Passenger Car
Car oil is the grade most people are looking for and the one most often bought wrong. The engine's handbook gives a viscosity grade and a performance level; both have to…
Formulated to meet
API CI-4/SLACEA E7API SLAPI GL-5API GL-4ISO VG 10 / 46 / 68DOT 4ASTM D3306 & BS 658001 / Overview
Car oil is the grade most people are looking for and the one most often bought wrong. The engine's handbook gives a viscosity grade and a performance level; both have to match, and a thicker oil is not a safer choice.
AG Ethiopia stocks for the conditions vehicles are actually driven in here — thin highland air, long loaded climbs out of the rift, heavy dust loading and drain intervals that slip. The passenger car grade is SILK 8000 20W-50, an API SL multi-grade that suits higher-mileage engines and sustained hot running. If your handbook specifies a thinner grade, say so when you ask — we would rather tell you we cannot match it than sell you the nearest thing.
Every batch is released by AG Lubricants FZE against a certificate of analysis, with a retained sample kept on file so any pack in the field can be traced back. How it is tested
02 / The range
Passenger Car
High-performance gasoline engine oil formulated to perform in all driving conditions from mild to severe. Provides excellent engine protection against sludge and wear, and protects the engine in different weather conditions and harsh applications. Suitable for passenger cars, SUVs and vans.
03 / Questions
Start with the viscosity grade and performance level in the vehicle handbook — for example SAE 5W-40 and API SP. Most modern petrol cars sold here take a 5W-30 or 5W-40. Older, higher-mileage engines that use oil often do better on a 20W-50, and that is the grade we stock — SILK 8000 20W-50, API SL. If your handbook calls for a 5W-30 or 5W-40 we do not have it, and we will say so rather than sell you a thicker oil. Altitude does not change the grade, but sustained climbing and dust loading make oxidation margin worth paying for.
Usually yes, for two reasons specific to Ethiopian driving. A synthetic base holds its viscosity through long loaded climbs where a mineral oil thins, and it gives real margin when a service slips past its interval — which happens far more often than any maintenance schedule admits.
The first number is cold-start flow and the second is viscosity at operating temperature. A 5W-30 pumps faster on a cold highland morning and costs slightly less fuel; a 10W-40 holds a thicker film when hot. Use whichever the handbook specifies — fitting a heavier grade than specified starves the valve train at first crank.
Follow the handbook interval, then shorten it if the vehicle works in heavy dust, on constant short journeys, or on gradients under load. Those three conditions are common here and all of them age oil faster than motorway kilometres do.
04 / Before you buy
Read the handbook first, then the label. What actually decides the grade for a vehicle working here.
What the two numbers on an oil pack mean, and why a thicker oil is not the safer choice.
Why dust, long gradients and short journeys make ordinary local driving count as severe service.
05 / Other families
Send us the machines you run and the volumes you need. Our technical team will confirm the grade, the pack size and an indicative price — usually within one working day.
