Shell Advance VSX 2 (FC/EGD)

Worth knowing

This oil has an unusual combination of grades: under JASO it is FC, but under ISO it is EGD, which is usually regarded as the counterpart of FD. So where a manual asks for “ISO-L-EGD”, VSX 2 meets it on Shell’s word, but not where it asks for “JASO FD”. FD differs from FC not in smoke but in higher minimums for piston cleanliness and a stricter ash limit: 0.18 % instead of 0.25 %. There is nowhere to verify EGD itself: ISO keeps no list of oils, and this grade rests only on Shell’s statement.

When an engine requires FD specifically, the Advance oil in the catalogue that has it is Advance Ultra 2T, with the same ISO-L-EGD and an additional API TC; its viscosity at 100 °C is almost the same, 7.3 mm²/s against 7.0 mm²/s. A table of the FB, FC and FD minimums and an explanation of why the JASO and ISO pairs of grades match only roughly can be found in the overview of two-stroke oil grades.