[Vwdiesel] Re: Rotella Synthetic oil, cheaper now!

[James Hansen]

I had the opportunity to talk at length with the man that does the blending in
Calgary.  The synthetic blend line is called just that, they make no attempt to
use severely hydrocracked oil passed off as group 4, or misleadingly call it
"synthetic".    They blend 60-40 group 4 synth-mineral in the synth blend 10-40
Rotella.  Calling it all Rotella is VERY confusing, I told him so, I liked it
better when the high end line was called Extrema.  At least it was
identifiable.  That was oil head and shoulders above the rest at the time, but
no longer produced.  He wasn't too keen on the marketing crowd, he thought it
was stupid to call them all the same name too.  It's really silly, Shell has
the ability to be the world's premier supplier of highest quality oil
available, because they sell most of their group 4 to other companies like
Redline etc. and choose not to market it themselves.  He was very intrigued
about high performance diesel applications sought after by some farm boy,
telling me that was just the type of thing they had in mind.  The neat thing
with blends, you can get the identical performance from a cheaper blend, as you
can from straight synth, which is much more pricey.  I use it in all the high
perf stuff now, it's pretty good oil.  Can't compare it to delvac, never used
it, no local source until just lately.
-James

On Sunday, July 07, 2002 7:52 AM, Chance Vought [SMTP:cvaf4u at rhinocat.com]
wrote:
> Karl,
> If you looked at all the replies on the forum you would have read
> where someone talked to a tech rep and they said it was a Group III
> oil, not a full synthetic.  That's all I was bringing up in my
> original post.  I don't think it's economical to spend over $3 qt for
> a group III, no slam on the quality.  If you have any other sources
> of how the Syn Rotella is made (group IV or group V) I'd love to know
> about it because I too would like to put a group IV/V true synthetic
> in my car at a cheaper price than Mobil/Redline/Amsoil products.
>
> Ever since Castrol won a law suit brought on by Mobil on what
> "Synthetic" means, I'm leary of any manufacturer claiming their
> product is a true synthetic.
>
> Chance
> 85 VW Golf 1.6 NA
> http://www.rhinocat.com/~cvaf4u
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, 7 Jul 2002 03:18:04 -0400, Karl M wrote:
> >I don't see any tests indicating that the Shell product is in any
> way
> >inferior to Delvac 1. Folks calling it 'crap' is just like opinions
> >on
> >anything. Hard facts in real-world testing are what I'm after, and
> >any
> >amount of thrashing and speculation on a chat group doesn't make a
> >product
> >bad. The oil works superbly in my engine, it handles soot better,
> >withstands
> >the heat I subject it to without frying, and is less expensive to
> >boot (than
> >Delvac 1), so I plan to keep on using it until there is a better oil
> >available at that price. I've also read that the oil is available at
> >some
> >Advance Auto Parts stores.
> >
> >Karl
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Chance Vought" <cvaf4u at rhinocat.com>
> >
> >Karl,
> >Just informing you that there has been alot of discussion about the
> >"Synthetic Rotella" at Walmart.  Just plug the word rotella into
> >Fred's forums.  You'll see the discussion on this "Synthetic" oil,
> >the discussions are different than the dino Rotella.  Fred's forum
> >also indicates for some reason Shell is only distributing this new
> >oil at Walmarts.
> >
> >Chance
> >85 VW Golf 1.6 NA
> >http://www.rhinocat.com/~cvaf4u
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >On Sun, 7 Jul 2002 01:52:24 -0400, Karl M wrote:
> >>Oh, but it most certainly is a true synthetic. It's just recently
> >>been
> >>introduced, Rotella as mentioned in your findings is most likely
> the
> >>15W40
> >>dino oil that's been around for ages. My findings rate this new
> >>synthetic
> >>oil on par with Delvac 1. If it wasn't, I would be replacing turbos
> >>every
> >>week with the abuse mine sees.
> >>
> >>Karl Mullendore
> >>Westy Ventures
> >>1987 Westfalia Syncro 1.9TD
> >>
> >>----- Original Message -----
> >>
> >>Karl,
> >>I went over to Fred's TDI forums and plugged in "Rotella".  It
> looks
> >>like this stuff is not a true synthetic but a Group III oil.  While
> >>the Wally World special at $12.83 may be good for a diesel, it's
> >over
> >>priced.
> >>
> >>Chance
> >>85 VW Golf 1.6 NA
> >>http://www.rhinocat.com/~cvaf4u
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>_______________________________________________
> >>vwdiesel mailing list
> >>vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> >>http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >vwdiesel mailing list
> >vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> >http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
> >
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> vwdiesel mailing list
> vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel