I have gotten a lot of conflicting information on oils on BITOG.....I was referred here as you guys are LR buffs. I know that my lr3 has been serviced since new at the local LR dealer in correct intervals. I understand that they run castrol gtx 5w30. I am a little concerned with a 7,500 mile service interval on this oil. I was looking for a recommendation on oils and I went to all of the big oil companies web sites. I put in landrover lr3 with the 4.4l petrol engine and got NOTHING. amsoil, mobile 1, CASTROL, royal purple, redline, NO OIL COMPANY RECOMMENDS AN OIL FOR MY ENGINE ACCEPT Pennzoil. I am not a fan of pennzoil so I am looking to you guys for a reco. I know that castrol is recommended by LR but castrol's website doesn't recommend any of their oils for the 4.4

?????

 

i use the castrol gtx 5w30. i wouldn't go 7500 miles between changes though. 5k max., but for as cheap as it is 3k interval would be best. It's recommended by Land Rover, so it's good enough for me. i'm sure there's better performing, full synthetics that would be good once you get closer to 100k. But i'm a firm believer - both through experience and anecdotal stories from other gearheads - that regular oil changes with a good quality oil (which the factory recommended oil would qualify) will be sufficient for almost any driving conditions and give you the best possible engine protection.

don't stress about it too much! just change it regularly

 

The Rover LR3 owner manual uses the spec WSS-M2C205-A (GF3) for the 5W30 oil, as opposed to a specific brand. It also says change more often in severe uses. But unlike the D1 and D2 manuals, no variation is on a chart for temperature (like above 100F, etc.).

Some oils that meet that spec are: Motorcraft fully synthetic 5W-30, Amsoil XL-7500 5W-30, and Conoco Syncon HP 5W-30. Another is Kendall GT-1 synthetic blend. This same spec is used by Ford on some of their vehicles.

Drain interval is 7500, or 3750 miles in arduous conditions. I suspect that freeway traffic jams, trailering anything larger than a 5 hp lawn mower, 25 milk run stops per day with no chance to heat up oil, stop and go summer traffic at 100F plus may qualify as arduous. I'd go less than the 7500, and certainly less than the 150,000 on the diff oil.

 

All the above is good advice. A few more tidbits. The sump capacity on the LR3 is quite large so longer OCI should not be an issue. My changes take about 7.5L with filter. Run a good filter (I use WIX).

For oil I have used both 0W-30 and 5W-30.

In the 5W-30 I use either Castrol Syntec or Pennzoil Platinum. Whichever goes on sale and both are "synthetics" sort of...

In the past I have also run Castrol 0W-30 (The Infamous German Castrol ) in the winter. This oil is only available in 1L bottles so it can be a PITA and more $$$. This is a true synthetic and was my go to oil for hot turbo engines (VW 1.8T and Volvo V70R). This oil is a little thicker at operating temp than typical 5W-30's. If you are starting to get consumption (I use about 1L 5w-30 per my 8-10k km oil change interval) then the 0W-30 is a good choice. As a bonus the 0W rating is good for winter but beware the viscosity vs temp is not linear. At moderate cold temps. (0 F) it is thicker than a 5W.

I change my oil spring/fall which is around 8-10k kms (5-6k miles).