Non OEM oil options?

I was told by my indy that it is better to drain the oil because some dirty oil could still be left over by vacuuming it out. Does this detour anyone from the vacuum method? How much old oil do you think could be left behind? Are you all getting out the exact amount that you put in? Also, he said he likes to take off the armor so that he can check for leaks and such while the truck is raised up.

I'm still under warranty and I really don't want to give them an excuse to deny me for any reason so I think I'm going to stick with the Castroil which he sold me for $11 a quart.

I'd be surprised if there were more than a couple of teaspoons of oil draining from the plug of the LR4's pan after vacuuming it out from the top of the engine, but I have a thick, heavy and ungainly Asfir sump guard covering that plug on my LR4, so I don't plan on removing it just to prove your indy shop wrong upon my next oil change... It would be interesting and educational if someone tried that, though. I have heard this argument before and I think it's BS personally, mostly because old habits die hard. Land Rover has both draining and vacuum draining procedures illustrated in its workshop manuals, and they don't specifically favor one over the other, either. The extraction tube runs all the way down to the very bottom of the sump, below the oil pick-up, so I think there would be very little - if any - extra oil left in there if/when you remove the drain plug. Here is a diagram of the lubrication system (6 is the extraction tube, you see how it runs from just under the oil cap to the very bottom of the sump; 8 is the pick-up, 9 is the oil temperature and level sensor that's secured to the bottom of the pan):

http://www.landroverworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=5452&stc=1&d=1434750933

His claim that he is able to check for leaks while under the truck performing an oil change has some merit, though.

If you are concerned about warranty issues, stick to the Castrol EDGE Professional OE Land Rover recommends until your 4 years or 50K miles are up. It's an extra 40-50 bucks per change to use that oil over Mobil 1, not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things.

Just did my first oil change with the Mityvac using Mobil 1 5w20 EP. Easiest oil change I've ever done...and cleanest!

I did my first oil change with the Mityvac last weekend. I got Castrol Professional OE 5w20 from my LR dealer for $11 a quart. As others have said, easiest oil change ever.

My story: I did my first oil change at ~3k miles (meant to do it sooner) with Castrol Professional OE 5W20 off of ebay (bought 12 quarts).

At the 1 year mark, my car was at ~8k miles, so I went in for the complimentary service. What did they use for oil? I would imagine they used their newer Professional E 0W-20.

This October I will be due for another oil service probably at 15-16k miles (I'm approaching 12k now). I have every intention of of doing it and any other tasks myself (I have a 10,000 lb lift at home). But:

1) If I do it myself, should I buy more OE 5W-20 and use that, or should I buy the E 0W-20 and mix it with the 4 quarts of OE 5W-20 I have left?

2) If I do it all with OE 5W-20 and I go in for service work, will they

a) give me grief or not having done the service at the dealership, and
b) give me grief because I didn't use E 0W-20 with the special dye.

Thoughts?

They can't give you grief if you use the correct oil, and you can get an oil change wherever you want, so keep your receipts just in case. On my MY2013 manual's tech specs, the correct lubricant is defined as SAE 5W-20 meeting specification WSS-M2C925-A. It says nothing there about using a specific Castrol oil (that's simply what they recommend), or 0W-20 viscosity.

umbertob said:

They can't give you grief if you use the correct oil, and you can get an oil change wherever you want, so keep your receipts just in case. On my MY2013 manual's tech specs, the correct lubricant is defined as SAE 5W-20 meeting specification WSS-M2C925-A. It says nothing there about using a specific Castrol oil (that's simply what they recommend), or 0W-20 viscosity.

Click to expand...

Thanks, that's what I figured. I will buy another 6 quarts of OE 5W-20 to complete my next oil change.

Greetings and salutations all,

I just wanted to add my comments to this thread.

While in East Africa a few years back, the proper (i.e. OEM) brand of oil was simply not available. I used Royal Purple instead, which exceeded the OEM specs, and I had no issues.

In fact, I also was using lubricant analysis through a lab in the US, and the Royal Purple held up superbly, even under difficult driving conditions. Based upon the data from the fluid analysis, I probably could have driven well more than 15,000 on one change of oil (not that I did).

I will probably just use the manufacturer recommended stuff on my next trip to Africa, but as Disco Mike noted when I asked this question some time ago: can Land Rover prove only their oil works? Where is the evidence?

Or, as my African bush mechanic would say: "It is an engine. It needs oil. The plastic bottle the oil comes in doesn't matter to the engine."

Hope that helps,
Land Rover Joe

Greetings,

I am going to do the oil change on our LR4, via instruction learned on this site and the youtube video. I would like to know if anyone has used the ENI brand oil, or the Xtra Rev brand oil in 5w20 synthic. Reason I ask is that we have used Mystik in everything else we have owned. We called our oil rep(small family owned lubricant dealer) and were told the Mystik was a few weeks out at best. He recommened those two brands. Many thanks.

Wow, those are some obscure motor oil brands! I have never heard of Mystik or Xtra Rev. ENI is an Italian oil and gas company. Although their products and gas stations are quite ubiquitous on the Italian market and nearby European countries (with their own brand or with Agip, a subsidiary), I didn't even know their products were available in North America.