Lubricants frequently asked questions

Engine oils are made up from three important ingredients – base oils, viscosity modifiers and performance additives. These are carefully selected and skilfully blended to enable the oil to provide maximum engine protection.

You should change your oil and filter at or before the end of oil-change intervals indicated by your vehicle manufacturer. These are based on distance travelled or time. Regular oil changing helps to keep your engine oil in good condition and provide the best protection for all of your engine components.

Used oil can pollute the environment and should never be poured down the drain. In many markets it is also illegal to do this. Instead, take your waste to an official oil-disposal or recycling bank (these are often located at local refuse collection points). Alternatively, ask your local authority recycling officer for guidance.

Car-owner handbooks will give you a minimum oil specification. However, you may wish to trade up to a better specification engine oil. Choosing the correct engine oil for a vehicle depends on:

• the car’s type – a high-performance car needs higher performance oil.
• the car’s age – a lot is expected from new technology engines: high performance coupled with fuel efficiency. Advanced oils have been developed to help keep pace with increased engineering demands. For example, modern cars have blow-by-gas recirculation that can cause extreme oxidation in old-technology oils and sensitive exhaust gas after-treatment devices that can be poisoned by inappropriate oils.
• the driving environment – modern motorway driving and heavy stop-start traffic requires higher quality oils to prevent increased engine wear and tear.

You may prefer one of our application-based products, such as Shell Helix HX7 K, which is specifically designed for cars that have been driven more than 100,000 km.

To find the right oil for you quickly and easily, try our Shell LubeMatch tool.

We have put Shell’s years of know-how in oil development into every aspect of the Shell Helix formula – from the base-oil technology through to the additives’ selection and blending. We have also channelled the experience we have gained in supporting leading racing teams, such as Scuderia Ferrari, into the Shell Helix formula. It is designed to meet challenges, so no matter how stressful your driving conditions, Shell Helix will help to clean and protect your engine.

Adding an uncontrolled volume of additives to your oil is like putting salt on your dessert. It takes years of additive blending experience to come up with the right formula for Shell Helix oil, and the way the various additives are mixed in with the base oil is crucial to the oil’s overall performance. So our strong advice is “do not add additives” if you aim to get the most from your car. The addition of additives may lead to expiration of the vehicle manufacturer’s guarantee.

Not changing your oil on a regular basis can significantly reduce the level of protection provided against engine wear. Engine oil acts as a reservoir for all kinds of by-products that form when the fuel burns, including soot, sludge, water and acidic material, as well as unburned and partially burned fuel. At the same time, the stress placed on the oil during engine operation gradually depletes the components that determine the oil’s performance. Refreshing the oil on a regular basis ensures that the right balance of components is present in the oil.

It also removes waste materials that might otherwise result in increased deposit formation, corrosion of metal components and increased wear.

If you simply keep on topping up your oil, you put more stress on the older oil that remains in the engine. And this stress issue has become worse in recent years as lighter, modern engines now run with about 25% less oil in their sumps. Shell Helix oil has a powerful ability to clean up your engine components and goes on keeping engines clean through to the next oil change.

A recent study in Europe showed that 75% of car journeys involved trips shorter than 10km. These trips often incorporate a high level of stop-start driving, which can result in greatly increased engine wear if oil is not changed on a regular basis.