Red Line 5W-40 for my B5 Passat?

[akhristov]

Hi guys,

I just placed an order for a K&N oil filter and Red Line 5W-40 for my 1999 Volkswagen Passat 1.8 Turbo. I bought the car a couple of months ago, and put Castrol Syntec in it right away, but after reading a bit about synthetic oils I decided to switch to Red Line. Did I make the right choice?

I've noticed that a lot of oil threads on here get heated, so I got a bit overloaded with information and decided to start a thread. What should I expect to see/notice once I put Red Line in my car?

By the way, my car has about 170k miles.

Thanks,
Alex.

 

[hannaco]

What to expect? Most likely nothing. Maybe a little bit more free revving, or better throttle response. After almost 200K miles of using Red Line 5w-40 in my VW I can say that the insides are very clean. Never had any Problems with it.

 

[lipadj46]

I don't think anyone will argue that Redline is not one of the best oils on the other hand in 5w40 you have some good contenders available locally like Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5w40 or Rotella T6 5w40 or (if you can find it) chevron delo syn 5w40.

 

[Ben99GT]

Expect to see or notice? I immediately noticed a smoother, quieter engine that seemed to rev more freely. Engine also sounds dramatically better on cold starts.

The real benefit to RL is it's ability to adequately lubricate under very high temp conditions and extreme deposit control/cleaning ability.

I had the usual 1/8th quart vanish within the first 300 miles (many others have observed this as well), topped it back off and 3000 miles later the oil level hasn't changed a bit. I'm actually having less oil consumption (through the PCV) after hard runs than I did with M1 or PP. I love the stuff, I've become married to the results.

 

[98dakarM3]

Your Passat should be very happy with the RL. Personally, I would use a less expensive oil (but still robust) in a Passat, but its your vehicle, so use what helps you sleep well at night.

 

[sprintman]

Good choice. Search here for Turbokid used oil analysis on Red Line 5W40 in a very high HP turbo engine.

 

[akhristov]

Bringing back an old thread... The 5W-40 seems to be doing very well, but I noticed that Red Line has at least two other VW 502.00 spec oils. Does anybody have any experience running the other weights in a 1.8T engine? I'm just trying to find out if there's any advantage to a different weight.

 

[Johnny]

I always liked the 5W-40 weights in the VW's I owned. The Red Line is an excellent product.

 

[cryption]

Can't go wrong with Redline. I run this in all my VWs:

http://www.amazon.com/Valvoline-VV966-Sy...mp;sr=8-1-fkmr1

It's a good price - and it's on VW's approved list.

 

[buster]

Red Line 5w-40 is a great oil.

 

[saaber1]

Originally Posted By: akhristov
Bringing back an old thread... The 5W-40 seems to be doing very well, but I noticed that Red Line has at least two other VW 502.00 spec oils. Does anybody have any experience running the other weights in a 1.8T engine? I'm just trying to find out if there's any advantage to a different weight.

None of the redline oils are 502 approved. 0w40 may give minor around town/short trip mpg benefits but perhaps not enough to notice. I would stay with the 5w40 personally. I'll post a Red Line 10w40 used oil analysis in the near future on the 2.0 FSI. Most previous used oil analysis were Red Line 5w40 and one was 5w30/10w40 mix on that car

 

[Audi Junkie]

Red Line 5w-40 is way overkill in terms of HT/HS and visc for a 150 hp 1.8T. 10w30 would have been fine.

 

[Hethaerto]

I'm looking for a good oil for my '82 Porsche 928 4.5 V8 16 valve with flat-tappets.

The car's had a diet of Castrol GTX 20W-50 for several years, and the owner before that owner ran 20W-50, as well, but I don't recall the brand.

I'm thinking the heavy 20W-50 is serious overkill because the engine never really gets a good workout around here in Va Beach. Redline's at 6500, but the tach never gets over 2500.

I'd like to step it down to a 10w30 or lighter, but I'm worried about not getting enough Zinc.

I want to use a lighter oil because I think the heavy stuff really bogs the engine down and robs economy, too. Right now I've got Pennzoil Platinum 15W-50 plus a bottle of Lucas Zinc additive.

I can almost watch my gas gauge needle move as I poke around town.

I also want to run ARX, but I want to run it with the best synthetic I can that won't counteract ARXs cleaning abilities. Frank says that Amsoil XL line will work, but I'll probably need to add some Zinc with it.

Any thoughts?