LE8130 or Redline 10w30?

[gospeedgo1]

LE8130 (10w30) or Redline 10w30? oil change interval to be yearly (10-12K miles) with a Mobil 1 or purolator pure1 filter. car is a 2002 honda s2000 (9,000 RPM redline) with 73,000 miles. central california climate (30-100 degrees) mainly short trips, work is about 2 miles away. i do also drive this car hard at times (mountain roads). i will be using LE gear oil in the diff and honda MTF in the transmission. i did search on here and s2ki, not much usage information on this Lubrication engineers product. thanks in advance.

LE8130 specs
http://www.le-inc.com/products/documents/8130_tdb.pdf

redline 10w30 specs
http://www.redlineoil.com/pdf/4.pdf

 

[rg200amp]

With short trips, I'd use a 5000-6000 mile OCI.

Out of the two, I'd use Redline. But the fuel dilution from the short trips is going to be an issue.

If you really want to do a once a year OCI, you may want to check out Rotella 5w40.

 

[sprintman]

Most interesting question here for a while. LE products while very well respected worldwide get almost zero attention here, have never understood why. I'd like to see the LE8130 used an a used oil analysis later but that's just me.

 

[Johnny]

What oil have you been using in the S2000? I know which one I would recommend but will wait on your reply to my question first.

to BITOG

 

[INDYMAC]

I don't have any experience with Redline engine oils, but I do have a little experience with LE8130. I also have a 2004 S2000 (AP2) with the F22. Yours is a 2002 (AP1) with the F20. The LE8130 has not found its way into my S2000 yet, but I have used it in a 2003 G35 and I'm currently on a first fill in my 2000 Tundra V-8. So far, this oil reaks of quality subjectively, but takes a long time to reach normal operating temperature. When LE states that it has only adequate cold starting capabilities and excellent high temperature qualities, they hit the nail on the head.

Unfortunately, with your driving profile, I don't think LE8130 is the best choice for you. You will rarely ever heat the oil up enough to realize its potential at higher temps, and you will be challenging it with mostly cold start-ups. You will rarely heat the oil up enough to evaporate the fuel dilution that you are generating too.

Now, if your driving profile included a 20 mile commute to work daily with some (or lots of) track time, I would recommend that you try LE8130 enthusiastically.

Since your driving profile is what it is, I'd recommend using an energy conserving oil that is designed to shear and change it frequently. I think this philosophy would offer better big picture protection than trying to do extended drains with a premium oil.

I'm currently using GC plus a 3oz. maintenance dose of Auto-Rx in my S2000. This is a nice combination for me. My S2000 is mainly for fair weather joy rides and errands that almost always are long and hard enough to get the oil warmed up though. The Auto-Rx is exceptional at quieting valvetrain noise on cold starts. If you have oil consumption in your AP1, I would definately recommend that you start using it too.

I hope this helps with your decision and you continue to have fun your S2000.

 

[gospeedgo1]

my car's temp does get up to 3 bars (operating temp) by the time i get to work (7-10 minute drive). there are 5 lights between work and home. i usually try to keep the revs about 4K rpm to help warm it up some. i do drive around a lot thou and tend to rev it up quite a bit (love hearing my exhaust). thanks for the recommendation on shorter OCI's, i will go with that instead. current oil from previous owner (bought in january) is mobil 1 "synthetic" 10w30. not very impressed, i can here what sounds like the timing chain tensioner making noise and there is some oil consumption (more due to the oil i feel).

 

[INDYMAC]

What you are seeing is the coolant temperature, and not the oil temperature. If you had a oil temp gauge, or even a pressure gauge, you would be able to compare which oils get warmer quicker for you.

I do hear about quite a few AP1 owners compalining about the TCT noise. They all seem to be using Mobil 1 10w30 as well. Good call on trying something different.

If it were my new to me S2000, I would do a full Auto-Rx treatent with a conventional 10w30 SM/GF-4 for clean and rinse phase. And then try Pennzoil Platinum 10w30 with a maintence dose of Auto-Rx. I think you will notice a remarkable improvement in performance, consumption, and lower if not eliminated valvetrain and TCT noises.

 

[Johnny]

I won't disagree with INDYMAC on this as he owns one of these fine automobiles, but I was going to recommend the LE8130 over the Red Line 10w30.

Those are great cars and I almost bought one last year. I squeezed in to it, but I needed help getting out. Oh to be old and fat. Somethings just don't work.

 

[gtoracer]

I have a 03 S2k and have used Mobil 1 10w30 and GC and had TCT noise for 4-5 seconds after startup, switched to Redline 5w30 and TCT is greatly reduced maybe 1 second on startup. This tells me redline is circulating faster on startup...Pete

 

[gospeedgo1]

interesting, auto-rx looked gimmicky. better then the flushes motul and amsoil sell? Pennzoil platinum....... it did score lower then amsoil ATM (10w30) on amsoils' "tests". i currently use amsoil in my crx. so redline is not recommended either? i will definitely try the auto-rx with castrol GTX. just waiting on final input from you guys before purchasing the oil.

amsoil ATM 10w30
https://www.amsoil.com/storefront/atm.aspx

Pennzoil platinum (last page)
http://www.pzlqs.com/Tech/Pdsheet/DomesticMarketing/EngineOils/Pdf/PlatinumFullSyntheticMotorOil.pdf

 

[INDYMAC]

I think AMSOIL ATM could possibly be your best choice if I wasn't recommending frequent oil changes for you. It is a premium oil at a premium price, just like LE8130 but with better cold starting characteristics. If you could figure out how to take the long way to work (instead of 2 miles), premium oils with longer drain intervals would be a wise choice. Another AMSOIL product worth looking into with your driving profile would be the 10w30 XL. It's a great oil and would be more economical for your use/OCI.

 

[Johnny]

If you are going to stay with 5-6K oil changes the 10w30 Pennzoil Platinum will work very well in your S2000.

 

[gospeedgo1]

thank you for all the replies. i will go with pennzoil platinum and auto-rx.

 

[INDYMAC]

I think you will enjoy your new ride even more than you already do. Have fun.

 

[Max_Wander]

Anyone know which base oil LE uses for this?? Is it also ester?

 

[AzFireGuy79]

I have run redline 5w30 to 8k and had pretty good UOA results. I have yet to post them as it was taken a while back. I have run PP, AMSOIL Signature Series in this Tacoma 4.0 and redline has been conistently more smooth. Both of the others are great oils. I think its a toss up really. But I have had great results with RL.

 

[Johnny]

Originally Posted By: Max_Wander
Anyone know which base oil LE uses for this?? Is it also ester?


It is a Group II+/PAO blend. Heavier on the PAO end, somewhere around 70-75%. Could have some ester based additives but not sure. Not sure where they get their PAO from, but they get their Group II+ from Petro-Canada.

 

[Max_Wander]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
Originally Posted By: Max_Wander
Anyone know which base oil LE uses for this?? Is it also ester?


It is a Group II+/PAO blend. Heavier on the PAO end, somewhere around 70-75%. Could have some ester based additives but not sure. Not sure where they get their PAO from, but they get their Group II+ from Petro-Canada.


Oh wow, interesting blend choice. Thanks for the info, brotha