Switching to Mobil1 at 60k Audi 1.8T, a few questions..

[nAUDI]

1) Which oil would be better: 0w-40 or 10w-30. I live in Honolulu, 60-90F all year round. I mostly take short trips because well, I'm on a island. What would be the advantages/disadvantages of each?

2) After the first change, I plan on going 3-5k till my next change because the oil will be cleaning my engine correct? Then I'm planning on 10k intervals after that. Would this be ok? And should I replace my filter at every change? or every other oil change?

Thanks for all your help

 

[Audi Junkie]

Sounds Good. Can you get Mobil 1 5w-40 SUV? It's a little late to start synthetics in a sludge-prone engine, the 5w-40 might clean it better and also shows better volitility than 0w-40 on these TGA scan graphs.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=313674&page=4

 

[Ugly3]

All short trips does not sound like a good candidate for long OCIs with any oil.

 

[JHZR2]

short trips at 5k ocis with m1 give fine results in my mothers 2.0L plymouth breeze.

An audi 1.8T should have had synthetic oil from the beginning. The europeans use it in their engines, and Ill bet it was specced for the engine. Why people cheap it out on expensive cars is beyond me.

Youre making the right move to go to syn. I think the 0w-40 will have more chance of carrying a VW oil spec, and be moresuited to your application. But the 5w-40 may clean the engine a little better, if needs be.

Both oils should act about the same at cold startup in 60-90F ambient temps. The 0w may flow a little bit faster, though I doubt it would make any difference. I do think though that the 10w-30 is too light of a 30 weight oil for that engine, and that a light 40 weight would be just about right.

JMH

JMH

 

[nAUDI]

First of all, I would like to

myself to the world of lube. Man is using the search feature addictive. Found out a lot more info then I thought was out there about motor oil. Okay, with that said:

I purchased the car used at 53K miles (they did a "tune-up" which included a oil change) and my mechanic did an oil change at 56K because I had some other work done to it. From now on I am going to do the oil changes myself. I'm going to change it within the month, which should be around 59-60k along with my timing belt. I am just assuming that its regular dino in there right now.

So after my long night of searching the forum and reading, and reading your follow ups:

I will be going with M1 (new acronym for me) 5W-40 because it has some additives that should clean my engine out a bit more than the 0W-40 correct? It does bother me that it is labeled as "Truck & SUV" but that is more marketing than the engineering hopefully..

I will also change my OCI (new acronym) plans to 5k, see how that works out...which leads to my next question:

I'm hoping to do a UOA (new acronym) to see how my engine and oil is doing. I also want to safely extend my OCI to something along 8-10k. Would it be more beneficial to do it after my first oil change at 60k or wait until the 2nd oil change (63k) to let the new synthetic clean out my engine a bit and get a more accurate representation of how the oil will be holding up for future oil changes?

 

[Whimsey]

Since you bought the Audi used or "previously owned"

and don't really know how it was maintained you might want to consider running an Auto RX treatment. This should help a lot in cleaning the engine if it did use dino. Then you can have a fresh start with the Mobil 1. Since you're good with the searches check it out. They are a site sponsor and the owner seems really helpful from what I've seen. I'll be thinking about you in a month when I'm shoveling snow

.

Whimsey

 

[Audi Junkie]

ARX if you love your car.

 

[williar]

I, too recommend the RX treatment for this vehicle. Use a good-quality 5w30 dino, such as Pennzoil, for the treatment, following the RX instructions.

Then I'd go with M1 0w40 as it is a long-life oil (BMW LL-01) and VW-approved (502.00, 503.01, IIRC). Or go with GC, which is what I use in my Audi 2.7t.

 

[Eiron]

Since M1 0W-40 is factory spec on the Cayenne Turbo, I'd definitely choose it before 10W-30. I live in Northern Colorado & currently run the new M1 5W-40 in my Saab 9³ 2.0L turbo, but that's only because it gets way below freezing in the winter. (M1 0W-40 has been factory fill on all Saab turbos since April of 2000.) If I lived anywhere warmer I'd run M1 15W-50 exclusively. Turbos are the definition of a High Temperature/High Shear (HT/HS) environment, & M1 15W-50 simply protects better & survives longer in that environment. (The best Saab turbo UOAs I've seen here were on zeke's 9000 with 15W-50.)

Any of these three oils (0W-40, 5W-40, 15W-50) should hold up for a 10k mi OCI in your turbo, just as they do in mine. We also do 95%+ short trips, so it takes us about 13-14 mos to roll up 10k mi.

And yes, I'd also recommend Auto-Rx. I wouldn't use it in your current oil 'cuz it's already been in there longer than any dino should be. I ran mine at the end of my 0W-40 & 15W-50 runs, but since you need to change your oil now I'd say use either a 15W-40 HDMO (Group II/II+) or Shell's Rotella Syn 5W-40 (Group III; looks just like dino to A-Rx). The 15W-40 will be the most cost-effective, while the 5W-40 will be more durable/protective. M1 (Group IV) would work fine too, but it's kind of costly if you plan on doing a lot of short OCIs around A-Rx. If you've got the will to wait, you could always do what I did & run it for 5k-6k mi in M1. That way you could get both the protection & cost benefit out of M1, & your A-Rx application/rinse would end up at 70k mi & make future 10k OCIs a breeze to track. Just make sure you change the filter every 1500-2000 mi & add A-Rx to the application top-up oil.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Good luck on your oil quest. For ARX treatments, look for any 5w-30 dino oil that says GF-4, Castrol GTX and Motorcraft have brought theirs to market quickest. I see the Syntec line as very competitve with Mobil 1. The only Mobil 1 I would use is 5w-40 SUV oil. The Syntec line has 2 choices other than GC, the 10w-40 and the 5w-50. I am talking about easily obtained products, volitility levels of the Syntec 10w-40 are far better than Mobil 1 10w-30 or 0w-40 or 5w-40. I would use it over Mobil 1 10w-30 if you cannot locate GC.

 

[nAUDI]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eiron:
If I lived anywhere warmer I'd run M1 15W-50 exclusively. Turbos are the definition of a High Temperature/High Shear (HT/HS) environment, & M1 15W-50 simply protects better & survives longer in that environment.

---

I've done some re'search' on 15W-50's and most say that its too think of an oil. Yes it'll protect better than the 5w-40, but will cause more friction (lower performance, gas mileage) and isnt really necessary unless the car is driven illegally hard. I hope to do some solo runs in the future, but not until I know my car can handle it and is prepared for the strain. But then again, Audi Junkie has a reputable Bosch/Audi/Porche Master Super-I-race-faster-than-god tech use 5w-50...

I just checked my service receipt and guess what, the oil change was done a bit later than what I originally thought, so I'm gonna order some Auto-Rx to put in right now, along with the new bigger Mann filters Audi requires because of the sludge issues, and some 5w-30 dino. Then do the entire Auto-RX steps, then in goes 5W-40 or maybe GC. Thanks everything for your help

 

[nAUDI]

Should I add Auto RX to my current oil or wait for the M1? Hm...might also try GC...seems like a fun adventure to find it Like a secret formula us Americans arent suppose to find out

 

[Audi Junkie]

I'd save the jumbo filter for rinse phase. You will keep the concentration of ARX up if you have the smaller filter for cleaning phase with less capacity. Rinse cycle is when the sludge gets dumped into the filter. As far as 5w-50 goes, I think it is the easiest oil to get that kicks some azz. Check out Mori's internal engine pics of his 110k Audi V6 with 10k intervals. (search)

 

[Mud]

My daughter is the second owner of an '02 A4 1.8T - fortunately the previous owner had done fairly regular oil changes at about 4k intervals, but I think it was non-synthetic. The first thing we did was start using M1 5W-30 at 5K OCI's. This will be the 3rd oil change coming up (37K on the car) and I'll be sending a sample in to Blackstone to see if we're on the right track. I might try the 5W-40 based on the advice here, but I wanted to say that here in Texas the 5W-30 has worked fine.
Also, I buy the OEM style Mann filters at www.autohausaz.com. I first used the Wix equivalent filter with good results - I wanted to change the oil right away when we bought the car so I would know what was in there. The Mann filters I get actually have the Audi logo on them - I stick with those since we have an extended warranty on the car. As I recall they are about $6 each.
BTW - Oil filter numbers:
OEM: 06A 115 561 B
Wix: 51393
NAPA: FIL1393
Mann: A6000-35393
Motorcraft: FL-401

 

[nAUDI]

Mud:

Just FYI, there is a larger filter that is recommended now and should be installed if factory serviced:
068 115 561 B

AOA switched filters after the sludge problem came to surface. With synthetic, I'm not sure if the larger filter will do anything, but for warranty purposes, I think your suppose to use that. I'm out of warranty so I'm still debating whether to use the old or new filter

 

[Quattro Pete]

If you're just doing 5K mile OCI, you probably don't need the larger filter, but for longer OCIs that larger oil sump (about 1/2 quart larger) may help.

 

[Mamala Bay]

There is no GC here to my knowledge. Tell me where I can find it.

 

[nAUDI]

Wow, my old post is back from the dead.

Mamala Bay, nope theres no GC around, I've looked, everywhere!