Redline 5W-30 4k mi; Kia Forte Ex 2.0 115k mi

[Walter1982]

My first ever Blackstone oil analysis. It's a 2020 Kia Forte EX with 115,000 miles on it. Having used Redline 5W20 since I purchased the car with 1800 miles on it. Blackstone says it's a flawless report. It's my first time ever getting an oil analysis so I don't really know what to look for. I did notice a pretty high manganese level. Someone with a similar Forte in the ForteForums said his analysis showed Manganese at 1. I am burning about half a quart every 4k miles. I usually do an oil change at 4k to 5k.

 

[MurkyAsparagus]

Manganese is a bit high, which is weird to me because I would expect to find manganese in high concentrations with break in oil. Someone else will more experience and knowledge would have to chime in for this one.

Looks good to me otherwise, a nice big shot of calcium and moly. UOA doesn’t tell the whole story.

Have you considered Valvoline Restore and Protect for oil burning?

Edit: I would like to add that the manganese could just be Blackstone being Blackstone. If you can, try OilAnalyzers next time.

 

[The Critic]

How old is this bottle of Redline?

 

[AKhan87]

I am burning about half a quart every 4k miles. I usually do an oil change at 4k to 5k.

I am surprised, you have used Redline since 1800 miles on the Odometer, with 4-5k OCI, I would think it wouldn't really burn any oil, was it always the case?

possibly bad engine design

 

[dubber09]

Calcium seems very high too.

 

[himemsys]

Viscosity is off. It is reading like a 5w-30 and Blackstone did not flag it.

Doesn't manganese have something to do with fuel? Like a fuel additive was used, or switched fuel types.

 

[wemay]

Is this Redline red bottle or black? I suspect red.

The Calcium being high is offset by the Zinc. No issue there regarding LSPI.

MANGANESE……….TRACE ELEMENTS IN LINERS AND RINGS, ADDITIVE IN GASLOLINE.

Good wear numbers.

Thanks for sharing

 

[fantastic]

Yeah is this a current product? Seems it's not an SP add pack.

 

[Urshurak776]

I’m trying to come up with an analogy for using Redline in a known oil burning design Kia Forte. It’s so wild to me I’m coming up empty….

 

[buster]

the 5w20 RL is still old school (high Ca/ZDP). The 0w20 and 0w30 are the modern LSPI friendly grades.

RL rarely if ever drops a grade (one of the most shear stable oils I've ever seen) but it will go up in viscosity a bit. However, we know B/S Labs can't measure anything that accurately so who knows.

Not sure about the manganese. Either from fuel additive or wear.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Looks to me like you should be running a 7500 mile OCI you're wasting expensive oil!

 

[Pablo]

I’m trying to come up with an analogy for using Redline in a known oil burning design Kia Forte. It’s so wild to me I’m coming up empty….

Motor no splode!!

 

[Walter1982]

How old is this bottle of Redline?

I usually get them on Amazon. Is there anything on the bottle that will tell me the manufacture date?

 

[Walter1982]

I am surprised, you have used Redline since 1800 miles on the Odometer, with 4-5k OCI, I would think it wouldn't really burn any oil, was it always the case?

possibly bad engine design

I'm not really sure.

This is the first car I've ever done my own work on. It's been a learning car for me. I think the biggest mistake I made was buying this car in Florida, then driving it back to Chicago. When I purchased the car, it had 1800 miles on it, so it likely never had an oil change, and still had the factory installed oil in it. The original owner purchased the car when it was likely about a year old, and kept the car for about a year or so. Which means, when I purchased it and drove it back to Chicago the factory installed oil may have been 2 years old already. At the time (4 years ago) I didn't know anything about cars. Factory installed oil being 2 years old would be a very bad "break in" period for the car. I have a feeling this could be why I'm burning oil. Other than that I've cared for the car rather well and drive it gently. I didn't notice oil burning until about 20,000 miles ago but I also wasn't looking for signs of oil burning because I didn't think of it and didn't know to look for it. So I'm not sure if it always burned oil or just started recently. It wasn't until I started checking the dipstick frequently, especially right before an oil change, that I noticed lower levels of oil. I spent a lot of time on this website and determined Redline would be a great choice of oil for a hot climate like South Florida because of low volatility scores. I had assumed it wouldn't break down at high temperatures, since I do drive a lot, about 30k miles a year. This is how my dipstick usually looks at about 4k miles, and when I do an oil change the oil level is always right on the max line.

 

[Walter1982]

Looks to me like you should be running a 7500 mile OCI you're wasting expensive oil!

You're probably right. My experience has been that after doing an oil change the engine runs very smooth and quiet, sometime I wouldn't even know it's running unless I look at the tachometer. Since I started doing my own oil changes 2 years ago the engine runs very smooth and quiet for about 2000 miles, then towards 4000 miles it gets louder, especially during cold starts. I had interpreted this as a positive result from an OCI of 4k, so I kept doing them at 4k OCI.

 

[Walter1982]

Viscosity is off. It is reading like a 5w-30 and Blackstone did not flag it.

Doesn't manganese have something to do with fuel? Like a fuel additive was used, or switched fuel types.

crap I'm so sorry. It's supposed to be 5W20, I'm not sure why I made that type.

How can I change the title?

 

[Walter1982]

Yeah is this a current product? Seems it's not an SP add pack.

 

[Walter1982]

Manganese is a bit high, which is weird to me because I would expect to find manganese in high concentrations with break in oil. Someone else will more experience and knowledge would have to chime in for this one.

Looks good to me otherwise, a nice big shot of calcium and moly. UOA doesn’t tell the whole story.

Have you considered Valvoline Restore and Protect for oil burning?

Edit: I would like to add that the manganese could just be Blackstone being Blackstone. If you can, try OilAnalyzers next time.

Interesting, I have never heard of Oil Analyzers. This was my first time ever getting a UOA, I'm just getting my feet wet. Many people are recommending to switch to Valvoline RnP because I'm burning up to a quart of oil with each OCI, I still have 3 bottles of Redline I need to use and will then likely switch to Valvoline.

 

[fantastic]

View attachment 280264

View attachment 280265

Pretty cool oil offering. Only thing I can offer would be to try a 30 or 40 grade & see if that decreases your oil loss. But that looks like a good product. Thanks for the details.

 

[AKhan87]

Interesting, I have never heard of Oil Analyzers. This was my first time ever getting a UOA, I'm just getting my feet wet. Many people are recommending to switch to Valvoline RnP because I'm burning up to a quart of oil with each OCI, I still have 3 bottles of Redline I need to use and will then likely switch to Valvoline.

good idea, once you switch to Valvoline R&P, I would personally use 5w30 since you have a Kia and live in Florida (hotter temps), I would personally buy the oil before 7/31/25 as you can claim the $5 per jug rebate from Valvoline, buy from Walmart.com and ship it home, might be cheaper then Amazon.