synthetic oil - does it make a difference?

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phunter

Well-known member
my 2017 discovery is getting older and I wish to change the oil myself. out of warranty at this point. Is it necessary to use the land rover partnered brand of castrol professional or is the castrol from wal mart okay? the extended performance is readily available whereas the castrol professional must be ordered or a dealer purchase. Life is about choices and has anyone made the choice to use readily available castrol synthetic and suffered?
thanks for and all comments.
 
Angus

Angus

Well-known member
I have a '16 RRS and change the oil myself. Atlantic British sells an oil change kit that includes the correct Castrol oil. I am sure any quality synthetic oil will work, but if the recommended oil is available, why guess?
 
1of40

1of40

Well-known member
If I were concerned id do both and have samples tested to see how they compare. I’ve done my own changes on a ‘16 for 99K and have found Amazon and Costco synthetic 0-20 performs well. I change around @6K and the two times I sent samples for testing the results were good. They noted I could extend the interval should I want to. I figure @6K it’s like an insurance premium.
 
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phunter

Well-known member
Why so many synthetic oils. Looks like Atlantic British is sold out of the kit with the professional oil. Why does the oil have to be professional?
 
Angus

Angus

Well-known member
As I understand it, the professional version has a dye in it that fluoresces under UV light to help locate leaks (big no-no in the EU). BTW, there are many different types of "synthetic" motor oils - natural base, olefin based, ester based, etc. Check the API requirements to ensure they are equivalent.
 
blueboy

blueboy

Well-known member
Still using Dino Rotella in the ‘94 LWB and ‘96 D1 yet in the Audi and Saab that have used Synthetic from the get go have switched from Mobil 1 to Liqui Moly. Dump it and new filter every 5k miles. https://www.liqui-moly.com
 
jymmiejamz

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
All I will say on this is that Land Rover doesn’t seem to have issues like other brands (bmw, Audi, Maserati, ect.) have on direct injected motors with heavy carbon buildup on the intake valves. My opinion is that it is due to the oil they use.
 
blueboy

blueboy

Well-known member
jymmiejamz said:
All I will say on this is that Land Rover doesn’t seem to have issues like other brands (bmw, Audi, Maserati, ect.) have on direct injected motors with heavy carbon buildup on the intake valves. My opinion is that it is due to the oil they use.
Click to expand...
Always thought carbon buildup occurred as a result of incomplete combustion of gas which is why using Top Tier gas is better.
 
rocky

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
It’s really annoying to have so many different manufacturers oil specs. At least two of my vehicles don’t seem to consume much oil between changes.
 
L

LR Max

Well-known member
First off, the Discovery 5 dictates you must use synthetic. So that is what you are using. If you put dino oil in the engine, that'll be a problem.

I think there is a Mobil 1 oil that'll work with the gasoline engine version. But also, plot twist, check your local dealer. OEM oil at my dealer last I saw was $13/quart. Not bad, not great. For me its worth it to get the ACTUAL OIL for the engine. Considering how specific the oil requirements for the newer engines are. Its nice to not have to pay shipping on fluids.

Don't cheap out on filters. Once again I think LR has ok pricing on OEM filters but also Mahle is a good brand. I think Mahle might be the OEM supplier so that is fine. Also Fram is basically the devil so don't do that.

Also get the vacuum oil extractor. Works great. Will make oil changes a breeze. I love using it on my dad's LR4 and my D5. You'll spend less than $100 on the oil change and it'll take about 30-45 minutes. Cheaper and probably quicker than trying to take it to the dealer. And yes the vacuum oil extractor gets ALL the oil out the same as dropping the drain plug. The only way to get more oil out would be to drop the oil pan, but we aren't doing that. Also its so nice to not have to get under the car and have hot oil explode everywhere (I'm looking at you, LR3...).

Also on the newer engines, lore has it to change the oil every ~7,000 miles or so. Which is still pretty good.

So this should be a good path moving forward to maintaining your D5 engine. Or not. Do whatever. I work in the engine industry and its fun when the customer never changes the oil/uses crap oil/uses crap filters and then wonders why the top end explodes or the bottom bearings commit suicide. So I'm a bit sensitive to having the "you killed your own engine tough cookies" conversation because no one wants to take responsibility.

These engines are great if you take care of them.
 
4RF RDS

4RF RDS

Well-known member
My experience is yes it does. With my 2010 Rangie 5.0 SC and my 2000 Defender Td5 is that synth works great! Changing away from spec can have deleterious effects on seals and certain hoses, causing annoying and often expensive leaking.

If you are gonna do your own oil changes, just stay with the oil specifications and not necessarily JLR branded stuff. I use Catrol on both and have not had one single issue. Both are over 180K on the clock 🤷‍♂️

Good luck
 
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