If you had to pick ONE oil as the best overall....

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Jag - did you try the new DEO 5W-40?

No but I have considered it. I'm a little turned off by using HDEOs in gas engines now. It may be human weakness...painting broad strokes based on experiences when they should be thin.

Originally Posted By: BobFout
JAG, have you tried Redline? Or D1 ESP 5w40? Maybe give Schaeffer S9000 a trt>

Yes to Red Line. After my bad TDT experience and my ever-present varnish battle, I have begun using some Red Line for its high ester content which acts as a better solvent for varnish than Groups III and IV. So far I'm pleased but I have been to afraid to go 5K miles again to get a more direct comparison to the TDT "failure". I also scored on a Target sale of M1 15W-50 EP for an amazingly low price of $1.79/qt. which I could not pass up. So I've started blending that with Red Line 5W-30 and a little Synpower 5W-20 (don't ask why...no great reason other than wanting a thinning oil) to get a ~14 cst viscosity at 100C. Happily, the engine has never started and run so smoothly in its 120K mile life! The improvement in startup sounds and smoothness is is blatantly obvious so you can take this to the bank. When my ghetto stash runs out, I'll need something else to use. Pep Boys has begun selling M1 5W-40 ESP Formula M and 5W-30 ESP Formula for $6.99 qt. which meet some uber-rigorous oil specs so they are on my mind. They are not great for winning high-ending TBN battles but my VW ruins oils via deposit problems before the TBN is too low anyways.

D1 ESP is too expensive and I expect some similarity to M1 5W-40 TDT CJ-4.

Schaeffers 9000 5W-40 has shown too many high lead UOAs for me to try it.

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: BobFout
JAG, you might also try a 502.00 5w40. Appears to be many 1.8T owners who can go 5K miles with them.

I am very surprised a good CJ-4 5w40 varnished up so quickly though.

Stock, or modded?

I used many VW 502.00 oils: GC, Syntec 5W-40, M1 0W-40, previous formula of Valvoline Synpower 5W-40, Lubromoly 0W-40 and 5W-40, and the original formula Amsoil 5W-40 that met VW 502.00.

I hold M1 0W-40 in high esteem for deposit control and good gas mileage. The Amsoil 5W-40 I used was good except the engine felt sluggish on it and gas mileage dropped relative to M1 0W-40. Valvoline 5W-40 was good all around. The rest disappointed excessively in one or more ways.

My 1.8T is stock. I do mostly 35 minute trips. I also do hard-driven interstate trips once a month or two. That probably has something to do with my varnish battle.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: JAG
M1 5W-40 TDT in CJ-4 form disappointed me in the category of deposit control in my VW 1.8T. It varnished in one 5K mile OCI.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Probably because I want free oil that can clean an engine in one OCI, last >10K miles in all of my engines without causing deposits, and prevent wear as good as the best of them. I am SO tired of having to change the oil in my VW 1.8T every ~3300 miles just to keep deposits from getting worse. Amsoil needs to make a 40 weight version of SSO!


JAG:

Please forgive me if you have already told the story in more detail -- I get spread pretty thin between my insane job, and trying to keep an eye on as many fora here as possible. That said, is there any possibility that the varnish episode is chargeable to a problem with the car, not the oil? PCV or cooling issues come readily to mind, but there could be something else. No CEL, I presume? And I don't know what the oil filler opening in your car reveals, but I shine a flashlight into mine at least once a week, when I check oil, to make sure that I can't spot anything starting. Are you unable to routinely look inside?

 

[Sayjac]

Buster it's ok to change your mind, but I preferred your original thought.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: sayjac
Buster it's ok to change your mind, but I preferred your original thought.

Yeah I think you may be right.

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: ekpolk
JAG:

Please forgive me if you have already told the story in more detail -- I get spread pretty thin between my insane job, and trying to keep an eye on as many fora here as possible. That said, is there any possibility that the varnish episode is chargeable to a problem with the car, not the oil? PCV or cooling issues come readily to mind, but there could be something else. No CEL, I presume? And I don't know what the oil filler opening in your car reveals, but I shine a flashlight into mine at least once a week, when I check oil, to make sure that I can't spot anything starting. Are you unable to routinely look inside?

I have no evidence that there is anything currently wrong with the PCV system (replaced once already) or the cooling system. No CEL either. The oil filler opening in this engine reveals valve cover metal, cylinder head metal, and plastic cam cover. So it's decently revealing about top end varnish and I do usually check it pretty often. I slacked during the M1 TDT run and didn't notice the increase in deposits until I changed the oil at 5K miles. The PCV hoses and metal vent for the valve cover had some serious deposits in them that were not there before using that oil. The valve cover region that I could see had just a little more varnish than was there before. A typical owner who looked at it probably wouldn't have even taken notice...it was a matter of increased browning, not a blatant black and white difference.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: JAG
Originally Posted By: BobFout
JAG, you might also try a 502.00 5w40. Appears to be many 1.8T owners who can go 5K miles with them.

I am very surprised a good CJ-4 5w40 varnished up so quickly though.

Stock, or modded?

I used many VW 502.00 oils: GC, Syntec 5W-40, M1 0W-40, previous formula of Valvoline Synpower 5W-40, Lubromoly 0W-40 and 5W-40, and the original formula Amsoil 5W-40 that met VW 502.00.

I hold M1 0W-40 in high esteem for deposit control and good gas mileage. The Amsoil 5W-40 I used was good except the engine felt sluggish on it and gas mileage dropped relative to M1 0W-40. Valvoline 5W-40 was good all around. The rest disappointed excessively in one or more ways.

My 1.8T is stock. I do mostly 35 minute trips. I also do hard-driven interstate trips once a month or two. That probably has something to do with my varnish battle.


Those driving conditions are nearly ideal, engine always gets warm and the highway trips get things really warm. No seeing any really hard conditions.

Hm. Might try a 504.00 oil? They are backwards compatible with previous sparker specs. Mobil 1 ESP 5w30, ELF/Total has 'em too.

You have the VW or Audi 1.8T, 150, 170 or 180 HP version?

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: BobFout
Those driving conditions are nearly ideal, engine always gets warm and the highway trips get things really warm. No seeing any really hard conditions.

Hm. Might try a 504.00 oil? They are backwards compatible with previous sparker specs. Mobil 1 ESP 5w30, ELF/Total has 'em too.

You have the VW or Audi 1.8T, 150, 170 or 180 HP version?

Today I was reading a book online at Google and it discussed oil degradation. According to that my driving style takes a relatively high toll oxidatively on the oil. Shorter trips were said to take a bigger toll on the detergents (think TBN). That makes sense since I'm seeing high temperature deposits which are largely an oxidation by-product. I'm sure that I'm NOT knocking down the TBN anywhere near 1 or 2 in
Mobil 1 5W-30 ESP Formula is a possible candidate. VW 504.00 is one of the most stringent gasoline engine specs according to the spider diagram at Lubrizol's site (or maybe it's the other big additive company). That's intriguing but so is Mobil 1 5W-40 ESP Formula M (MB-229.51) and Mobil 1 5W-40 Formula M (MB-229.5). I can get the latter from my local MB dealership from their bulk tank for $4.25/qt. which is probably too hard for me to pass up. Noise, vibration, and harshness with this engine feels better with thicker oils IMO so I'm leaning away from the M1 ESP 5W-30 Formula.

I have a VW 1.8T with 180 hp. It's funny how I have so little to talk about oil-wise with my BMW 135i and Subaru WRX STI engine. Hopefully it will stay that way!