So I’ve been running several different HPL oils for the last ~10 mos in my ’18 Golf Sportwagen (tuned, larger turbo, blah blah blah) over variable conditions including drag racing (40+ runs), normal daily driving which for me is a bit spirited, and a number of hooning mountain runs (Tail of the Dragon etc.). Unfortunately I didn’t get to test it at the track yet as the HPDE I had planned on attending back in March was cancelled due to snow but I will be attending two multi-day HPDEs before the end of year with HPL in the crank case, at least that's the plan.
Sitting sadly at the shop waiting for a new timing chain kit which should be done by early next week:
Thread on this issue can be found here:
The oils have been the current formulation of their 5W40 Euro oil, the previous formulation of this oil, and a custom blend of this oil that David had made for me to try. This has been over ~10K miles so 2 changes. Unfortunately due to a mechanical issue (timing chain tensioner…not lubrication related!!!) the third run of HPL oil I have in there now will be dumped next week with only about 500 miles on it; my shop will fill with Liquimoly Leichtlauf High Tech 5W40 which is no issue; I’ll likely do a short OCI with that to flush anything else that may be in there out due to failure and go back to HPL Euro.
My goal was to see/test/check if the viscosity drop I see over my OCIs could be reduced using HPL products with higher quality base stocks and formulations. In the end, what I have going on in my car appears to be a bit of fuel dilution combined with a some small volume of oil remaining in the engine (that will be lower viscosity) after a change.
Here are my UOA and VOA data. David @High Performance Lubricants has been great to work with on this including running some split samples I sent him to look at BS’s results. To be transparent, to-date I have paid for the 12qts of Euro 5W40 oil used for this testing and I was given the 12 qts of custom oil to try with the arrangement of sharing data and samples to help with development. I also used a qt of the Engine Cleaner before switching to HPL at the ~73K change from the Liquimoly Molygen I was running; I ran the EC for about 2K miles prior to the oil change.
In the end, for me and how I use this car, I'm going to use the best I can put in it and will continue to run the HPL 5W40 Euro going forward...probalby start buying this stuff in larger containers with the new shipping deal he has!
Here is a key for the VOA/UOA data with dates/mileage:
VOAs –the first oil I tested on 2/13/22 was the custom formulation of their 5W40 Euro oil and the second on 8/24/22 was their revised formula; I didn’t do a VOA on other intermediate oil I had which was their standard Euro 5W40 (as of the first part of this year, formula has since changed) that I ran. The revision looks to have added some moly, has a higher TBN, and a higher 100C viscosity. Also note the Si values of ~10ppm which you will see in the UOAs….no…it’s not the high-flow air filter I run with my aftermarket intake.
VOAs:
UOAs – I did a lot of these b/c per convos with David, he suggested collecting samples after about ~500 miles as a baseline vs. comparing to the VOA. Additionally, I ran a short ~500 mile OCI as a “flush” oil to test the fuel dilution hypothesis and to see if there was older oil not being drained contributing to the drop in viscosity. This confirmed I am getting some fuel and likely a bit of old oil both contributing to the drop in viscosity to the 30W I always see at the end of an OCI vs. mechanical shearing that I was concerned about.
UOAs:
All oil changes since new UOA info:
Graph from above table for ending 100C viscosity and % drop vs. VOA:
All oil changes since new wear metals:
Sitting sadly at the shop waiting for a new timing chain kit which should be done by early next week:
Thread on this issue can be found here:
Aluminum flecks in oil filter
Cut open my Mann oil filter for my Sportwagen today after changing the oil at about dead-on 5K miles/3 mos. Last UOA showed increased aluminum numbers, it was a mid-OCI UOA after a trip down to GA for a VW event where it was used hard on the roads with "dragon" in the name. Quite shocked to see...
bobistheoilguy.com
The oils have been the current formulation of their 5W40 Euro oil, the previous formulation of this oil, and a custom blend of this oil that David had made for me to try. This has been over ~10K miles so 2 changes. Unfortunately due to a mechanical issue (timing chain tensioner…not lubrication related!!!) the third run of HPL oil I have in there now will be dumped next week with only about 500 miles on it; my shop will fill with Liquimoly Leichtlauf High Tech 5W40 which is no issue; I’ll likely do a short OCI with that to flush anything else that may be in there out due to failure and go back to HPL Euro.
My goal was to see/test/check if the viscosity drop I see over my OCIs could be reduced using HPL products with higher quality base stocks and formulations. In the end, what I have going on in my car appears to be a bit of fuel dilution combined with a some small volume of oil remaining in the engine (that will be lower viscosity) after a change.
Here are my UOA and VOA data. David @High Performance Lubricants has been great to work with on this including running some split samples I sent him to look at BS’s results. To be transparent, to-date I have paid for the 12qts of Euro 5W40 oil used for this testing and I was given the 12 qts of custom oil to try with the arrangement of sharing data and samples to help with development. I also used a qt of the Engine Cleaner before switching to HPL at the ~73K change from the Liquimoly Molygen I was running; I ran the EC for about 2K miles prior to the oil change.
In the end, for me and how I use this car, I'm going to use the best I can put in it and will continue to run the HPL 5W40 Euro going forward...probalby start buying this stuff in larger containers with the new shipping deal he has!
Here is a key for the VOA/UOA data with dates/mileage:
VOAs –the first oil I tested on 2/13/22 was the custom formulation of their 5W40 Euro oil and the second on 8/24/22 was their revised formula; I didn’t do a VOA on other intermediate oil I had which was their standard Euro 5W40 (as of the first part of this year, formula has since changed) that I ran. The revision looks to have added some moly, has a higher TBN, and a higher 100C viscosity. Also note the Si values of ~10ppm which you will see in the UOAs….no…it’s not the high-flow air filter I run with my aftermarket intake.
VOAs:
UOAs – I did a lot of these b/c per convos with David, he suggested collecting samples after about ~500 miles as a baseline vs. comparing to the VOA. Additionally, I ran a short ~500 mile OCI as a “flush” oil to test the fuel dilution hypothesis and to see if there was older oil not being drained contributing to the drop in viscosity. This confirmed I am getting some fuel and likely a bit of old oil both contributing to the drop in viscosity to the 30W I always see at the end of an OCI vs. mechanical shearing that I was concerned about.
UOAs:
All oil changes since new UOA info:
Graph from above table for ending 100C viscosity and % drop vs. VOA:
All oil changes since new wear metals: