No love for Valvoline Synpower 5W-40?

[Finklejag]

You don't hear much about Valvoline's Euro line on here, or any other forum. I know the 5W-40 HST is group III, but most of the Euro spec oils are these days. It meets some of the toughest Euro specs out there, MB 229.3 and 229.5, BMW Longlife 01, Porsche A40. It has a pretty good pour point of -42c, a Noack of 10, a TBN of 10.

I remember Valvoline Synpower was the first 5W-40 Euro oil to be sold in retail stores. You could only find Mobil 1 0W-40 at Mercedes or Porsche dealers back in the day. My local Napa sells the HST for $5.19 a quart. That's $25.95 for the 5 quarts I need. That's $5.00 to $10.00 cheaper then other Euro spec oils on the market.

 

[CourierDriver]

u can get 15w40 mc at wally world for 11 bucks, 5 qts jug, if ur looking for a good oil and price.

 

[chevrofreak]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
u can get 15w40 mc at wally world for 11 bucks, 5 qts jug, if ur looking for a good oil and price.


And if you're intentionally looking for an oil that will not perform as well in the cold, and will deliver poorer fuel economy.

 

[Panzerman]

I just dont think Synpower has ben out long enough and came out when there was this tidal wave of Synthetic oils all of a sudden.Competition, advertising and about every oil maker having thier own synthetic once, made it rough. Amsoil and Mobil 1 were the first Synthetics and therefore have this cult following. Pennzoil gave away a bazillion cases of free Platinum oil and got alot of people hooked like crack cocaine junkies on it. Synpower just became one of the crowd, Great oil, I am sure though.

 

[Finklejag]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
u can get 15w40 mc at wally world for 11 bucks, 5 qts jug, if ur looking for a good oil and price.



Now I know why you already have 700 + post in the five months you have been on Bitog.


Oh Bitog....where have you gone!

 

[JAG]

I have no love for Synpower 5W-40 MST because I recently used it in my VW GTI 1.8T engine and the engine felt rough, the gas mileage was sub-par, and the magnets in my drain plug and oil filter showed a higher than normal amount of ferrous wear.

I next changed to Mobil 1 5W-30 ESP and the above traits are improved (especially gas mileage), but I haven't changed it yet so I don't know about ferrous wear.

Are you sure the version at your Napa is HST and not MST? Mine was bought at Napa and MST is written on the bottles.

 

[Finklejag]

I will have to look closer next time I'm in Napa. The MST is a Low SAP oil. It meets VW 502 spec, but also 505.1, BMW LL-04 and MB 229.51. I would think Napa would stock the HST, since it's been the one they been stocking for ten years.

 

[Audi Junkie]

afaik, it's a good oil. Didn't Jag get a good result with it in his home deposit test?

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
afaik, it's a good oil. Didn't Jag get a good result with it in his home deposit test?

I did not do any tests on the current 5W-40 MST Synpower. Around 2003 I tested 5W-40 Synpower which at the time was not a low or mid-SAPS oil. It was more like the current HST version. It was slightly more volatile than Mobil 1 0W-40 purchased around the same time. They both performed similarly in the type of deposit test I did but Mobil 1 0W-40 left slightly less deposits. M1 0W-40 has changed formulation since then and I suspect the Synpower I tested is not identical to the current HST version.

 

[Finklejag]

I dropped off some used oil at Napa this morning. The 5W-40 they stock is the MST formula. I asked the guy if they had the HST at their local warehouse. He called up the local Valvoline distributor. They only have 55 gallon drums of the HST.

I would of thought the MST Low SAP oil would be in bulk for dealers and such, and the garden variety HST would be sold in retail stores.

Well, I don't want to run a low SAP oil in my GTI. I will scratch another oil off my list.

 

[RD_3]

JAG - how many miles on your 1.8T? I just picked up a couple of cases of the 5w40 MST and am awaiting changing the oil in my 2.0T Wolfsburg...

I'm going to give it a try and see how it does.

 

[JAG]

rdeano9, my 1.8T has 129,000 miles now.

 

[dgp123]

FWIW, with 1.8t's and miles, I have a chipped a4 1.8tq with 161k still running strong on the original turbo and no oil consumption. m1 0-40 or GC all the way... sometimes a mix. But I, too, have been curious about Synpower.

 

[pavelow]

Valvoline syn 5W40 is impossible to find where I live...and I live in the Chicagoland area. I'd certainly use it if it was available because I prefer Valovine products. I run Castrol Syntec 5W40 instead because every Autozone has it.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: pavelow
Valvoline syn 5W40 is impossible to find where I live...and I live in the Chicagoland area.

I'm in the western suburbs. I've seen SynPower 5w-40 at many NAPA stores around here.

 

[Audi Junkie]

I would take SynPower 5w-40 over Castrol 5w-40.

 

[SilverGGA]

Amazon sells it.