Their qualities are different.
Ultra 5W40 specs are higher, with BMW LL01, MB 229.5, Porsche A40 etc requiring higher grade base oil (GTL ?) AND higher quality additives package etc.
For applications that did not call for above OEM approvals AND oil change interval < 10,000 km say, they are the same.
For OCI > say 15,000 km , they may not be the same IDK.
In Europe Mercedes, Ultra 5W40 may be spec'ed for 30,000 km OCI. Helix 8 doesn't meet the requirements.




This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 29 2019, 08:33 PM

Thanks for the input.

Thanks for the info. Is the label MB stand for Mercedes Benz? Correct me if im wrong.
Anyway, just change to Shell Helix Ultra 5w-40 and hope my old engine wont take a sip or two of Shell when coming next service.

Yes, you got it right.
Most of the 'modern day' Mercedes Benz you see on KL/JB roads today requires MB 229.5 approvals found in Ultra.
HX8's MB 229.3 doesn't make it.

but what is the number stand for?
i.e. MB 229.5 / 229.3??

Just to share mine.

Car Type/Utilization/Speed/RPM
Type : Honda City iDSI Y2003
Utilz: 5.2km/week
Speed: <90km/h
RPM : <3000r/m

Last OD
Date: 04/02/2015
Odo : 50,709km

Blotter
Date: 04/06/2019
Odo : 57,506km

EO Type/Age
Type: Honda Semi Syn 5W30 4L
Age : 4y4m & 6,797km



This post has been edited by Trony: Jun 7 2019, 02:31 PM

Thanks for posting , Trony.
The centre zone is quite dark, indicating rather substantial levels of combustion byproducts , acidification etc.
Good news is there is absence of dark solid perimeter ring in centre zone , indicating the oil's dispersancy/detergency capability has not badly broken down yet, hence no irrepairable severe engine damage has occurred despite 4.5 yo oil in use.

Would I recommend 9000 km OCI and beyond ? Probably not and I personally may be comfortable at up to 7500-8000 km.

In a way, this 4.5 year old engine oil is not causing excessive engine wear rates , yet.
The darker centre zone is also caused by oil oxidation from unusually low usage AND long oil age, but it is still holding up fine ..... may be not for too long from now.

Outermost zone obviously indicate quite bad fuel dilution problem whereby its Kinematic Viscosity at 100*C (KV100C) may have dropped to 7.5 -8.5 cSt from virgin KV100C of around 10.5 cSt.
In a way this unusally low viscosity (caused by fuel dilution) is bad but I believe it's not causing bad metal wear due to your low usage and cold engine oil in operation most of the time.

The intermidiate zone is not darkened yet, indicating it has additional capacity to absorb more contaminants. However ,dark coloured solid centre perameter ring (representing failure in detergency/dispersancy oil capability) is something you want to avoid and look out for.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jun 9 2019, 09:53 PM

Thanks & agree with your analysis.

Max I'll go for 7500km OCI, iDSI may be responsible for the low centre zone contamination.

Other things I noticed are EO level never drops from last OD & engine still runs quiet during idle.

Just curious, are you using the same oil filter ?
Paper/Cellulose type filter ?

It's ori Honda filter same age as EO service by Honda SC.

Mobil 1 New Life 0W40 (from Tesco)
9642 km in 2005 Avanza 1.3 K3VE engine
ODO 289165 km
Blotter spot 48 hrs.




.......... and going

Hmm..no sign of obvious centre zone perimeter ring.

Switching from hdeo 0-30w to shell helix ultra 5w40 from giant

Wow, great blotter spot test with no sign of greyish/darkish centre zone demonstrating as 'virgin' detergency and dispersancy capability at 7110 km usage.
I like to speculate this quality HDEO could easily go on for another 5000-10000 km .
Btw, what oil brand is this ?
and I suppose it's in your Honda City?

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 29 2019, 09:45 PM

Sorry Bro. I thought hdeo means Honda engine oil. Turns out its heavy duty engine oil. Last time I use Honda engine oil all these while. For this sample, I'm using shell helix full synthetic 5w40 bought from giant on promo rm89 I think. I have a bottle left, unfortunately after this next bottle I think I will switch back to 5w30 or 0w30 fully syn.

Yrs, its my honda city

This post has been edited by cempedaklife: Jul 30 2019, 11:41 AM

daikor zeng

My latest hot sample after about 9200km, ODO about 70k that time, on Formula Shell 5w30. How is it looking after 3 days?

Hi wkc,
No signs of centre zone perimeter ring, which is good news indicating the used oil's detergency/dispersancy capabilities are in tip top condition.
IMO, it's fit for continuing use in this Mazda3 engine , which comes with the inherent fuel dilution 'problem' (by observing the outermost perimeter zone) but not serious enough to 'destroy' the Formula Shell 5W30 at 9200 km usage.

This 9200 km blotter spot is far 'better' than Senscents' 8500 km of similar oil but different engine type and mileage, IMHO.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jul 31 2019, 08:17 PM

Honda calls it HGEO Honda Genuine Engine Oil 0W30, it is petrol engine oil.

HDEO is diesel engine oil and generally performs well in petrol engines like my Wira 1.5 and Avanza 1.3 petrol engines .

Oh well, Shell Helix fullsyn 5W40 is a very powerful oil with Molybdenum and Boron as shown in VOA below.







This post has been edited by zeng: Aug 1 2019, 02:40 PM

I too is using Helix Ultra 5w40. But on a car which is slightly incompatible.
Perodua Axia. It calls for 0w20 recommended. But I'm not confident with P2's own full synthetic oil. so I decided to go for Helix Ultra.

only penalty is the poorer FC (but doesn't affect engine performance). From 17km/l to 15km/l, sometimes 14km/l.
so for my next oil change I have to go back to a lighter oil,

and give the remaining balance to its bigger, fatter brother. Exora Turbo.

I saw on UBuy that someone is selling parallel import Helix Ultra 0w30. not sure whether it's safe to buy from UBuy.
Yes my current Helix Ultra is also parallel import version but I got it from Giant.

This post has been edited by SleeplessEyes: Aug 2 2019, 06:11 PM

SHU 0W30 C2/C3 has very powerful OEM approvals (MB VW) and are supposedly meant for 30,000 km OCI in Europe.

Giant has 0w30 but its hx8. Not ultra. Any good?