LiquiMoly TopTec 4200 5W30 - 4.8k m; 2019 Audi A4 2.0T/DSG 44.7k mi

[cammyfive79]

I talked a friend into doing a UOA on his daily driver - 2019 A4 Quattro 2.0T. From our conversations, he used the Audi brand dealership oil during the OEM maintenance period and this LM oil “in between” the OEM dealer visits of 10k and now past that this LM oil every 5k-ish to 6k or so.

 

[edyvw]

I know Blackstone is bit iffy on flashpoints, but did he pull a sample from a cold or just a warm enough engine? Or did he do 15-30min drive before?

 

[fantastic]

Your friends Audi did well on that LM. Do they recommend a 20 or 30 grade these days?

 

[cammyfive79]

I know Blackstone is bit iffy on flashpoints, but did he pull a sample from a cold or just a warm enough engine? Or did he do 15-30min drive before?

I believe he drove around a bit prior.

 

[cammyfive79]

Your friends Audi did well on that LM. Do they recommend a 20 or 30 grade these days?

Seems it ranges between 0W20 to 5W40.

 

[edyvw]

I believe he drove around a bit prior.

I generally have distaste for LM, but that flashpoint is way down. I know people will blame Blackstone re. Fuel dilution and flashpoint, but I generally never had oscillations in readings.

 

[cammyfive79]

I generally have distaste for LM, but that flashpoint is way down. I know people will blame Blackstone re. Fuel dilution and flashpoint, but I generally never had oscillations in readings.

What exactly does the flashpoint being way down mean?

 

[edyvw]

What exactly does the flashpoint being way down mean?

It has some fuel dilution. Not a bunch, but there is some. That lowers the flash point. It evaporates faster, especially in a hot engine such as EA888.
The KV100 is 10cst, which indicates either mechanic or fuel shearing. That oil starts at 12.2, which is almost W40 grade. Blackstone is not that good in fuel dilution and flashpoint measurements, but there is definitely shearing going on.
IMO, I would switch to Mobil1 ESP 5W30 readily available at Auto Zone or AAP for $37 plus filter.
Here is the UOA of Motul X-Clean 5W30 in Atlas I owned with EA888.

And here is Motul X-Clean+ 0W30 EFE (they put 5W30 by mistake) in the same engine, winter driving, mostly shorter trips, mountains, very cold starts:

 

[cammyfive79]

Correction: I spoke with him and he said he did the drain on a relatively cold engine.

 

[edyvw]

Correction: I spoke with him and he said he did the drain on a relatively cold engine.

That explains low flashpoint and 1.8% fuel dilution.

 

[kschachn]

I don’t believe a thing regarding flash point nor viscosity (and then fuel) in a Blackstone analysis. This makes it impossible to then determine if any mechanical shear of the VM is occurring. So many BS analyses get posted and conclusions drawn when we’ve seen numerous and repeated instances where they are not just a little off, but wildly incorrect.