Red Line Oil and MPG increase

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I had been running Pennzoil 5W-30 in my Mazda 626, did an Auto-Rx treatment and switched to Redline 10W-30 on March 3. My mileage immediately increased 7.1% from 21.2mpg to 22.7. Also the car seems to have a bit more pep.
During this time I used the same gas (Mobil regular), checked the air pressure in the tires, and did the same type of city driving. (If anything I drove more aggressively with the Redline in.) Now after a few tanks of gas I am sure the mileage increase is not a fluke.
The only thing I can think of other than the oil is a possible reformulation of the gasoline to summer blend. But,it seems early in the year for this to happen.
If Redline really does increase mileage it makes it a very economical oil to use. Has anyone else noticed a MPG increase? Can you think of any other reason besides the oil that would cause this change?
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Redline has the lowest coefficient of friction availalbe among all oils. I say this all the time but this is a very important quality for HP, MPG and wear.
 
The first thing one learns in the performance business is " one change at a time".
Then and only then can one know for sure if the mod in question works or not.

You did two.
Your mileage increase came from the Auto-Rx that dissolved the varnish and junk around your piston/ring pack and this would have increased the compression ratio. Increased compression ratio will drastically increase efficiency.

Redline is good , but I don't believe its that good.
 
I did the Auto-RX because I read somewhere that Terry recommended it before switching to Redline. The other thing is the car only had 31,000 mi on it. They oil with the Auto-RX in it did not come out very dirty and neither did the rinse oil. I also cut open the filters and they were pretty clean. I could not tell that the Auto-RX did anything. I am not saying that Auto-RX doesn't work. It's just that I don't think there was much for it to clean. I doubt that it was a significant factor. I think that if the treatment did anything significant I would have seen a mileage increase near the end of the rinse phase and there was none. The increase started immediately upon the change to Redline.
 
quote:

Originally posted by buster:
Redline has the lowest coefficient of friction availalbe among all oils. I say this all the time but this is a very important quality for HP, MPG and wear.

Do you have a reference to that effect?
 
quote:

Do you have a reference to that effect?

I know some of the experts on here have said this. I can't prove it but I'd say with 500ppm of Moly and a POE base stock it's quite likely. I shouldn't have said that they are the lowest, but I've been told they are, which could be the reason behind why his MPG increased...among other things.

[ March 21, 2004, 07:59 PM: Message edited by: buster ]
 
I remember a post that stated that redline had half the friction coeficient of mobil 1, but I wondered how they compared to royal purple, synergyn.....etc.
 
quote:

but I wondered how they compared to royal purple, synergyn.....etc.

Thats a good point. I'd say RL has a lower Cf compared to Amsoil and M1, but some of these others that you mentioned could be as good or better.
 
quote:

Originally posted by White Fang:
I had been running Pennzoil 5W-30 in my Mazda 626, did an Auto-Rx treatment and switched to Redline 10W-30 on March 3. My mileage immediately increased 7.1% from 21.2mpg to 22.7.

My Mazda v6 does the same every March - fuel changes over from mentanol blend.

Now running about 22 MPG vice winter MPG of 20.5
 
If the refineries switched over just last week to the summer blend then the MPG increase I got in early March must have been the Redline oil. I will keep monitoring my mileage. If it does not increase again as the reformulated gas works its way thru the supply chain then I must have just gotten some early summer reformulated gas. The weather has been unusually warm here this March so maybe they switched over early.
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Some thoughts on RL and mileage --
If you are driving a car with a high friction engine it will make a difference example GM 454CI V8.
If you are driving a car with a low friction engine the difference may be very small. example newer 2.4 L Volvo I4 or 3.5 L Isuzu V6
Excellent oil but the rolling resistance of my A/T tires is also a big factor.
YMMV
Mike
I realize that my friction examples may be controversial.
 
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