Smith and allan, Westway or major brand oil?

[Dajoca]

I want to do home oil changes for a 2016 Citroen Berlingo Blue HDI.
Recommended oil is the Total quartz Ineo First, which is expensive enough when doing twice yearly oil and filter changes.
I can get the equivalent spec oils from Smith and Allan, Westway, Millers, Castrol, Total, Shell, Fuchs etc.

Does anyone have any experience of the quality of the UK blended oil suppliers vs the major oil companies?

Thanks

 

[Stivino]

As long as it has the appropriate markings on it, I'm happy to use it.

 

[Mottie]

I used Smith and Allen to do my auto transmission fluid on my Evoque. No problem with it.

 

[JohnD]

They might "self-certify" that their oil meets the spec.

If you can lay your hands on the original owners manual, it will probably say what oil the engine was designed to run on. It probably won't be the latest, most expensive, fully-synthetic that you can buy.

I have a Pug and the manual lists several oil specs according to the climate where it will be used. UK climate overlaps several of these so each would be acceptable. It also says the spec.

AFAIK, only Synthetics (annoyingly) have different specs for each motor manufacturer. I have another car that uses a Ford spec, and as long as you make a note of the spec number, you can match it practically anywhere.

If you look at the "choose your oil" page on sites like Castrol, it will encourage you to use the most expensive, but grudgingly also tell you which other versions meet the manufacturers spec.
Examples:
https://applications.castrol.com/oilselector/en_gb/c/search
or
https://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-and-fluids/engine-oil/?isVrnSearch=true#
I can use a 0/30 or an 0/40 or a 5/30 or a 5/40 for one car, and for the Pug, an 0/30, 5/40, 5/30, 5/40 or 10/40. When it was new, it recommended 10/40.

For me, Mobil 1 is the best value big-brand, but I can get a Valvoline change at National Tyres for a price which makes it not worth the trouble of changing it myself. I like to watch that they actually take the plug out rather than using a vacuum tube. Satisfy yourself that your local branch has a manager who runs a tight ship.

Frequent scheduled oil changes will do your car more good that using the most expensive brand.

Both my cars get changed at less than 10k mile intervals so the oil is always fresh and clear. If I had an old banger as well I could probably re-use it.

 

[Mottie]

The Halfords oil checker is absolute shyte. My car must have a fully synth C1 spec oil. Halfords tell me I can use their own brand semi-synthetic oil. Well, they would do, wouldn’t they! AFAIK semi synth oil only needs a capful of fully synth oil to be labelled semi synth.

 

[DIYspanner]

The best oil checker in my opinion is Millers.

The important criteria are grade and specification. For example don't put non-PD oil in a PD engine buts that's more a VAG matter.

Any of the UK blends, Millers, Granville, Morris, Westway, Exol, Smith & Allan.

If its of any interest, Mannol blend a OEM 7703 for French cars.

 

[Belle427]

I’d be happy to use all those brands, 2 that stand out for me are millers and Fuchs, both very high quality but in reality all the rest are just as good.
If your changing twice a year I’d probably look at one of the more reasonable offerings from one of the above you listed.

 

[DIYspanner]

Indeed, Millers and Fuchs are top tier. Fuchs currently have the contract for blending Quantum's oil. Quantum LL3 is stocked at my local VW dealership garage.

Just out of interest, is a 2016 Citroen Berlingo Blue HDI quoted for 5w30 or 0w30?

 

[Keithmac]

We use Fuchs (Silkolene), Motul and Putolene at work, wouldn't put anything else in a customers engine.

At home I use Mobil1 engine oil, Fuchs DCTF (twin clutch gearbox oil) and Silkolene Pro4.

For me I would like to think the big names have extensive testing for certification.

I know a few who use UK blended oil (Westway etc) without issue.

 

[norseman]

I've used Millers for years in my old Range Rover, but that has a requirement for mineral oil.
I have used Smith & Allan ATF for the ZF transmission in my old E39, seems to run fine with it.
Just used Westway fully syn. for an engine oil change in the above car, again seems to be happy with it. I would have gone for S & A again, but they don't offer a product with the specs. I required.

Like all products you can pay through the nose for a well-known brand name, classic example is the 'lifetime' fluid recommended for some ZF transmissions ... unbelievable money & a huge price variations from different outlets.
What IS important is the specifications, smaller refining companies don't have the advertising budgets of the main players & often don't offer their products in one litre containers, but then you'll need five litres for most oil changes anyway.

 

[DIYspanner]

I've used Castrol, Millers, Granville, Tradetech, Smith & Allan, Quantum (both Castrol and Fuchs), SCT (Mannol and Fanfaro labels) Mercedes Benz (Daimler AG) and I've not yet had a complaint of a seized engine.

If an engine oil brand was selling rubbish, how long would they stay in business?

 

[Belle427]

Hugely difficult to judge oil performance without proper analysis though.
I tend to stay away from the likes of fanfaro etc, only because I’m not familiar with them and one of the other big players is only slightly more expensive.
I buy the quantum oils in bulk 20 L form at the moment as most of the family cars are covered by the 5/30 and 5/40 grades.

 

[Burnerman]

A well discussed topic, this one!
I wonder on occasion how oil manufacturers / blenders actually certify their products, and what the certification actually means.....lets say oil A meets the spec stated on the container when fresh - but how long does it stay in grade for? There's no way each and every oil will behave the same as others.
For me, it's the top players every time.....some motorbike engines easily achieve 14000 rpm and still have a 3 year warranty and that speaks volumes for the manufacturers recommendation - they would have failures galore otherwise.
Similarly, even a base oil would prevent the engine seizing, but how about the camshaft and worse still, the turbo / superchargers which have tremendous loads? We wouldn't know about engine issues unless we owned the vehicle for many thousands of miles......examine the PSA 1.6 DV6 motor and see how many of those that have bitten the bullet.
I don't trust products from the Eastern bloc or anywhere else where the truth doesn't matter - so long as they get a sale that's fine by them. Lada, anyone?
John

 

[DIYspanner]

Mannol, Fanfaro and Pemco are labels owned by SCT of Germany and are all one and the same oil to the best of my knowledge. Blended at a plant in Lithuania that SCT purchased and refurbed a number of years ago. The Mannol 7715 OEM is, I believe, approved by VW.

All our cars get oil changed yearly so the LL of oil is irrelevant.

If I were to select a UK blend, I'd go for Smith&Allan because its only a couple of towns away from my front door.

 

[norseman]

I used Smith & Allan transmission fluid last year for our old BMW. The specs. matched both the original as shown in the handbook & more modern recommendations.
The 'box does all it should do, shifts smoothly in both auto & Steptronic modes.