2018 VW Golf Sportwagen 40K 4.5K OCI Liquimoly Molygen

[Karstgeo72]

My forum username got goofed so I'm TiGeo from before. Did a shorter interval b/c I needed to get the tires rotated and some other service at 40K so said screw it - plus with FCP's lifetime replacement, it cost me $21 in shipping. Continues to look fine to me - the viscosity is lower than I would have expected over such a short interval. I changed out to an open-element intake with a K&N and continue to see low silicon. Driving was somewhat spirited over this interval with several hooning runs to the mountains with groups where the engine was pushed into sustained high rpms for long periods.

Note that since Molygen has "MFC" friction modifier that contains tungsten, I had that analyzed for as well.

My car runs the larger GTI IS20 turbo and other hardware bits plus software that pushes the original 170hp north of 300, boost peaks around 22.5 psi and oil temps sit around 220 most of the time when driving on the highway/hard. I also run about a 30% ethanol blend when possible which gives me less timing pull/more advance. The car runs like a top. I also have been using the Liquimoly Proline engine flush that last few times, can't hurt.

 

[Popsy]

I guess it looks good for the miles, but that viscosity loss...BS misjudging the gas amount in the oil, or just the oil that sheared?

 

[Karstgeo72]

I guess it looks good for the miles, but that viscosity loss...BS misjudging the gas amount in the oil, or just the oil that sheared?

Yes, that has been my worst one w/r to viscosity loss so quickly and it's the first analysis using Molygen. I'm running it now so after this change if it looks that way again, I'll go back to Leichtlauf which was all the previous changes and looked reasonable to me. Most of these 502 oils all seem to shear down quickly to 30W from the UOAs I've seen. Maybe I'll do this change earlier than the 7.5K I was planning, say at 5K to verify if this is an issue or not.

 

[Karstgeo72]

Here are all my changes after the factory fill w/r to the viscosity. I've seen UOAs from Mobil 1 0W40 and, Motul that are 502 5W40s that do the same thing on boosted/tuned VW engines that aren't showing big-time fuel dilution. Maybe I should get my next sample analyzed at Polaris and get a better read on the fuel? BTW, I seen nothing inherently wrong with my UOAs and I know these 40W oils are light 40s so they don't' have a lot of room to stay in-grade.

 

[Popsy]

Yes, that has been my worst one w/r to viscosity loss so quickly and it's the first analysis using Molygen. I'm running it now so after this change if it looks that way again, I'll go back to Leichtlauf which was all the previous changes and looked reasonable to me. Most of these 502 oils all seem to shear down quickly to 30W from the UOAs I've seen. Maybe I'll do this change earlier than the 7.5K I was planning, say at 5K to verify if this is an issue or not.

I'd skip the engine flush that could thin oil, and maybe try another brand of 502...either the flush, fuel or the oil, but many of your samples show oil that thinned quite a bit. The new Motul 5W40 formulation could be interesting.

Somewhat unrelated as my Mazda engine is fairly easy on oil, but I'm sending today a sample of M1 TDT 5W40, would be interesting to see how it thinned. In the past I ran Total Quartz Energy 5W40, in diesel and gas engines and didn't have "thinning" like that. Granted, completely different engines and uses.

 

[Karstgeo72]

I'd skip the engine flush that could thin oil, and maybe try another brand of 502...either the flush, fuel or the oil, but many of your samples show oil that thinned quite a bit. The new Motul 5W40 formulation could be interesting.

Somewhat unrelated as my Mazda engine is fairly easy on oil, but I'm sending today a sample of M1 TDT 5W40, would be interesting to see how it thinned. In the past I ran Total Quartz Energy 5W40, in diesel and gas engines and didn't have "thinning" like that. Granted, completely different engines and uses.

I've seen some UOAs from a fellow over on one of the VW FB groups I'm part of with Motul that thinned much more than the LM over the interval. Also seen some with M1 0W40 that looked about the same. Will do some digging. I don't see how the flush can do much b/c you drain it out.

 

[Popsy]

You can't drain all the oil, so after the flush you have some leftover oil, thinned by the flush.
Motul X-Cess 5W40 is nothing exceptional. Don't know about new formulation yet, maybe it'll be good. And yeah pretty much all 0W40 thin.
What about the new version of Castrol 5W40, that recently got the MB 229.5 approval?

 

[Karstgeo72]

You can't drain all the oil, so after the flush you have some leftover oil, thinned by the flush.
Motul X-Cess 5W40 is nothing exceptional. Don't know about new formulation yet, maybe it'll be good. And yeah pretty much all 0W40 thin.
What about the new version of Castrol 5W40, that recently got the MB 229.5 approval?

Certainly possible. I'll be interested to see how it looks this go around!

 

[TiGeo]

I really did some looking last night here and other VW forums. Gathered some interesting info and it seems based on the data I've seen that the shearing down of the viscosity into the 11s is pretty common on the boosted/tuned VW 4-bangers with just about every 40w oil if you are going over 5K OCI. Here was some from a fellow using Penzoil:

Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W40, UOA every other change, 5 changes so far, 2 of which I have a UOA for, I participate in track/hpde days, as such car is driven hard.

8700 Miles (on oil);
SUS @ 210F = 61.5
cSt @ 100C = 10.64
TBN = 2.9

5600 Miles (on oil);
SUS @ 210F = 64.5
cSt @ 100C = 11.46
TBN = 5.8

Here was one for with M1 0W40 in a Golf R that showed excess oxidation. Driver noted hard driving.

 

[400rwkw]

Yes, once a few flushes have gone through there is really no need if you are using a good oil. I use the molygen 10w40 I think it holds up a bit better. Also, I use half a bottle of lubegard at every change as well. Some people wont like that. I have seen more stable oil temps and the oil is getting darker quicker which i havent seen before with just oil.

On a side note I tried the lubegard transmission additive in the zf 6 speed and it didnt like it. The synthetic transmission fluids now are very good. I will do a UOA soon after I get on top of modifications and replacement parts.

 

[TiGeo]

I suppose this is all much to do about nothing anyway - viscosities in the 11s is still much higher than many oils that are run in these engines now, especially with the newer recommendations for the 504s (30w) and 508s (20w). I guess maybe I'm worried about fuel and that BS doesn't test directly for it - maybe I'll do one at Polaris next time along side BS and compare. I do see a lot of value in the 5K oil changes on these cars - I pushed it out to 9K once and not really any reason to do it.

 

[Popsy]

Fuel seem to be a constant there, I guess it makes sense. Doesn't seem to hurt too much.

 

[TiGeo]

The tuning adds so much boost I just think it's inevitable to get some fuel dilution. My car hits about 22.5 psi max and stock it was around 12 or so.

 

[400rwkw]

The tuning adds so much boost I just think it's inevitable to get some fuel dilution. My car hits about 22.5 psi max and stock it was around 12 or so.

Not necessarily does your dyno sheet show afr's. A good tuner will have them tighter then what comes from the factory. Usually factory tunes are a little rich. But still nothing to worry about with your UOA this is another reason I like LM.

 

[TiGeo]

Not necessarily does your dyno sheet show afr's. A good tuner will have them tighter then what comes from the factory. Usually factory tunes are a little rich. But still nothing to worry about with your UOA this is another reason I like LM.

I have logged it many times but just do lamda to look at AFR.

 

[400rwkw]

Oh yeah, that's right i remember you said above that you run e30/blend on flex fuel? You should probably think about going up to 5w50, I'm not saying the 40 isnt working though. Any 20+ ethanol fuel will thin out oil quicker than premium. Most people I know running 30+ ethanol in any format will change their oil every 3000k for the street and most will go up a grade to 50, 60 etc.

 

[JTM65]

I have a 2015 TSI with similar mods. At 90k hard miles now and plan to get an analysis on my next change. I have owned since new and always changed at 10k or less. I'm planning to go as short as 5k OCIs, depending on the analysis results.My oil temps have only hit anything above 210 a couple of times in summer gridlock traffic. I usually am at ~200

JT

 

[TiGeo]

Oh yeah, that's right i remember you said above that you run e30/blend on flex fuel? You should probably think about going up to 5w50, I'm not saying the 40 isnt working though. Any 20+ ethanol fuel will thin out oil quicker than premium. Most people I know running 30+ ethanol in any format will change their oil every 3000k for the street and most will go up a grade to 50, 60 etc.

I didn't think about the E....