Was roaming around the Elf oil site the other day and was curious as to how they classify a "Synthetic". Have been using their Evolution SXR for over a year now but didn't pay any attention to the oil compositon at the time. Just noticed that the Elf products seem to have been superceeded by Total oils for what ever reason but is still the same company I think. This was the Elf Canada site in which the MSDS's are listed. One product offered under their "Auto Synthetic" heading is the Total Quartz Energy 9000 0w30 labeled as 100% synthetic in the info and indeed on the MSDS "The product is made from synthetic base oils (Polyalfaolefins)". The 5/40 is listed there also as 100% but shows up as - "Petroleum-derived from severely refined mineral-base product in which the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PCA or PAH) content, measured by IP 346, is less than 3%".
The 10/50 is PAO and the 5/30 isn't. They do use the term "Synthetic Technology" at times rather than "Synthetic Oil" but not in coinciding with the mineral based fluids. Is there a grey area in the description...."Petroleum-derived severely refined mineral-base product in which the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PCA or PAH) content, measured by IP 346, is less than 3%" that qualifies it as synthetic by definition? The Quartz Future 9000 5/30 is going to cost me around $9.00 per litre which is about what I've been paying for the SXR, and that is buying it by the 3x5L jugs. Am I waisting my money based on the product description?
The 10/50 is PAO and the 5/30 isn't. They do use the term "Synthetic Technology" at times rather than "Synthetic Oil" but not in coinciding with the mineral based fluids. Is there a grey area in the description...."Petroleum-derived severely refined mineral-base product in which the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PCA or PAH) content, measured by IP 346, is less than 3%" that qualifies it as synthetic by definition? The Quartz Future 9000 5/30 is going to cost me around $9.00 per litre which is about what I've been paying for the SXR, and that is buying it by the 3x5L jugs. Am I waisting my money based on the product description?