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I'm in the SF Bay Area. The only place I know that carries Red Line is Kohlweiss (auto parts) in Redwood City. They have a corner with only Red Line products, but they are not aware of the 5W-40.
oil for VW W8
- Thread starter Charlie
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Charlie, I'm not saying you should use Castrol, but if you are, I would use the 5w-40 or the German 0w-30. The 5w-40 purchased at a VW dealer will guarantee no warranty issues. The German Syntec, which you can get at some Autozones (make sure it says imported from Germany, not made in North America on the bottle!) meets all the VW 50X.0X stuff, so I'm 98% sure you won't have warranty issues. I'm also 99% sure you won't have issues with Mobil 1 0w-40 or Valvoline Synpower 5w-40 (which meets the VW 50X specs). All these oils are A3.
Guys,
Thanks for all this great input. This morning I went ahead and ordered Petrosin 5W40 from autobahnfluids.com. Was hoping to avoid buying it on the internet, but figured I'd give it a shot after all. Turns out the shipping wasn't so bad (~$11.00 for 15 liters).
Aside fromt he shipping of a bulky, heavy item, I guess it's not much different from buying a CD on the net. Just seemed wierd to buy oil that way, but I guess I'm over it....
Once again thanks. I am still very much interested in understanding the subject better and would appreciate if someone can recommend a good book on teh subject of motor oil.
Regards,
Charlie
Thanks for all this great input. This morning I went ahead and ordered Petrosin 5W40 from autobahnfluids.com. Was hoping to avoid buying it on the internet, but figured I'd give it a shot after all. Turns out the shipping wasn't so bad (~$11.00 for 15 liters).
Aside fromt he shipping of a bulky, heavy item, I guess it's not much different from buying a CD on the net. Just seemed wierd to buy oil that way, but I guess I'm over it....
Once again thanks. I am still very much interested in understanding the subject better and would appreciate if someone can recommend a good book on teh subject of motor oil.
Regards,
Charlie
Charlie,
I'd recommend the Amsoil 10w-40 also. I sell a fair amount of this oil for VW/Audi engines - both gas and diesel - and I've also had excellent results with in in my own VW/audi vehicles. I posted the analysis from my 2002 Audi TT a while back - it has the same oil specification as your W8.
The 10w-40 meets both VW 502/505 and ACEA A3/B3 specifications and is suitable for long drain use. You can easily run the maximun drain interval recommended by VW for this engine.
My other suggestion would be the Redline 10w-40 or their new 5w-40. Their oils are made nearby in Martinez, CA and you should be able to find it on the shelf in the bay area. Redline doesn't claim ACEA A3 performance, but their oils work very well in VW/audi engines - there are a number of oil analyses posted on these. I would have no hesitation using Redline in my new Audi TT under warranty.
Tooslick
I'd recommend the Amsoil 10w-40 also. I sell a fair amount of this oil for VW/Audi engines - both gas and diesel - and I've also had excellent results with in in my own VW/audi vehicles. I posted the analysis from my 2002 Audi TT a while back - it has the same oil specification as your W8.
The 10w-40 meets both VW 502/505 and ACEA A3/B3 specifications and is suitable for long drain use. You can easily run the maximun drain interval recommended by VW for this engine.
My other suggestion would be the Redline 10w-40 or their new 5w-40. Their oils are made nearby in Martinez, CA and you should be able to find it on the shelf in the bay area. Redline doesn't claim ACEA A3 performance, but their oils work very well in VW/audi engines - there are a number of oil analyses posted on these. I would have no hesitation using Redline in my new Audi TT under warranty.
Tooslick
Interesting.
Actually I should have been clearer in my original post. What I've heard is that the engine itself will live on, but it won't be in the passat any longer after next year, which means a small nubmer of engines out there, limited parts avaialability, etc... leading to (I figure ) large cost if you need to repair the thing.
Are you suggesting that VW plans to stop making the W8 engine, and tht this is because of a bad engine design that allows an abnormally large amount of flex? If so, I wonder what your source is... Or did I misunderstand your comment.
Charlie
[ September 20, 2003, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Charlie ]
why did VW decide to stop making the W8 for the Passat? i suppose that it just didnt sell that well. too pricey for us typical americans? prolly, esp. since these same people would rather buy an Audi for the same price. I, personally, would choose the W8.
Good question.
I don't think they stopped yet, but for either next year or the year after that it's rumored to no longer be avaialable. If the rumors that I've read are to be believed, the next gen passat will have a transverse mounted engine, which pretty much takes the W8 out of play for that car.
As to why they'd do such a thing... I can only speculate. It's possible that VAG wanted to further differentiate the Passat line from "comparable" Audi products. That seems a cynical view to me, and doesn't seem fo fit with the Phaeton being in the VW lieup, but I suppose it's possible.
It's also possible I guess that since the W8 sales were not so great, maybe they just decided to put a bigger/stronger 6 in it and call that good for the Passat line. It may be that making the engine transverse opens up some possibilities from an engineering point of view... even though it also means they use a haldex system instead of a quattro system (as they use today). Maybe that's not such an issue from an overall sales point of view.
I suppose it's also possible that they may have improved the haldex system to a point where it yields more or less indistinguishable performance to the torsen. I mean, even if the performance were close, but it came in a lot lighter, you could argue that that would be an improvement in the eyes of most potential customers (I love my car, but it is a fact that it's real heavy, which is off-putting for some folks).
I dunno... part of me is kinda bummed that they'll no longer be available. That's the practical side that considers parts availability and the cost of possible repeairs down the road. Who knows... But in another way I guess it's not so bad having one of a relatively small number of VW 8 cylinder passats on the road.
Charlie
[ September 21, 2003, 11:25 PM: Message edited by: Charlie ]
A European car issue mentioned in an article that VW was experiencing more than normal rate of failures with the W8 engine due to the crank flexing too much. I happened to stamble on a bad W8 with 300 miles on it in the local dealer. Tech told me it had a bad bottom end. It could mean nothing but where there is smoke , there is fire..
Don't suppose you happen to remember what issue of european car that was....
It was in an older issue like 1.5 yrs ago. I will have to look in the boxes I keep all the mags
OK well I changed the oil one night this week and so far I ahve to say I'm really happy with the choice of going to 5W40 versus the 15W50 I had in there before (both are viscosities that the manufacturer recommends).
I though my engine ran smooth before. It's even smoother now, of course I can only notice a difference right at startup.
I also switched brands of oil (was M1 now using pentosynth which is a pain to get but one of a very few synthetics that met the viscosity requirements called for by VW). I figure I'll never really know if the brand switch or the viscosity change explains the difference, but I would guess that it's the viscosity.
Anyway... that's what I think so far. I sent a sample of the 15w50 stuff I drained over to blackstone and will publish those results here. I'll do the same when I pull the pentosynth in 5k miles (which doesn't take me very long...).
Charlie
I though my engine ran smooth before. It's even smoother now, of course I can only notice a difference right at startup.
I also switched brands of oil (was M1 now using pentosynth which is a pain to get but one of a very few synthetics that met the viscosity requirements called for by VW). I figure I'll never really know if the brand switch or the viscosity change explains the difference, but I would guess that it's the viscosity.
Anyway... that's what I think so far. I sent a sample of the 15w50 stuff I drained over to blackstone and will publish those results here. I'll do the same when I pull the pentosynth in 5k miles (which doesn't take me very long...).
Charlie
update.... have stuck with the pentosin 5w40 and still getting really clean oil reports at 40k total miles on the vehicle.
Charlie
Charlie
Charlie, do you have a UOA on the Pentosynth to post? I did a 5k run in my 1.8T Passat, everyhting looked good, but it thinned out a bit. Curious if the same happens in the W8. I'm considering GC for my next change.
Good luck to you Charlie.
[ November 06, 2004, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: Audi Junkie ]
[ November 06, 2004, 12:11 PM: Message edited by: Audi Junkie ]
I think a 2:1 blend of Mobil-1 0w-40 and 15w-50 would make a nice thick 5w-40.
A summary of my last report is listed below. Sorry about the formatting. I tried 3 times to get that to come out more legibly...
Basically this oil help up almost 10k miles and the analysis no need to change that kind of interval. The car's manual said it could go that long but I crept up on 10k intervals a little at a time. It is also true that the oil capacity of the engine is almost 10 quarts, so that may be part of the longevity right there.
Text accompanying numerical report:
"The TBN for this oil was 2.2, lower again than found for earlier samples, but showing the
active additive in the oil not yet depleted, after the 9,962 mile oil use run. Often we will find something else in the analysis data that intervenes causing the halt to an extended oil use program. In this case, we see no reason for not continuing your program. You have one of those rare engines that doesn't make increasingly higher metals with the longer oil use runs. Air and oil filtration are doing well. Your engine isn't complaining about the longer oil use miles."
Numerical summary:
Miles on engine: 30k
Make up oil : none
Sus Vis (210) : 66.3
Flashpoint: 365
THIS SAMPLE UNIV. AVG
ALUMINUM 2 3
CHROMIUM 0 0
IRON 8 12
COPPER 5 5
LEAD 1 1
TIN 0 0
MOLYBDENUM 1 33
NICKEL 4 3
MANGANESE 2 3
SILVER 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0
POTASSIUM 0 0
BORON 0 56
SILICON 6 5
SODIUM 5 6
CALCIUM 2708 2607
MAGNESIUM 9 91
PHOSPHORUS 805 923
ZINC 959 1096
BARIUM 0 4
Basically this oil help up almost 10k miles and the analysis no need to change that kind of interval. The car's manual said it could go that long but I crept up on 10k intervals a little at a time. It is also true that the oil capacity of the engine is almost 10 quarts, so that may be part of the longevity right there.
Text accompanying numerical report:
"The TBN for this oil was 2.2, lower again than found for earlier samples, but showing the
active additive in the oil not yet depleted, after the 9,962 mile oil use run. Often we will find something else in the analysis data that intervenes causing the halt to an extended oil use program. In this case, we see no reason for not continuing your program. You have one of those rare engines that doesn't make increasingly higher metals with the longer oil use runs. Air and oil filtration are doing well. Your engine isn't complaining about the longer oil use miles."
Numerical summary:
Miles on engine: 30k
Make up oil : none
Sus Vis (210) : 66.3
Flashpoint: 365
THIS SAMPLE UNIV. AVG
ALUMINUM 2 3
CHROMIUM 0 0
IRON 8 12
COPPER 5 5
LEAD 1 1
TIN 0 0
MOLYBDENUM 1 33
NICKEL 4 3
MANGANESE 2 3
SILVER 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0
POTASSIUM 0 0
BORON 0 56
SILICON 6 5
SODIUM 5 6
CALCIUM 2708 2607
MAGNESIUM 9 91
PHOSPHORUS 805 923
ZINC 959 1096
BARIUM 0 4
I have in my garage right now six quarts of Valvoline Synpower 5W-40 synthetic which is labelled as meeting the A3 specification.
Another choice would be Mobil-1 "SUV-Truck" 5W-40. The SUV marketing nonsense is just that, nonsense. If you want a 5W-40 from the Mobil-1 line, that is what to look for.
I bought my Valvoline Synpower 5W-40 at a local Kragens, which I know there are plenty of in San Jose.
Have fun with your W8. I believe that I read somewhere that VW is going to stop making the Passat W8 as it never found much of a market. I test drove one once. Yi ha, what a ride.
John
Another choice would be Mobil-1 "SUV-Truck" 5W-40. The SUV marketing nonsense is just that, nonsense. If you want a 5W-40 from the Mobil-1 line, that is what to look for.
I bought my Valvoline Synpower 5W-40 at a local Kragens, which I know there are plenty of in San Jose.
Have fun with your W8. I believe that I read somewhere that VW is going to stop making the Passat W8 as it never found much of a market. I test drove one once. Yi ha, what a ride.
John
Supprised me that not one person mentioned Delvac 1. Does it not meet some of the specs?
That Pentosyn appears to have a weak add pack, but it does real well in your engine. Is this a Group V oil? It looks like it meets SM/GF-4 also. No moly or boron??
Oh well, the proof is in your great UOA. 8ppm iron/1ppm lead for almost 10K miles! That's amazing!
Oh well, the proof is in your great UOA. 8ppm iron/1ppm lead for almost 10K miles! That's amazing!
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