DIY Oil Change for LR4

ktm525 said:

Don't get hung up on the 925 rating. It is simply a long life standard. Use a quality synthetic and swap it every 12 000 kms (8ish k miles). No fuss.

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Yeah, but I felt like getting nerdy about oil.

gsxr said:

A lot of mfr's show their oil as "recommended for" a particular application, which is not the same as a true OEM/manufacter approval. My personal choice (Red Line) uses the term "Suitable replacement for" Ford WSS-M2C925-A. Red Line is a Group IV/V oil but not cheap at $48/gallon (free shipping at Summit Racing or Jegs, on orders over $99).

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Motul throws a new verb into the mix: "compatable."

https://www.motul.com/us/en-US/products/specific-948b-5w20

Spec sheet:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/...68047/Specific_948B_5W-20_(GB).pdf?1534434626

I think I might use either Motul or Ravenol for my next change, just to feel special about myself. I always order my oil off the internet anyway, so there's no utility to me in sticking with a more common brand.

I guess I missed a glowing paragraph on that Motul spec sheet that I posted immediately above:

For these JAGUAR and LAND ROVER engines requiring previously FORD WSS M2C 925A or 925B
standards, the specification STJLR.03.5004 now applies as a replacement. STJLR.03.5004 covers
most of JAGUAR LAND ROVER Gasoline engines except for V6 and V8 supercharged.

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Additionally, in my search last night, I found mention on the UK Land Rover website of the STJLR.03.5004 spec being stated as applicable to the V8 Range Rovers.

http://www.ownerinfo.landrover.com/document/3B/2018/T19930/27118_de_DEU/proc/G1885817

I think this opens things up to a whole bunch of more motor oils that could potentially be used.

Nice find! The Motul 948-B looks good, and I like their claim in print about the spec supercession. I'm less crazy about the relatively low levels of ZDDP and low-ish HTHS; but that was part of the original spec (with fuel economy in mind, not longevity).

I'm about to change the oil in my LR4 (last fill was dealer oil), and will re-fill with Red Line 5W-20. I should have oil analysis on the Red Line in about a year, spring/summer 2020... we don't rack up a lot of miles on it.

i am using amsoil. I think i will run an analysis just for kicks with their kit on the next change.

i have done annual 15k mile intervals since new on my 2013 - im at 85k miles as of the oil test last 2 months ago

from blackstone oil analysis:

"This is a very clean first report for your Discovery. Wear metals are a little lower than we've found on average from these 5.0L engines, and you ran the oil pretty close to the average interval of about 7,900 miles. That means your engine is wearing a little better than the other ones we have tested, and it will have no problem with an extended oil change interval. The TBN of 2.4 shows some additive left for more use (1.0 is too low), the oil filter easily kept up with insolubles, holding them to just 0.1%. Resample in about 9,000 miles to start wear trends."

Some of the talk in another oil thread about how the Land Rover dealers are changing the viscosity of the oil they are using got me to wondering what oil my dealer put into mine after my timing chain job in December. As a favor to my automotive **** retentiveness, I've uploaded all my dealer invoices to the cloud so I can check them anywhere I am.

Looks like they used 0W-20. Not sure what sort of effect this will have. I suppose in these colder months the 0W might be a better oil at startup. I've got another 4k to 5k miles to put on it before I change the oil again.

people like over complicating stuff but unless you are running a race car all day synthetic oil is synthetic oil. 0w 20 is always better than 5w 20.

rickyn f355 said:

people like over complicating stuff but unless you are running a race car all day synthetic oil is synthetic oil. 0w 20 is always better than 5w 20.

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No. Not necessarily. It depends what your definition of "better" is, and what is important to YOU. If max fuel economy is #1, then yes 0W-20 will generally have a slight advantage. If engine longevity is #1, it would likely be the opposite.

There is a lot more to oil than the viscosity, but another over-generalization is that the narrower the difference between the 2 numbers, the better the resistance to the oil shearing down over time due to less viscosity-index improvers needed in the blend. 0W-20 has a 20W difference, 0W-15 has a 15W difference, giving the latter a slight advantage. If you're getting really nerdy you can look at HTHS, VI, NOACK, TBN, and ZDDP data (sadly, not all mfr's publish all this on their spec sheets). This kind of discussion is better suited to the BITOG forum though.

I think I've mentioned this before, but either viscosity is probably fine for 99% of drivers if it's a quality synthetic changed by 5-7kmi with normal service (no towing, minimal city driving, etc).

0w20 is always better than 5w20