Red Line 0w-30, 9,478 Miles, 2008 Lexus GX470

[NYSteve]

Posting my Red Line 0w-30 UOA with 9,478 miles that was run with a Fram Ultra Oil Filter (report says 10w-30 but was 0w-30 purchased in Jan 2018).

Oil was in service just under a year and saw approx 65% city / 35% highway across last spring, summer, fall and this winter up until Christmas when I changed it.

The city portion is dense traffic, from short trips < 1 mile trips to train station or the office to responding to fire rescue calls (volunteer fire fighter). Highway can be anywhere from 10min, to on this one there were dozens of 2 hour, 75-90mph trips due to training in the fall.

Silicon was flagged but not sure why as they said it was not due to dirt. I stored the sample in an amazon HDPE container before getting the NAPA kit. I also have an AFe Dry Air Filter that was cleaned during this UOA - about halfway if I had to guess.

TBN was 1.4 (flagged as caution) which I feel like I ran this to as far as possible with the driving conditions. Refilled with same oil and kept the filter on. Will be sampling the next oil change as well and open to suggestions on mileage.

VOA of the same oil: https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/5015428/red-line-0w-30-voa

 

[Maxima97]

Run 7500 mil OCI. don't have to run TBN to 1.4. Choose M1, PUP or any 5W-30 synthetic oil with initlal TBN 7-9. Silicon is high, you might check if the air filter is not sealed well. Just do frequent oil change will do good to your vehicle. You might just do 5000 OCI regular belend oil. It will proect better than 10k OCI synthetic oil.

 

[sloinker]

I've seen that high silicon number a bunch with Red Line and it may have something to do with the add pack. Would be interested to know. I would say you have reached the limits of the oil according to test results. I think Ravenol says an 8K interval with their synthetic DXG class PAO/Ester oil. You may be better served with a 7500 mile OCI and a cheaper off the shelf synthetic oil.

 

[oil_film_movies]

As said above, the silicon number indicates there might be a small leak in the air path seals around the air filter & downstream. Worth a check.
Redline is an interesting oil. Lots of POE & moly, what's not to like? Pour point -76F is awesome.
Sure TBN got a little low, yet you pulled the plug at the right time.
Good choice of oil filter. I don't know of any better oil filter than an Ultra.
The iron number actually seemed a bit high. Its a Toyota engine, and they usually get low iron numbers. One would need the Blackstone-style Universal Average for that particular engine.

Originally Posted by sloinker
I've seen that high silicon number a bunch with Red Line and it may have something to do with the add pack. Would be interested to know.
He ran a VOA a while back, and it showed the normal amount of silicon (anti-foam additive), so the 41 ppm on this UOA is indeed a bit high. Its not that seriously high, just high enough to check the air path integrity.

 

[oil_film_movies]

I did a quick look at other Toyota V8 engines of that era (4.7L & 5.7L), and the Universal Fleet Average is around 1 ppm iron per 1,000 miles.
So this 33 ppm is on the high side. As cool as POE oil is (yes, turbine jet engines use it!), Redline has never produced wear numbers I've been completely happy with. I'd switch to any dexos1 5w30 or 0w30 synthetic here and go 10k miles as you've done.

 

[sloinker]

Originally Posted by oil_film_movies
As said above, the silicon number indicates there might be a small leak in the air path seals around the air filter & downstream. Worth a check.
Redline is an interesting oil. Lots of POE & moly, what's not to like? Pour point -76F is awesome.
Sure TBN got a little low, yet you pulled the plug at the right time.
Good choice of oil filter. I don't know of any better oil filter than an Ultra.
The iron number actually seemed a bit high. Its a Toyota engine, and they usually get low iron numbers. One would need the Blackstone-style Universal Average for that particular engine.

Originally Posted by sloinker
I've seen that high silicon number a bunch with Red Line and it may have something to do with the add pack. Would be interested to know.
He ran a VOA a while back, and it showed the normal amount of silicon (anti-foam additive), so the 41 ppm on this UOA is indeed a bit high. Its not that seriously high, just high enough to check the air path integrity.


I saw the VOA of the virgin oil. Most likely you are correct in thinking it is dirt bypassing the filter. I'm wondering if maybe it could possibly be a reaction that causes some part of the add pack to come out of suspension and be read as silicon? Not a chemist but I have seen those high silicon numbers and Red Line before. Most folks that are going to spend the dough on a boutique are also going to be on top of their other filters and maintenance needs imo. I use Red Line currently in all my vehicles so I do have some vested interest.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by sloinker
I'm wondering if maybe it could possibly be a reaction that causes some part of the add pack to come out of suspension and be read as silicon? Not a chemist but I have seen those high silicon numbers and Red Line before. Most folks that are going to spend the dough on a boutique are also going to be on top of their other filters and maintenance needs imo. I use Red Line currently in all my vehicles so I do have some vested interest.
There are siloxane backbones in some VMQ gasket materials, with attached methyl groups that could get attacked by something in Redline or the POE. Guessing. Don't really know.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Looking at those wear number that Red Line is very unimpressive.

 

[bulwnkl]

How long have you been running Red Line engine oil in this engine?

 

[NYSteve]

Thanks for all the comments! To answer some of the questions:

- I checked my air filter housing and 1 of the 4 clips was undone. I did my timing belt about week after the oil change but don't remember if it was lose when I tore into my timing belt.

- Previous fill was Castrol EP 5w-30 that was ran for 10k miles

- This is the first fill of Red Line. Was in service for 8 months.

- Will do more research on Red Line on high Silicon. Interesting to see others mention spikes here.

- Seem to remember from long ago that first runs of Red Line can spike Iron due to polarity from the oil competing for surface space. Again from long ago and might be remembering wrong or was never the case.

- Will run this for 7500 and sample. Will also do a filter particle analysis.

- Will stick with Red Line or would be interested in Amsoil 0w-30. I like Group iV/Group V oils

 

[buster]

The best attribute of RL has always been it's shear stability. Because they use little VII's, it always held it's viscosity very well. TBN and wear were always average at best.

 

[OVERKILL]

Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.

 

[NYSteve]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.


Awesome - will check it out!

 

[benjy]

redline is great stuff but their 10W30 would be better as the lighter oils in the blend tend to go away faster, even when they are real synthetic. all that short driving is an oil killer for sure.

 

[Gubkin]

TBN 1.4
blackstone will say - increase OCI

 

[PWMDMD]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.



IF we can actually believe Ravenol put in the bottle what they said they put in the bottle.

 

[NYSteve]

Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.



IF we can actually believe Ravenol put in the bottle what they said they put in the bottle.


Did some research earlier and very interesting history around batch variance!

 

[kkreit01]

Just curious...if you are spending that much $ on oil, why not spend another ~$9 and change the filter also? Yes, I know it "provides protection up to 20,000 miles"...

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.



IF we can actually believe Ravenol put in the bottle what they said they put in the bottle.


Should we have reason to believe they don't?

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
Originally Posted by OVERKILL
Ravenol is another premium option if you are obsessed with base oil composition. I'd run it if I could get it.
IF we can actually believe Ravenol put in the bottle what they said they put in the bottle.
Should we have reason to believe they don't?
There was a VOA of Ravenol earlier of dexos1 Gen2 on the label, but the VOA came back with the Gen1 sodium (Valvoline-like) version. Then, some Russian Oil Club members stated Ravenol has a bad reputation with their members for bad batch quality control, not sure what exactly myself, but there is some reason to believe that company may not control their product content well.
Evidence from PQIA seems to support the low-NOACK Ravenol claims anyway, something good to say about Ravenol. https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4981534/7