Amsoil 10W-40, VW Passat V6 4-Motion

[Ferrari]

Oil & filter: Amsoil 10W-40, 10,600 KM on oil, 50% highway, 50% city, lots of stop-and-go traffic. 0.5L topup. Filter is the OEM VW/AUDI filter, very well made, rated for 30,000KM or 2 years.

Vehicle: 2002 VW Passat V6 4-Motion, 5-speed auto, 40,000KM total.

code:

---

Iron 11

Silicon 12

Chromium 0.7

Copper 3.2

Aluminum 3.0

Lead 5.3



Boron 0.7

Calcium 3910

Magnesium 16

Molybdenum 1.2

Phosphorus 979

Sulfur 3630

Zinc 1381



Fuel(%)
Glycol(%)
Water(%)
Sulfation 181

Nitration 62

Oxidation 89



Visc@100C 16.5

TBN 6.43



All other elements were 0

---

What do you guys think?
[ December 20, 2003, 02:34 AM: Message edited by: Ferrari ]

 

[Patman]

The wear numbers are good, it looks fine to me, although this oil does start out at closer to 14cst, so it did thicken.

 

[TooSlick]

The fuel contamination. is causing accelerated oxidation/nitration/sulphation, all of which are causing the oil to thicken and the TBN to drop. The wear rates are fine, but if you want to run longer change intervals you need to figure out why you are getting so much fuel contamination. It could be simply all the stop and go driving in cold weather, in which case a 10,000-12,000 km drain interval is going to be the max you can run. I ran this same oil for 9000 km in my 1.8L, 225 Hp Audi TT roadster and it held up much better, but my fuel was < 1% and oxidation/nitration were very low. Keep in mind that what you are seeing is the equilibrium level of fuel in the oil, since gas that gets in the crankcase continually evaporates.

I don't have much experience with this engine/oil combo, although VW/Audi do recommend a 5000 mile max change interval on the V-6, in comparison to 10,000 for their 2.0L, four cylinder engine. As I recall, the sump is > 5L, so that should help in running longer drain intervals.

I suspect any oil you use will thicken under these conditions, so I'd run the Amsoil 10w-30 in this motor and not the 10w-40...You could also try the more expensive Series 3000, 5w-30, which I think is their most robust formulation in terms of being able to handle fuel and particulate contamination.

Another very nice Vw/Audi engine in terms of the wear pattern ....

Tooslick
www.lubedealer.com/Dixie_Synthetics

 

[Ferrari]

Thanks for the info. The fuel economy is extremely poor in this car, 400KM from 65L of gas. I may need to take the car in to VW to check the excessive consumption issue.

 

[Al]

It does look like the oil did as good a job as could be expected under the circumstances. Part of your fuel economy could be due to the thickening of the joil and the fact thatmits a 40 wt and actually now a 50 wt. TooSlick makes a good point (as usual ) about considering a 30 wt. oil.

 

[buster]

This is a good report. A bit of advice, we are fanatics here and what we think is or isn't good is probably not a good representation of reality.

 

[moribundman]

Ferrari, have your MAF and O2 sensors checked, as your engine needs too much gas.

 

[Ferrari]

quote:

---

Originally posted by moribundman:
Ferrari, have your MAF and O2 sensors checked, as your engine needs too much gas.

---

Thanks. What does MAF stand for?

 

[Leo]

MAF = Mas Air Flow (Meter)

Or more commonly, the AFM (Air Flow Meter) in our turbo world

 

[TooSlick]

It is highly unusual for the Amsoil "SL/CI-4", additive chemistries (S3000, 10w-40, 15w-40), to thicken this way, even after 25,000 km of use. That's why I think you have a fuel contamination issue ....

 

[Quattro Pete]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ferrari:
The fuel economy is extremely poor in this car, 400KM from 65L of gas. I may need to take the car in to VW to check the excessive consumption issue.

---

So this is what, around 16 mpg, assuming you actually take 65l of gas (or are you just saying the gastank holds 65l?) This is on a low side, but not unusual for this car, IMO. Especially if you do lots of stop-and-go driving, as you noted in your original post. V6 + auto tranny + permanent AWD = poor mileage. My 1.8T, manual, AWD gets around 19 mpg in the city.

That said, I agree with moribundman, have the dealer check the 02 and MAF sensors since you're probably still under warranty.

Apart from the slightly elevated fuel content, your UOA looks OK to me. Thanks for sharing this report with us.

 

[moribundman]

Hey Pete, good to see you around. Merry Christmas to you!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Thanks. Same to you and everyone else on BITOG. Happy Holidays oil freaks!