Another run of Redline or GC/Amsoil

[chefwong]

Picked up the X5 4.4 early this late March and this car is abou 1/2 year old. Changed the oil at 3200K miles with Redline 5W30. Just wanted to get the contaminents out.

I'm planning to do another change in November - most likely the weekend I put the snow shoes on. Anyhow, what do you guys think....Redline 5W30, GC or Amsoil 5W30. I'm planning to keep this car so good engine matinence is a priority. I guess the oil change after winter should be a good time to start the UOA to see how it's doing.

 

[Patman]

Since you've got Redline in there already, why not just stick with it for a while and see how it does first?

 

[chefwong]

After winter, it should be close to 10K miles tota on the car with an additonal 4K miles on the car.

At what point do you think is a good time to get the initial UOA. I'm just thinking the *break in* will skew the UOA so it's better starting a bit later than earlier...

 

[Patman]

Sure, 10k should be a good time to start doing a UOA. I personally would do it sooner, but I'm addicted to them!

Some engines can take way longer than 10k for some of the levels to stabilize, such as Toyotas with silicon or GM's LS1 engine with copper.

But at 10k most of the metals in any engine should be stabile enough for an accurate UOA.

 

[pscholte]

No surprise...I recommend going with GC...I'm still not sold on Redline.

 

[Al]

I'm not sold on Redline either-but I would go with it for another cycle and do a UOA.

 

[buster]

I say stick with the RL and sample it. You have a nice new clean engine. I'm running RL 5w-30 now. My engine is much quieter with this oil then any other oil I've tried. Doesn't mean anything but I like it anyway.

We need more UOA's to confirm is RL is worth the cost. So far, it's not, but we need more to be sure. My car should be an excellent judge bc both Amsoil and M1 showed identical wear with all of their different viscosity oils. RL should match it or do better. There is nothing to clean in my engine.

[ October 25, 2003, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[sprintman]

How many miles/kms on the engine?

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Al:
I'm not sold on Redline either-but I would go with it for another cycle and do a UOA.

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That's my point, we need more UOAs on RL, plus since it's already in his engine, it's good to stick with it a while to see if the UOAs are consistent. Then if he's not happy after the third interval, try Amsoil or GC. My feelings are that using any of these three oils will show great results, and no matter which he chooses, he'll get a very long engine life.

 

[buster]

Has Redline's reputation always been good? Both RL and Amsoil have been around for a very long time. I wonder if both of these oils were cutting edge during the 70's and 80's?

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by buster:
Has Redline's reputation always been good? Both RL and Amsoil have been around for a very long time. I wonder if both of these oils were cutting edge during the 70's and 80's?

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I always heard good things about Redline in the 80s and 90s. In fact when I bought my first Mustang GT in 1991, I had planned to run Redline in it, and when I went searching for a store that was supposed to have it, the store wasn't in the location I went to, so I ended up at the Amsoil warehouse instead, and ended up joining up with them, and I ran Amsoil 10w40 in that Mustang.

 

[RussellA]

It seems from analysis seen on this site, Redline needs to be used for several OCI before the soft metal numbers stablize. Some say this is cleaning, others say it is a plating action. Either way, it does seem you need to stick with RL for a while to see real benefits. It doesn't like being switched out with other oils all the time.

 

[TooSlick]

Buster,

I'll bet you a beer you see high lead and copper with your first Redline run. What you see isn't cleaning but a chemical reaction between the Redline additives and the softer Pb and Cu materials. If you used Redline with every other oil change and tested it, you'd continue to see high Pb and Cu.

Best to stick with the stuff ....

Ted

 

[buster]

quote:

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Buster,

I'll bet you a beer you see high lead and copper with your first Redline run. What you see isn't cleaning but a chemical reaction between the Redline additives and the softer Pb and Cu materials. If you used Redline with every other oil change and tested it, you'd continue to see high Pb and Cu.

Best to stick with the stuff ....

---

Ted, I dont' doubt it really. I've used Ams and M1 so I wanted to give RL a shot. I'm not going to take it too far. I bet the #'s are higher too.

 

[TooSlick]

Buster,

Valvetrain wear with Redline is excellent - I think that's the strength of their formulations. So iron wear may actually be lower ....I do think that oil consumption will also be lower than with Mobil 1.

I like Redline a lot more than I did a year ago, now that I understand what they are doing

Ted