Mannol Oil

[RustyNissanPrairie]

I'm a competent home/DIY tinkerer, I'm running Mannol oils in my own cars without any issues. I change at 5k miles and use Mann filters. I'm not in the trade or have any affiliation to the brand.

It's in my Volvo V70 2.4petrol @ 210k miles, also their 3309 is in the gearbox.

Cayenne V6 petrol @170k miles, also 3309 in the gearbox and their 75/90w in the differentials

Peugeot Partner 2.0Hdi @ 116k miles.

I'd doesn't audibly breakdown in the 5k intervals - I'm an engineer and have an ear attuned to my cars. The V70 has been running Mannol since I spotted the brand on the market - owned the car for 15 years. Both autoboxes have been fine with 3309, the Cayenne is a tow car.

Edited by RustyNissanPrairie on Tuesday 15th October 07:13

Edited by RustyNissanPrairie on Tuesday 15th October 07:16

[Spitfire2]

The oil is fine. The seller in the OP's screenshot is terrible and best avoided. Read their feedback and buy elsewhere.

[Adam91_]

FYI for anyone interested - Their website is now much improved from previous. They also sponsor a car in the DTM with full livery, so appear to be marketing a bit more. Down side of that is the price has shot up but is still far cheaper than most brands.

I've been using it for years in various vehicles, currently in a 2014 Mini cooper D (have done nearly 50k in it), a 2008 Outback (Only 3k in that so far) and my 1992 MX5 (Around 10k).

As per previous posters, I've been changing it more regular but not had any issues.

[Belle427]

Some oil testing here if your bored, some of it seems to do ok if you look at his full test charts, not easy to navigate though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga7UiOMKYBY

[darkyoung1000]

I appreciate this is a thread resurrection, but there's an interesting article in the latest Private Eye about Mannol.

It goes into detail about ownership etc. but the upshot is that Mannol's parent company are selling their oil for less than they pay for the base products to make it. This appears to be as a result of dumping cheap oil from UAE, then blended in Lithuania and shipped to the UK.

This isn't too say that the oil is sub-standard for the applications it's being used for, but goes some way to explaining the price!

[sanguinary]

I saw that, then I read the accounts on companies house. The notes made by the auditor make interesting reading. Unable to see some bank statements, can’t confirm sales figures and couldn’t confirm the stock position.

The product in the UAE may well have originated from Russia, before being cleaned and moved on - this isn’t confirmed yet, but the TRA are investigating.

Edited by sanguinary on Saturday 12th April 10:37

[paul_c123]

I was gifted a Mannol 20l tub of oil, its sat there for the last 8 oil changes and I've not used it. Well I used a bit of it, to do a "flush" on an engine (let the oil drain out, then with the sump plug still out, put a litre in then let it drain; then repeat a few times. Not a proper flush running the engine).

Every different car I've bought a service kit for, I've bought the specific oil recommended. This is for cars typically under 10 years old. They all seem to have some or other manufacturer or engine type-specific specification which makes it not worth buying a bulk of oil any more. I guess if you were a marque specialist or a main dealer for a brand, you'd be doing a lot of the same cars over and over again, so 20l tubs (or 205l barrels) would make more sense.

[Ian Geary]

I've used the mannol 20 litre tubs of 5w30 fully synth for my beemer ans my wife's astra cdti, as it met both the LL04 bmw spec and dexos2 for gm

Mine for thr last 5 years I'd say.

Plus my car has a 7 litre capacity a barrel would do 2 of mine and one of hers, plus a bit for top ups.


However, my N53 bmw is now quite tappety at 150k, though whether that's oil, injectors, timing chain tensioner god knows.

I have a suspicion the blue barrel is no longer ll04 as my recent browsing for oil directed me to a brown bottle

The blue ones are now ll98, though I have no idea if that's better or worse.

Given that oil website listing I think I will be using the Homer Simpson approach to buying wine: "your second least expensive bottle please" from now on.

[Andronicus1024]

I've been using Mannol for several years in a few older Vehicles I own. Never had an issue.

Now I have a shiny new-ish BMW m340i, it would probably be fine since it meets LL04 spec, but if you were buying a vehicle, one serviced using Shell/Castrol and another using Mannol... which would you choose?

[E-bmw]

Andronicus1024 said:

I've been using Mannol for several years in a few older Vehicles I own. Never had an issue.

Now I have a shiny new-ish BMW m340i, it would probably be fine since it meets LL04 spec, but if you were buying a vehicle, one serviced using Shell/Castrol and another using Mannol... which would you choose?How would you know?

FTFY.

[Smint]

Andronicus1024 said:

I've been using Mannol for several years in a few older Vehicles I own. Never had an issue.

Now I have a shiny new-ish BMW m340i, it would probably be fine since it meets LL04 spec, but if you were buying a vehicle, one serviced using Shell/Castrol and another using Mannol... which would you choose?

I'd choose the one the sensible owner gave recommended service intervals a well deserved ignoring and insisted on fresh oil every 5k, whether Gucci or Lidl oil wouldn't matter a jot so long as it was in spec.

[nick9one1]

Video here of Mannol ceramic oil performing extremely well

https://youtu.be/V4M0oHIHwAg?si=wxvV2UaZhH-gQV7p

If you watch that channels other videos, there are much more expensive, and thicker oils that do not perform as well.

[Belle427]

I have just finished a 20 L drum and although I have not had any issues I wont buy again from what I have read.
That ceramic stuff looks interesting though.
Trying some Smith and Allan products next.

[Huzzah]

Smint said:

Andronicus1024 said:

I've been using Mannol for several years in a few older Vehicles I own. Never had an issue.

Now I have a shiny new-ish BMW m340i, it would probably be fine since it meets LL04 spec, but if you were buying a vehicle, one serviced using Shell/Castrol and another using Mannol... which would you choose?

I'd choose the one the sensible owner gave recommended service intervals a well deserved ignoring and insisted on fresh oil every 5k, whether Gucci or Lidl oil wouldn't matter a jot so long as it was in spec.

I used to think like this too. I had an elderly merc, serviced each Yr about 3-5k miles, using an in spec oil from a well known national motor factors.

The car developed a horrible rattle from cold start (hydraulic tappets) next oil change I swapped to a big name oil, rattle disappeared over the next few weeks never to trouble me again.

[Smint]

Huzzah said:

I used to think like this too. I had an elderly merc, serviced each Yr about 3-5k miles, using an in spec oil from a well known national motor factors.

The car developed a horrible rattle from cold start (hydraulic tappets) next oil change I swapped to a big name oil, rattle disappeared over the next few weeks never to trouble me again.

I've had similar too, but the other way round.
Both times, 20 years apart, with the basically same design 3 litre 4 pot Toyota Diesel engines, the latter having common rail injection.

In the first case it sounded like the big ends were about to part company from their con rods, the second time really noisy tappety rattles, both times rechanging the oil which hadn't covered more than 1000 miles for another make standard quality oils put noises back to normal, both engines continuing for many years to give trouble free service, the latter still with me and running very nicely thankyou on 10w40 Exol Diesel specific semi synth.

I don't think the oils in question were bad in any way, just maybe didn't suit those particular engines to my ears, confess i listen intently to the engines and mechanicals of every vehicle i drive.
Judging by the horrendous racket i hear from other vehicles now and again some people arn't maybe so attuned, i once heard another L'Cruiser with the same engine as mine starting and pulling away the engine was knocking at a volume one really shouldn't ignore, an elderly chap at the wheel who pulled out before i could speak to him, several possibilities but i suspect a clogged oil pick up strainer in his case because leaking injector seal leading to carbon build up on the intake filter is just about the only thing that can kill a non mapped 3 litre Toyota Diesel and why switched on owners inspect said pick up every oil change.

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

I have been buying it for years and have never had an issue, we use it across all the five cars in my immediate family.

Howver, last oil change I went for Shell Helix instead as it was literally £7 more expensive.

This may be my imagination but I have not had to top up the oil at all yet, whereas I am sure I have topped up slightly in the past by now.

[johnsmith222]

ChocolateFrog said:

Anyone have any useful info?

It's too cheap. A classic if it's too good to be true it probably isn't?



That's £2p/l for a fully synthetic oil complying with Renault specification RN17.

The next cheapest from a known brand is around £6p/l

I'm not tempted but interested if anyone knows anything? I'd imagine getting all the individual manufacturer certifications is not a cheap process.

I use it in my bike my old commuter bike and haven't had any issues, but I imagine an air cooled twin with an 80s-designed engine is far away from what your requirements.

Are you going to use 20L within a reasonable timeframe? Oil has a shelf life when opened. I've heard conflicting info of 1 to 2 years when opened.

[Grayedout]

At least 4 cases in here where Mannol oils have been proven to not meet the displayed specifications.

Alarm bells in my eyes!

https://ukla-vls.org.uk/case-outcomes/

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Grayedout said:

At least 4 cases in here where Mannol oils have been proven to not meet the displayed specifications.

Alarm bells in my eyes!

https://ukla-vls.org.uk/case-outcomes/

Have to say, these cases were one of the reasons I decided to go with Shell oil instead. I used to do a lot of contract work for shell in the late 90s and my company wrote a system called Lubricants Quality System for shell, which is basically a database of independent lab test results for their lubricants. Shell used to send samples of their lubricants to independent labs for analysis and this database held the results

Not sure Mannol do the same.....

As I said earlier, it doesn't seem to use any oil now I have switched to Shell so I am happy to keep using it over Mannol.

[Grayedout]

I was working for Shell in the 90's testing lubricants !