Motul 300V 5w30, 2005 Audi S4, 2500 miles

[dparm]

Code:
OIL 300V 5w30

MILES IN USE 2564

MILES 65175

SAMPLE TAKEN 9/24/11



ALUMINUM 9

CHROMIUM 0

IRON 8

COPPER 6

LEAD 0

TIN 0

MOLYBDENUM 578

NICKEL 1

MANGANESE 1

SILVER 0

TITANIUM 0

POTASSIUM 1

BORON 40

SILICON 13

SODIUM 5

CALCIUM 1580

MAGNESIUM 869

PHOSPHORUS 867

ZINC 984

BARIUM 0



INSOLUBLES 0.2

WATER 0

FLASHPOINT ºF 385

SUS VIS 210ºF 64.0

cSt @ 212ºF 11.33

TBN 6.0


Comments:
Thanks for the notes. Wear metals did increase a little in this sample, possibly due to a
combination of the longer oil run and your track events. Aluminum is twice universal averages, so it got a
highlight, but we're definitely not calling a piston problem just yet. You mentioned a lot of WOT, so that might
explain the aluminum. The viscosity was a little thick for 5W/30. The oil may have seen some heat, but the
slight thickening shouldn’t hurt anything. The TBN was strong at 6.0. Change this oil out due to aluminum
and check back in another 3,000 miles or so.



Here's what I wrote to Blackstone:

Sample was pulled after 100 mile highway drive at fairly constant speed. Car is driven aggressively and sees WOT regularly. Has also been to one half-day track event and four autocrosses on this fill of oil.

Car is not a daily driver and sits for 5+ days in a climate controlled garage. Driving is 75% city (predominantly “big city”, very slow stop-and-go) and 25% short highway (
Engine air filter was changed approximately 600 miles ago with OEM Hengst paper element. Redline SI-1 fuel injector cleaner was added at the same time. No other maintenance has been performed since this oil was put into service.

Oil capacity is 9.6 qt. Oil filter is OEM Hengst paper “cartridge”. Typical change interval is 5000 miles, which works out to roughly 8-9 months for me, hence the 2500 mile “half-way” sample.





I've had the car for two years and I keep seeing this "high" aluminum. I'm getting nervous that there's excess wear at the pistons or something (the block is Alusil, an aluminum-silicon mix). The last "halfway" sample I pulled showed half the aluminum but it was a thicker 300V 5w40 with more boron (4T moto oil). My very first UOA was a 5,000 mile OCI of Lubro-Moly Synthoil Premium 5w40 and it showed identical aluminum wear to my last UOA of Motul 300V 5w40. So regardless of how I drive or the oil I run, Blackstone always flags my aluminum numbers.

A very tiny percentage of these motors develop problems with scored cylinder walls and high oil consumption, but my car drinks about 0.5-1L between changes and has since the day I bought it. Those with problems see 1L per 1000 miles or worse.

Thoughts?

 

[CATERHAM]

The 9 ppm of Al doesn't seem excessive to me considering you have an alusil block.
Have you seen any other S4's to compare it to?
I think Zoomzoom has one and he has posted some UOAs.

BTW it seems you don't need to run anything heavier than a HTHSV 3.5cP oil.

 

[dparm]

Sadly have not seen any other UOAs for the V8 S4, only the new V6T or older twin-turbos. Zoomzoom's is the older 2.7 biturbo.

Would you agree with their recommendation to change it out? The aluminum is much higher than the last "half OCI" sample I pulled. The thickening is curious, too.

Just nervous given that on the 5w40 version the wear seemed to be lower.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Sadly have not seen any other UOAs for the V8 S4,

Here is one:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...true#Post890095

Similar levels of alu to yours.

 

[dparm]

Hmm, that makes me feel a little better. My father didn't seem to think elevated aluminum levels in an all-aluminum motor is that crazy. He thinks Blackstone is misinformed about that motor.

Still, leave the oil or change it? Remember, 9.6qt sump...

 

[CATERHAM]

Absolutely leave the oil in.
I'd run it out to at least 6,000 miles before even considering dumping the 300V.

 

[bluesubie]

I would leave it in as well. The thickening comment is probably because they're used to seeing 5W-30's below 9.3 cst's. Motul lists this as 11.0 so it could have thickened a little.

-Dennis

 

[dparm]

Sounds good. With race season effectively being over the oil won't get punished quite as often. I may go back to the 5w40 next time since it seemed to show slightly lower wear in the same interval of use, though there's a few other oils I've been interested in trying too (Fuchs Titan Race Pro, Motul SnowPower, Motul X-Lite, RLI).

Thanks for putting my mind at ease, guys.

 

[JAG]

Since the cylinder walls contain aluminum, I would expect aluminum to go up and iron to go down relative to an iron-sleeved engine. Your aluminum and iron levels seem to fit that idea.