSA E-extended drain level 2
Ferrari - Factory fill and sole service fill recommendation.

Castrol Edge 5w40
API SL/CF
ACEA A3/B3, A3/B4
Mercedes Benz - 229.3
BMW - Longlife 98
VW - 502.00, 505.00
GM-LL-B-025

Specifications, approvals & physical characteristics would seem to indicate Helix Ultra in our market as superior product; it is however much cheaper than Edge ?

What am I missing here - does the answer perhaps like in Group and base stock ?
 
Well you certainly can't go wrong with the Helix Ultra. It is an excellent oil. I think pretty much world wide Shell products are less expensive than Castrol. Has a lot to do with how much they spend on marketing, not with the quality of the product. When it comes to R&D, Shell is pretty impressive.
 
all the oils you listed are excellent my first choice would be Shell Helix Ultra, and since its the cheapest its a no brainer...

followed by Edge and rest!
 
Hi. I would try this oil:
http://ravenol.de/products?part=57
Though the stated pour point (0°C) is probably wrong, the rest of the stats are impressive.

This seems like another excellent oil from them:
http://ravenol.de/products?part=56

Barring those as Unobtanium I would use this oil:
http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/produktdb.nsf/id/e_1341.html

Barring that as Unobtanium I would use Shell or Mobil 1. I would not use Castrol, but that's just me.

I too drive a diesel but having no diesel particulate filter I'm afraid I don't share your selection criteria.

Anyway, I am of the opinion, possibly erroneous, that if your engine has normal (as in low) oil consumption then you probably don't have to worry about the ash rating of the oil you use.

On Peugeots the filter can be taken out and washed without having to cut it out of the exhaust tract. In case you should need to wash ash which purportedly accumulates in the particulate filter unless you use a low ash rating oil.

One more thing. I remember having read somewhere that Liqui Moly uses base stock from Ravenol, so you're probably getting an excellent oil either way.

Cheers.
 
Another option for oil would be Q Diesel Plus 5w30, it's what mopar has started shipping us for the mercedes diesel in the jeep/sprinter. It meets the VW requirements.
 
Since both the Castrol Edge and Helix Ultra both meet the minimum spec of ACEA B4 I would simply use the cheapest or whichever one you personally prefer.

We also have only minimal oils available in this country too and prices are double those in NA.
 
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