2018 Audi A4, RL 5w-40, 5,435 OCI, 14,927 miles

[Cardiobuck]

Results from my A4 2.0T TFSI. Did the first oil change at 10,000 miles and filled with Redline 5w-40. This is how it looks 5,435 miles later. 70%Hwy/30%city. Will do OCI of ~5,000 miles going forward. I refilled with Liqui Moly Top Tec 5w-30 (a VW504.00 oil), and MANN filter.

Code


Miles on oil 5,435 Universal

Miles on Unit 14,927 Averages

Sample Date 10/26/2018

Make up oil 0

Oil Type RL 5w-40



Aluminum 4 4

Chromium 0 1

Iron 22 26

Copper 14 4

Lead 0 0

Tin 0 1

Molybdenum 465 45

Nickel 0 0

Manganese 5 1

Silver 0 0

Titanium 0 2

Potassium 2 3

Boron 56 54

Silicon 15 9

Sodium 14 9

Calcium 2361 2323

Magnesium 5 143

Phosphorus 1004 854

Zinc 1066 983

Barium 0 0





SUS Viscosity@210F 71.3

cST Viscosity@100C 13.3

Flashpoint in F 395

Fuel %
Antifreeze % 0.0

Water % 0.0

Insolubles % 0.2

TBN 3.5

TAN

 

[skyactiv]

VW and Audi likes to use cast iron blocks to this day which may explain the high iron numbers to some extent. My wife has a 2015 Audi A4 and it has Castrol 0W40 in it with a Mahle oil filter.

 

[oil_film_movies]

I think the iron number would have been lower if this engine hadn't gone the whole first 10,000 miles on the FF (factory-fill). There must have been a lot of iron hanging around, and then when the oil was changed with this Redline, about 10-20% of the old oil was stuck behind in there with high iron. Same deal with the high copper here.
As it is, the iron number still was about average. And I'd expect the copper to settle lower later on, next oil change.

Redline is an interesting oil. Lots of POE, moly, & zddp, set up like a racing oil, and can be used for that as many have done successfully. Really takes heat with all that POE.

 

[buster]

I think the Fe is fine. The engine is fairly new. People on this forum have a tendency to overreact to Fe levels. One thing I will say about RL that has always impressed me is its shear stability. Viscosity is always solid. Ca seems low for RL. I wouldn't have switched. I really think sticking with one oil for at least several OCI's is preferable.

 

[Onetor]

Nice UOA!

 

[zeng]

Very good metal wear rates for a low mileage/new engine.
RL is shear stable with good residual TBN.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted by zeng
Very good metal wear rates for a low mileage/new engine.
RL is shear stable with good residual TBN.


It sheared about 20% from the published viscosity, and TBN seems pretty depleted from starting TBN for a 5K OCI? I ran a low saps oil for a similar interval and TBN wasn't much lower (in the 1.8 version of this engine).

It's certainly suitable for a 5K OCI, but I'm not really seeing great shear stability or TBN retention. What am I missing here?

 

[dbias]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
I think the iron number would have been lower if this engine hadn't gone the whole first 10,000 miles on the FF (factory-fill). There must have been a lot of iron hanging around, and then when the oil was changed with this Redline, about 10-20% of the old oil was stuck behind in there with high iron. Same deal with the high copper here.
As it is, the iron number still was about average. And I'd expect the copper to settle lower later on, next oil change.

Redline is an interesting oil. Lots of POE, moly, & zddp, set up like a racing oil, and can be used for that as many have done successfully. Really takes heat with all that POE.


I'm coming up on my 50k oil change on my 2017 A4 and will try and pull my first sample for testing. After the 1st dealership oil change I've done the other 3, all topside, and even though I made every effort to suck out as much as possible by moving the suction tube around I still have never been able to put more than 4.75 to 5 qt in of the 5.5 it calls for. The 1st time I changed it I dumped the whole 5 qt jug in before even checking the level and the dashboard screamed oil level too high. I had to pull back out about 300 ml to get it to go off so I agree there is a bit of oil left in this engine.
There appears to be negligible oil consumption as the mmi oil level indicator has never budged off of full during the whole 10k oci. I chose 10k oci as my wife is an Insurance auditor and drove over 100 miles a day for work, but now has been promoted and moved to an office about 5 miles from the house and only does the 100 mile trip for a meeting at corporate hq once a week so I'm looking at possible 5k oci as she is now such a short tripper.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by JOD
Originally Posted by zeng
Very good metal wear rates for a low mileage/new engine.
RL is shear stable with good residual TBN.
It sheared about 20% from the published viscosity, and TBN seems pretty depleted from starting TBN for a 5K OCI? I ran a low saps oil for a similar interval and TBN wasn't much lower (in the 1.8 version of this engine).
Not 20%, actually 15% = (15.6-13.3)/15.6, which is still a 5w-40 KV100. It's normal for some VII shearing to happen at the 4k point or so, then it slowly begins to rise. ( Mobil admits to it on the visc chart at https://mobiloil.com/en/article/why...l-1-annual-protection-oil-tested-results ) & we see it on many UOAs.
TBN actually goes down rapidly at first, and levels off. Above 3 here isn't bad. ... Reference https://media.noria.com/sites/archive_images/Backup_199901_Graphics_GM4.gif

 

[Cardiobuck]

Originally Posted by skyactiv
VW and Audi likes to use cast iron blocks to this day which may explain the high iron numbers to some extent.


This is only the cars 2nd oil change and at 22ppm I'm already below universal averages of 26. I thought it was pretty good. What sort of iron #s do you get with your '15?

 

[Cardiobuck]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
...and then when the oil was changed with this Redline, about 10-20% of the old oil was stuck behind in there with high iron. Same deal with the high copper here.
As it is, the iron number still was about average. And I'd expect the copper to settle lower later on, next oil change.

Redline is an interesting oil. Lots of POE, moly, & zddp, set up like a racing oil, and can be used for that as many have done successfully. Really takes heat with all that POE.


I disagree about 10-20% of oil being left behind. I put ~5.5 quarts of Red Line in and pulled out about 5.5 quarts using my Schwaben 6 liter fluid extractor. In fact I first just tried to put the entire 5 liter jug of Liqui Moly in and when I went to check the oil level hours later(and after a short drive) I was about 1/2 quart low so I added 1/2 quart from the 2nd 5 liter jug I have.

I think for some applications the Red Line would be great but I got concerned about intake valve deposits in this DI turbo engine and thought Red Line might not be the best as although Noack is very low it had a poor TEOST result so I decided to stick with oil that is manufacturer approved (either VW 502.00 or 504.00).