M1 5W30 EP 2002 Jetta 1.8T at 122k

[kbuzbee]

My first two UOAs!!!

The first from the Jetta:

Car was new when I bought her in 2002. OCIs at 5K always Mobil 1, EP for the many many years.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

Ken

 

[montero1]

I think you are nuts to put M1EP in, and dump it in 3k.

 

[kbuzbee]

No arguments. I was taking advantage of the weather, doing some maintenance, and a bunch of things just added up to do it now. (not the least of which was my curiosity to see the result from this first UOA! ;-)

Because the engine is known to be susceptible to sludge I do change it at 5K normally even though I'm sure the oil could go further.

Thanks!

Ken

 

[OVERKILL]

Looks fantastic!

 

[Quattro Pete]

At 3k miles, this oil is almost out of grade. What viscosity does it start at?

 

[kbuzbee]

Thanks O-K., I was pretty happy with them but I'm only beginning to understand what I'm looking at.

I saw someone lambasting M1 5W30 here the other day (these UOAs just came back today) and thought 'Oh no, I've been running that since day one! And I wasn't smart enough to run VW 502 (or even know what that was!)... just ran M1 5W30 like I always have in everything! - those UOAs are gonna be horrible!' But it appears they are both fine. A serious relief!

Ken

 

[kbuzbee]

Here is what they list:



Typical Properties

SAE Grade 5W-30
Viscosity, ASTM D 445
cSt @ 40º C 61
cSt @ 100º C 11.0
Viscosity Index, ASTM D 2270 169
Sulfated Ash, wt%, ASTM D 874 1.0
HTHS Viscosity, mPa·s @ 150ºC ASTM D 4683 3.1
Pour Point, ºC, ASTM D 97 -48
Flash Point, ºC, ASTM D 92 230
Density @15º C kg/l, ASTM D 4052 0.86

Ken

 

[Audi Junkie]

40 weight oils are speced for running on the Autobahn.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
40 weight oils are speced for running on the Autobahn.


Yeah, I don't do that kind of thing but I did put Syntec 5-40 in it this time. And I have some Pentosin 5W40 on deck. I'm a victim of my own lack of knowledge here but looking at the wear, maybe I didn't do anything TOO horrible??

Ken

 

[ChiTDI]

That's a great report. Should be interesting when you have the others to compare.

 

[FZ1]

Can't argue with success. Just keep doin' it.

 

[ZZman]

Can you see inside the valve cover to see if it is clean in there? If it is you could go to 7500 miles OCI's and save an oil change.

If you normally change at 5,000 miles I am surprised you tested this at 3,000 miles.

Running a Turbo you might consider Amsoil or Redline oil.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Can you see inside the valve cover to see if it is clean in there? If it is you could go to 7500 miles OCI's and save an oil change.


It has a bit of varnish but doesn't (IMO) look TOO bad. Given this engine's rep, I think I'd rather keep them closer.

Originally Posted By: ZZman
If you normally change at 5,000 miles I am surprised you tested this at 3,000 miles.


I mentioned earlier in the thread, things just kinda lined up. Going forward, I'll be back to 5k.

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Running a Turbo you might consider Amsoil or Redline oil.


Yep, considering both.

Thanks!

Ken

 

[Audi Junkie]

5w-40 will just add some drag to the engine vs 30 weight and will be a good bit thicker at cold-start.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
5w-40 will just add some drag to the engine vs 30 weight and will be a good bit thicker at cold-start.


But is it better for the engine (or the turbo)?? Or should I go back to 30 weight??

With the current 5W40 I honestly don't notice any "drag"....

Thanks!

Ken

 

[hillclimber]

My 1.8 runs great on Syntec 5w-40.

Seems like the "5w" spec is the important part when it comes to cold startup, so I don't know why a 5w-40 would be thicker at startup than a 5w-30.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: hillclimber
Seems like the "5w" spec is the important part when it comes to cold startup, so I don't know why a 5w-40 would be thicker at startup than a 5w-30.


Yeah but... looking over a wide variety of oil viscosity data seems to indicate 5W is not 5W across the board. One brand (might have been Redline - can't recall right now) actually showed higher low temp viscosity for their 0W40 than for their 5W30! I was surprised to read that.

I know it WAS Redline that showed low temp differences within their 5W range:

5W20 55
5W30 65
5W40 94 (yikes!)

Never suspected that before I started looking around. I'd always thought 5W meant something specific.

Ken

 

[JAG]

The XW portion of the viscosity rating is determined by CCS and MRV viscosities at highly negative temperatures, as shown in the SAE J300 viscosity table.

Very nice UOA. Someone else did a UOA with M1 10W-30 (another thinner than spec'd oil) and it too was very good.

Your experience with this oil (M1 5W-30 EP) in your engine has shown that 5K miles OCIs were still not short enough to prevent varnish. That is interesting since M1 advertises this as capable of 15K mile OCIs (at least in some cases). This is not one of those cases. Of course the word "capable" or whatever they use needs to be defined and it's not as far as I've seen. I've always thought that M1 0W-40 was a longer-lasting oil than their EP oils...and it's cheaper.

 

[kbuzbee]

Originally Posted By: JAG
The XW portion of the viscosity rating is determined by CCS and MRV viscosities at highly negative temperatures, as shown in the SAE J300 viscosity table.

Very nice UOA. Someone else did a UOA with M1 10W-30 (another thinner than spec'd oil) and it too was very good.

Your experience with this oil (M1 5W-30 EP) in your engine has shown that 5K miles OCIs were still not short enough to prevent varnish. That is interesting since M1 advertises this as capable of 15K mile OCIs (at least in some cases). This is not one of those cases. Of course the word "capable" or whatever they use needs to be defined and it's not as far as I've seen. I've always thought that M1 0W-40 was a longer-lasting oil than their EP oils...and it's cheaper.


Thanks JAG, very good points!

The varnish I see isn't very extensive. At 122K I'd say it really is doing pretty well at controlling it. I'll try to get some picts (but I suspect that may not be before Christmas)

M1 0W40 is also on my list. I'l be very interested to see how it compares.

Ken