Hi all,
Background:
This thread is for my Infiniti Q50 but I will also talk about our daily 16 Kia Soul for contrary purposes....
I purchased a 2019 Infiniti Q50 (VR30DDTT (twin turbo GDI)) right at the beginning of the pandemic but ended up not driving the car all that much due to working from home (didn't know that was going to happen). It came with 25,488 miles. I do my own oil changes, so I changed it on:
I am a novice when it comes to oil properties and all other related engineering aspects of it but I continue researching when the time permits. It's hard to explain but since I got pretty disappointed with the results given that oil was only 6 months in service with less than 3,000 mi. So, before anyone says something, I understand that this is not apples to apples but I now have reasons to believe that I may need to stop using that oil not only in the Kia but most certainly in the Infiniti; I just don't have same level of trust anymore and I will try to justify that in this thread.
Looking at Kia's UOA, I was pretty disappointed how thin it became and how much of it was burned. I checked the most recent Valvoline's Advanced Full Synthetic's Product Information Page at https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...3793b338/31d6eae3-48fd-ea11-b7fc-48df3793b338
...with Noack being shown at
Enough about Kia.
I looked at other threads related to Q50 with VR30DDTT. Looks like other have used Valvoline ME, which is now discontinued and replaced with Extended Protection. Correct me if I am wrong, but it doesn't appear to be much different from the Advanced above:
The main objective is to find the oil that will provide excellent levels of protection given that I don't drive the vehicle often but when I do, those tend to be short trips in traffic. I am in the mid-south; with close to 100 degrees in the summer and 30s in the winter. To protect my engine from CD, I am looking towards LOW SAPS type of oil along with lower Noack as well. The owners manual doesn't really say anything of value when it comes to engine oil:
I've been going back and forth on the following article - https://www.valvoline.com/en-eur/low-saps-lubricants/ where it states "C1 and C4 are considered to be low-SAPS oils, while C2, C3, and C5 are mid-SAPS oils." I am having issues finding C1 oils; something tells me this is sold in Europe and not in the US. It appears that C1 Low SAPS are 0.5% ash; that would be perfect if I could find something close to that.
Valvoline's European Vehicle Full Synthetic 5w30 is priced at $41.99 while 5w40 is $29.99. I have yet seen anyone use these oil in the Q50 though. So, the 5w30 seems to spec as an older SL formulation (VW 502/505, LL-01, MB 229.5) while 5w40 seems to be a newer mid-SAPS type SP formulation (VW 504/507, LL-04, MB 229.51/2, Porsche C30).
Should I go ahead and try the Euro 5w30 on the Q50 with VR30DDTT engine?
Background:
This thread is for my Infiniti Q50 but I will also talk about our daily 16 Kia Soul for contrary purposes....
I purchased a 2019 Infiniti Q50 (VR30DDTT (twin turbo GDI)) right at the beginning of the pandemic but ended up not driving the car all that much due to working from home (didn't know that was going to happen). It came with 25,488 miles. I do my own oil changes, so I changed it on:
- 05/01/2020 at 25,800 mi
- 08/21/2021 at 26,799 mi
I am a novice when it comes to oil properties and all other related engineering aspects of it but I continue researching when the time permits. It's hard to explain but since I got pretty disappointed with the results given that oil was only 6 months in service with less than 3,000 mi. So, before anyone says something, I understand that this is not apples to apples but I now have reasons to believe that I may need to stop using that oil not only in the Kia but most certainly in the Infiniti; I just don't have same level of trust anymore and I will try to justify that in this thread.
Looking at Kia's UOA, I was pretty disappointed how thin it became and how much of it was burned. I checked the most recent Valvoline's Advanced Full Synthetic's Product Information Page at https://sharena21.springcm.com/Publ...3793b338/31d6eae3-48fd-ea11-b7fc-48df3793b338
...with Noack being shown at
Enough about Kia.
I looked at other threads related to Q50 with VR30DDTT. Looks like other have used Valvoline ME, which is now discontinued and replaced with Extended Protection. Correct me if I am wrong, but it doesn't appear to be much different from the Advanced above:
The main objective is to find the oil that will provide excellent levels of protection given that I don't drive the vehicle often but when I do, those tend to be short trips in traffic. I am in the mid-south; with close to 100 degrees in the summer and 30s in the winter. To protect my engine from CD, I am looking towards LOW SAPS type of oil along with lower Noack as well. The owners manual doesn't really say anything of value when it comes to engine oil:
I've been going back and forth on the following article - https://www.valvoline.com/en-eur/low-saps-lubricants/ where it states "C1 and C4 are considered to be low-SAPS oils, while C2, C3, and C5 are mid-SAPS oils." I am having issues finding C1 oils; something tells me this is sold in Europe and not in the US. It appears that C1 Low SAPS are 0.5% ash; that would be perfect if I could find something close to that.
Valvoline's European Vehicle Full Synthetic 5w30 is priced at $41.99 while 5w40 is $29.99. I have yet seen anyone use these oil in the Q50 though. So, the 5w30 seems to spec as an older SL formulation (VW 502/505, LL-01, MB 229.5) while 5w40 seems to be a newer mid-SAPS type SP formulation (VW 504/507, LL-04, MB 229.51/2, Porsche C30).
Should I go ahead and try the Euro 5w30 on the Q50 with VR30DDTT engine?
