RLI Biosyn 5W-40HD in 3.0L Touareg 6300 mile OCI

[wensteph]

I still believe I'm the only person with this engine posting UOAs so there is nothing to compare my numbers to. 6300 miles on this fill. 23,800 on the vehicle. Fuel has mostly been commercial Shell B5 with RLI summer additive. Driving habits were mostly local as opposed to highway on my previous UOAs. Iron is lowering nicely. Aluminum slower to respond. High copper reading is component of the oil. The green reference numbers at the bottom are not exact since the formulation has changed somewhat since that VOA was done. I'm still showing some potassium and I still don't know why. I have not lost any coolant. It may be from the bio my local jobber is blending into the D2. Soot is up which disappoints me. I'm either going back to FPPlus or cocktail that with the RLI. Soot could be higher due to short trip driving; I mostly get up to operating temps, but not always. I have changed out the oil filter and will take this fill out closer to 10K, refill with the latest RLI blend and do the next analysis when I have 5K on that fill.

 

[JHZR2]

Numbers seem a bit high compared to what Im used to seeing, but this is a different engine/oil chemistry/etc., so I cannot comment. It would be great if you could review the vehicle in the vehicles section at some point. They seem like awesome SUVs and Id love to hear/see more. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

 

[dparm]

Is that an Alusil block? If so, the higher aluminum numbers are not really that bad then.

 

[wensteph]

Originally Posted By: dparm

Is that an Alusil block? If so, the higher aluminum numbers are not really that bad then.

Perhaps. VW has used Alusil in smaller TDIs, but I can't find anything referencing the 3.0.

 

[Jim Allen]

Interesting. What's Terry's take on this? Like JHZR2, these numbers seem high but that engine is so far outside my frame of reference that I'm not sure what to say. The oil seems to have held up well, except oxidation. Maybe this engine is just slow to stop shedding metal, perhaps increased by short hopping (which will also increase oxidation).

 

[wensteph]

He's pleased with the oil's performance. He would like for aluminum to trend downward more and soot to be lower. Without other UOAs from this same engine type it's impossible to have a comparison. Numbers from a 2.0 or 1.5 TDI are meaningless. I'm pleased that wearables are always lower with each change as the engine is wearing in. We'll see if the change in additives will affect soot.

 

[Jim Allen]

Since the soot is coming from combustion, I don't think you'll see any changes unless you change the combustion part of the equation. Certain oils may deal with the soot better, preventing agglomeration for example, but the soot is still there and, I would think, still show up in a UOA. Switching to an oil with a stronger additive package will also help reduce oxidation (I wondered about the high TBN AND the high oxidation) but I wonder if you need to start thinking about a bypass filtration system if you want extended OCIs. A tight bypass system (1-2um) will catch a lot of soot. Unfortunately, it will cause you to have to recalibrate on your UOAs, as it will skew metals readings downward. I'm sure Terry is up for that. For myself, I don't hang on every minor change in ppm and use UOA primarily to track oil condition during extended runs. I just installed a bypass on a gas engine, which is in a very stable wear position right now, but I have a good snapshots of the oil with out it so can recalibrate pretty well. I've run 10K OCIs with that engine that could have gone longer (I have a great operational cycle, being rural and all our trips are 20 miles or more at 55-60 mph).

 

[wensteph]

Thanks for the comments, Jim. Terry mentioned a bypass, but would hold off on it for now. My last UOA, which doesn't show up on this report since It was one of Terry's raw tests without his interpretation, had soot down to 0.00. That was all high speed highway and using only FPPlus. UOA is posted here http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...rue#Post2373271

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: wensteph

Without other UOAs from this same engine type it's impossible to have a comparison. Numbers from a 2.0 or 1.5 TDI are meaningless. I'm pleased that wearables are always lower with each change as the engine is wearing in. We'll see if the change in additives will affect soot.

I disagree to a point. If trended and normalized to a sump size, they should be comaprable. Sure, one engine may wear different things more than another, but that does not mean that lower isnt better, IMO.

 

[Brons2]

Originally Posted By: wensteph

He's pleased with the oil's performance. He would like for aluminum to trend downward more and soot to be lower. Without other UOAs from this same engine type it's impossible to have a comparison. Numbers from a 2.0 or 1.5 TDI are meaningless. I'm pleased that wearables are always lower with each change as the engine is wearing in. We'll see if the change in additives will affect soot.

Disagree, these numbers are in line with other common rail VW TDIs of smaller sizes. Clearly it shares some architectural features despite being of a larger displacement and cylinder count. What it can't be compared to are the PumpDuese or rotary pump TDI engines.