Redline 10W60 OCI

[Alfa_Hadera]

Hello Folks,

What would you recommend as a safe change interval for Redline 10W60? is 6,000 Miles OK? I do it in the course of 4 months. Over 90% highway but with some traffic.

Can I do even 8 or 10K Miles?

I am switching to RL to cure consumption, but also for the high HTHS.

Thanks!

Tuval

 

[Brybo86]

is this car a recent acquisition? I might try a few runs of pyb first. what does the manual call for?

 

[fdcg27]

Red Line oils are not notable for great long drain capability, but 6K at 1500 miles a month would be very conservtive.
Probably at least a month or two longer of this use would be just fine.
How much oil is this Alfa using? What grade was recommended for it?
Red Line 10W-60 seems like it would be crazy thick for this application.
I find it interesting that you can get Durablend, Maxlife and VR1 in Isreal. How did consumption look with Maxlife 10W-40?
I've had good experience with this oil in my old BMW.

 

[Alfa_Hadera]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
is this car a recent acquisition? I might try a few runs of pyb first. what does the manual call for?


I have had my Bella for more than 3 years now. She drinks around a quart every 600 Miles when on a 10W60 and quite a bit more when on lower grade such as Durablend 10W40 or I-Sint 5W40. Maxlife surprised me by staying close to a quart. Most shops here carry Liqui Moly or some local brew. A few shops will sell Valvoline, M1, RP or Castrol. The cost of the good ones is around 100$ a jug while the lesser grades are around 50$.

My plan is to See if the higher HTHS such as RL's and:
If it lowers consumption slightly, make an attempt at 20W50 as these are much cheaper at 25$.
If it lowers consumption considerebly, check M1, then Edge FST, then RP.

The book originaly called for 10W40 for normal driving and 10W60 for "Decidedly spirited driving". Later the spec was changed to just 10W60. The usage of up to 1 Liter per 1,000 Km is "Acceptable". It is rather common for a Twin Spark to consume oil from day 1.

Oil temp (other Alfisti readings) is around 110-115 normal and 120 Celsius when thrashed.
Pressure when oil is hot is 2 Bar when idle and 4-4.5 when Cruising.


Thanks!

Tuval

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
is this car a recent acquisition? I might try a few runs of pyb first. what does the manual call for?


He might not even be able to get PYB in the Holy Land.

Yes, Red Line's starting TBNs are not all that spectacular, but, their line's TBN retention over a given,

 

[dparm]

6,000 miles shouldn't be a problem.

 

[supercity]

These engines also suffer from fuel dilution. Can you do a UOA at 6000 miles? If consumption is not improved and fuel dilution is not a problem you could switch back to a 40 grade,

 

[racin4ds]

[censored] poor engine design to be eating a qt every 600miles... I doubt it will matter what you throw in there its obviously a flawed design or poor quality materials used internally.

 

[Alfa_Hadera]

Indeed a bad design. I think it is due to switching to low tension oil control rings on the CF3 (Euro 4) variant of this engine. Previous models did not consume this much.

I think that only the later JTS model suffers from heavy dilution due to the (first in production) Direct Injection head (which was the only change from the Twin Spark CF3). Now because they utilize the same block, pistons and low tension rings that I think the blow-by coupled with DI issues caused dilution. I don't have evidence for TS with this problem but you never know until you do a UOA... I cannot smell it

I want to do a UOA after I settle on a brand... and if RL proves to reduce or I switch to a low grade 20W50 I will definitely go this route to assure selection.

 

[Alfa_Hadera]

Regarding PYB - I found there is a local distributor for Shell and Pennzoil, which is just around the corner from my office... I will check them out sometime this week - but I reckon they only do heavy machinery lubes and not consumer stuff.

 

[afoulk]

Wow, that's a lot of consumption. I wonder what kind of life you could get out of one of those if you never changed oil? Sounds like you could just add a quart when it needs it and change the filter at the recommended interval;-)

 

[Alfa_Hadera]

I was wondering this myself a few years ago... Still am wondering

but the oil gets black really quick due to the blow-by that I would not really dare venture yonder.

 

[supercity]

I would try Redline 5w50 as the HTHS is similar to a typical 10w60. That or Amsoil ARO 20w50.

 

[Alfa_Hadera]

Originally Posted By: supercity
I would try Redline 5w50 as the HTHS is similar to a typical 10w60. That or Amsoil ARO 20w50.


No 5W50 available from the distributor - they provide only 10W60. Also no Amsoil dist. here

I rather like the RL 10W60 currently... smells great, feels like honey and is sticky. Not sure if this is not cough syrup

On a more serious note - it is now a blend of mostly AGIP 5W40 and not much of the RL (in 80/20 proportions right now) so I don't worry too much. As the lighter grade burns off I will try to monitor how consumption, noise, response and MPG change.

 

[nleksan]

I have seen RL last short periods of time, and I have seen it last very long periods of time. Heck, I have put as much as 8900mi on a single OCI that included 11 w2w races, and the UOA came back showing everything perfect!

The only common denominator between length of OCI is the care taken during breakin. I am running a very tight tolerance, high compression, high boost and high revving engine and yet I have had friends need an OCI after just 5k (370 Nismo)..

I would say that the only way to know is to UOA...