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Car is a civic vti '99. my car manual says API sj or above. Web says my car can also take ACEA a5/b5.

I have put castrol magnatec c3 in the car. The product box does say 'for petrol and diesel cars with catalyst' however it says passed test for API sn so I'm assuming on that fact alone it is deemed correct for my car since my car can take API sj or above?

I am just concerned about the c3 label which seems to suggest the oil is especially formulated for deisel cars with catalyst whereas mine is a petrol with cat removed. Also for acea my car is a5/b5 so whereas this is c3.

Basically just double checking these are not a problem and provided it has past tests for api sn, it doesnt matter what other labels are or are not there? It seems it would be suited for deisel cars with catalysts but not required?

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ACEA C3 will be fine.. You wouldn't want to run A5/B5 in a car that had a catalytic convertor but the other way around is fine.

Make sure weight and blend is right (5W-40 fully synthetic IIRC?) and you'll be fine.

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  • "You wouldn't want to run A5/B5 in a car that had a catalytic convertor", by other way around did you mean you could run a5/b5 if it didn't have a cat? And why do you say you couldn't run a5/b5 with the cat, my garage told me the acea code for my car(civic vti 99 which comes with cat stock) is a5/b5. would this info be wrong? – James Wilson Dec 28 '18 at 20:34
  • @jameswilson it's more of an issue of more recent direct injection cars, particularly those with a GPF. Old school simple cats are less..delicate. A5/B5 wouldn't be a huge problem if you still had a cat but C3 would slightly extend cat life. Since you don't have a cat anyway it's moot for you anyway. I presume you have a "friendly" MOT tester? – motosubatsu Dec 29 '18 at 10:36
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things to look for are the hths values and c3 is a mid SAPS oil A5 is a full SAPS oil, so there is less protection for better emissions. So you don't want to run a long drain interval with a c3 if your car calls for a5.

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  • Welcome to MVM&R. You might want to explain what HTHS values and SAPS are, to make your answer more informative. – kmarsh Jan 24 '20 at 23:30

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