Mid-OCI Filter Change w/HPL Oil

Joined
Jan 6, 2023
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57
Location
North Carolina
2017 Porsche Cayenne w/3.6 VR6 - 81830 mi

At 4300 mi/half year into a run of HPL PCEO 5W-30 Euro and completed a oil filter change yesterday. Like many others here it was catching crud, and I'm happy a new filter is in service.

Back story: Bought the Cayenne w/55k mi and it consumed oil at 1qt/4-5k mi - not a concern for me. However, after changing spark plugs at 74k mi, the consumption started to increase, and it used 1.5-2 qts in 3400 mi ahead of the change to HPL. Also, it began making a mess around the oil fill cap, presumably from blow by. Previous oil changes on my watch were a couple different flavors of liqui moly and redline, all good VW502 rated or recommended oils. Checked the PCV and it was working properly and not showing the typical symptoms of failure. My diagnosis was oil rings were gummed up. There is not a lot of info on it out there that I could find for the VR6, but it's common enough among VAG vehicles.

After changing to HPL it consumed 1qt in the first 1000mi. As hoped, the past 3000mi I've only had to add 1qt. Also, the oil fill cap is not an oily mess anymore. Exhaust tips are less sooty as well nowadays. Looking forward to further improvements.

Pictures:
A little grit in the filter cap:
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Dirty housing - previously, it has been super clean when not using HPL 😅:
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Cleaned housing - please be forgiving of this cleaning job, the pictures don't illustrate how poorly accessible the housing is. I got what I could.:
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filter did some work:
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Filter is wrapped in paper towels and I'll cut it next weekend for a better look.
 
Dried out ok, but it's pretty stark to see how much crud is in this after 4k mi. The shiny bits are carbonaceaous material and not metal. Showing the worst areas as this media is about 6ft long stretched out.

Couple extra notes, oil pressure is easily monitored on this vehicle and nothing odd was observed during this filter run. Pressures remain the same with the new filter at various temperature and rpm regimes. Also, forgot to mention in the initial post, but there were a lot of smokey startups occurring before and that has since ended. Smoke was dark gray and varied from a puff to full driveway cloud.

Lastly, thanks to @wwillson and anyone else for the numerous posts warning against running filters too long with HPL engine oils. Thanks to @High Performance Lubricants for everything you do. 🙏

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Dried out ok, but it's pretty stark to see how much crud is in this after 4k mi. The shiny bits are carbonaceaous material and not metal. Showing the worst areas as this media is about 6ft long stretched out.
That's a lot of cleaning and it's a good thing you changed the filter when you did. This filter is very loaded and almost certainly would have started by-passing had it run longer. My experience is that until the cleaning subsides, it's best to change the filter every 5k miles to avoid loading the filter and bypassing. I learned that the hard way so you don't have to :)

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/dodge-durango-3-6l-hpl-5w-20-21-079-miles-on-oil.344904/
 
Not trying to hijack this thread. I used also used the same oil HPL PCEO 5W-30 Euro (with VII) and did a 4K OCI. Different engine 121k Toyota 2GR-FE with previous meticulously 5k OCI(pup,pp,tgmo, zepro) since brand new.

Bottom line HPL Euro 5w-30 works in cleaning up!

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That's a lot of cleaning and it's a good thing you changed the filter when you did. This filter is very loaded and almost certainly would have started by-passing had it run longer. My experience is that until the cleaning subsides, it's best to change the filter every 5k miles to avoid loading the filter and bypassing. I learned that the hard way.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/dodge-durango-3-6l-hpl-5w-20-21-079-miles-on-oil.344904/

That filter looks familiar! Good call on changing it early. Might take 20,000 - 30,000 miles for the amount of carbon in the filter to settle down. I am still seeing some carbon in the filters on the Volvos, but it has come down.
That is remarkable, in my uninformed opinion.

I am assuming the HPL product is cleaning pretty vigorously. I assume @Stimp , that you were using a decent oil before, and taking proper care......which would add to HPLs validity.

The extreme side of the filter was clogged for sure............*

edit:

*what I mean by "extreme" side: I cannot tell which side of the filter is right or left, top or bottom.......what I am referring to is the extreme right side as it is pictured......the area or the filter with built up debris. It is clear that the filter was starting to build up debris on the "outside" of the pleats, most of all on the extreme right as pictured..........

some needed clarification on this for some reason, happy to oblige....
 
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Appreciate your efforts to propagate this message. Best to learn from the mistakes of others. 👍

That is remarkable, in my uninformed opinion.

I am assuming the HPL product is cleaning pretty vigorously. I assume @Stimp , that you were using a decent oil before, and taking proper care......which would add to HPLs validity.

The extreme side of the filter was clogged for sure............*

edit:

*what I mean by "extreme" side: I cannot tell which side of the filter is right or left, top or bottom.......what I am referring to is the extreme right side as it is pictured......the area or the filter with built up debris. It is clear that the filter was starting to build up debris on the "outside" of the pleats, most of all on the extreme right as pictured..........

some needed clarification on this for some reason, happy to oblige....
Started ownership at 55k mi. I remember seeing the carfax and being comfortable with what was there. I've been doing annual oil changes @~7500-8500mi with Liqui Moly, and Redline oils. Gumming up piston rings may have happened no matter the OCI. This guy changed his every 5k mi and ended up with consumption and startup smoke. Sounds familiar...


Pleats on the right side of the photos are certainly from the bottom of the filter. Gravity causing buildup there.
 
A similar experience with HPL?
Yep:
 
Gumming up piston rings may have happened no matter the OCI. This guy changed his every 5k mi and ended up with consumption and startup smoke
This anecdotally confirms my assertion that modern engines with high specific power (piston heat) tend to foul piston ring lands and grooves. Oil that meets spec may not be good enough to prevent or minimize coking in the ring area of the piston. With an oil that can't sufficiently handle the heat and oxidizes, the coking doesn't start after 5,000 or 10,000 miles, it happens slowly from the first day of the oil change.

If your goal for the car is to keep it for a couple years and 50,000 miles, then why would you care? If the goal is to keep a vehicle for a decade or more and hundreds of thousands of miles, then you care deeply about clean piston rings, lands, and grooves. The HPL I run has proven to not only keep the internals clean, even with very extended oil changes and can even clean piston deposits left by oils that meet spec, but still leave deposits. Yeah, HPL is expensive, however when factored into my desire to run an engine efficiently for however long I own it, HPL is pretty cheap.
 
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This anecdotally confirms my assertion that modern engines that have high specific power (piston heat) tend to foul piston ring lands and grooves. Oil that meets spec may not be good enough to prevent or minimize coking in the ring area of the piston. With an oil that can't sufficiently handle the heat and oxidizes, the coking doesn't start after 5,000 or 10,000 miles, it happens slowly from the first day of the oil change.

If your goal for the car is to keep it for a couple years and 50,000 miles, then why would you care? If the goal is to keep a vehicle for a decade or more and hundreds of thousands of miles, then you care deeply about clean piston rings, lands, and grooves. The HPL I run has proven to not only keep the internals clean, even with very extended oil changes and can even clean piston deposits left by oils that meet spec, but still leave deposits. Yeah, HPL is expensive, however when factored into my desire to run an engine efficiently for however long I own it, HPL is pretty cheap.
I agree, and that is the basis on why I think it is a bad idea to have these ridiculous monsters just driving out on the road. With all that power, comes a trade off....be it heat, reliability, cooling requirements, etc. . I think we have spoke on this before. More power=something,over less power.
 
Probably a dumb question, but...where do these bits of "carbonaceous specks" come from? Are they deposited on metal parts (pistons or?) or are they formed directly in the oil and simply circulate around? I am assuming that they form on hot metal spots, right?
 
Probably a dumb question, but...where do these bits of "carbonaceous specks" come from? Are they deposited on metal parts (pistons or?) or are they formed directly in the oil and simply circulate around? I am assuming that they form on hot metal spots, right?
I defer to this explanation:
This anecdotally confirms my assertion that modern engines with high specific power (piston heat) tend to foul piston ring lands and grooves. Oil that meets spec may not be good enough to prevent or minimize coking in the ring area of the piston. With an oil that can't sufficiently handle the heat and oxidizes, the coking doesn't start after 5,000 or 10,000 miles, it happens slowly from the first day of the oil change.
 
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