Should I try Red Line oil?

Status
Not open for further replies.
"... and I have a few specific questions:

Do you think there will be a noticeable cleaning effect?"

After autorx I don't believe it will because autorx is specifically for that purpose and based on all the posts here it performs well (the best?) at it.

"What do you recommend as a first OCI on the stuff?:"

If you want to be conservative, how about 7k with a UOA? I've used 10k in the past consistently on some cars and had very good luck.

"What grade should I run? Owners tend to believe that these cars like a heavier-weight oil, generally. Obviously I don't want to give up one ounce of engine protection. "

I'm no bmw expert (burned out after my last bm which was a needy v12, interesting engine though) but hopefully some of the bmvee guys here will chime in. For reference, Speedy1 used 10W40 redline in his m3. He posted that he liked the reduced noise and it sounds like his car is tracked a lot so that might be one reference point in terms of weight and protection:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1041896#Post1041896
 
Redline is a great oil but you can't beat the protection of the HDEO. 10w/40 Redline will be the viscosity to use .I would also say Redline won't make your engine last any longer ,it has no magical powers.
 
Red Line is a good daily driver oil and it just might make your engine last longer. We have several 300k+ cars around here that use nothing but Red Line and it's not that they are over 300k but that they are over 300k with no internal mechanical work and to a boroscope look like new inside. I know a few examples don't prove a point but they are a good indicator. One fellow delivers some kind of radio-active isotopes with his 78 Toyota pickup and has 510k miles on Red Line with nothing more than regular maintenance and about 4 water pumps. He also uses Frantz oil and fuel filters and a spin-on coolant filter with an anode. He is on the original camshaft and valves. I've done a compression check and it's withing 5% of new specs and the spread from high to low is 8psi. You can still see the hone marks at the bottom of the cylinders and there is only a cosmetic ridge at the top of the cylinders. Granted this series of Toyota 4 bangers is considered to be a good engine I think that Red Line is performing well. He started with Castrol 10w-30 with the new truck and a few years later after hanging around our shop switched to Red Line 10-30 and has graduated up to 20w-50 a couple of years ago. His oil consumption is 1 quart in 5k miles. Granted he is a careful driver because of his cargo and LA has no weather but I think he is doing well. He recently dropped a bundle in rebuilding the suspension front and back, complete brake job and replaced all the flexible brake lines, master cylinder, rear wheel cylinders and new calipers, including his second tranny rebuild for bearings and seals, no other hard parts also using Red Line MTL. He also had the seals replaced in the rear end and uses Red Line gear lube and uses that red colored Red Line CV2 grease in the grease fittings (yes it has fittings you grease with a hand gun). All this was his answer to the question of buying a new pickup or keeping the old one. I think it can be said that he likes the old one. The company he works for footed the bill for a complete repaint and upholstery job. We talked Yokohama into making him a screaming deal on some new Avid TRZ's. His only problem is that we can expect a letter from Congress about his disregard for the economy by not just junking his pickup and buying a new one. He is hoping that the new sound system including a CD player for his books on CD will be useful in his defense. But to those that think Red Line is only good for racing we think it performs well for commuting but is an expensive choice. Sorry for running on I just though this is an unusual case and you might be interested.
 
At the very least, Redline will do no damage. It will not clean varnish, but may, over a long period of time, reduce some other build-up. I've found that to be the case in my old Toyota. I also run it in a newer Honda which has remained perfectly clean since '03 when we bought it.
 
buster you suffer from 'selective memory' There are many amazing UOA's on BITOG yours being one of them. I'm still trying to understand your 'agenda' after so many years.
 
Well I doubt that you will notice any cleaning effect if two runs with Auto-RX did not do it! I would suggest you order a gallon of Lube COntrol and runit at twice the current recomended label dosage until that gallon is gone. That should take care of any varnish and other deposits in the engine. If that does not remove the varnish then nothing short of takeing the valve cover off and useing some solvent and a brush will.

Now I would still say go for it and give Redline a try just do not expect much int he way of cleaning! It would keep an already clean engine spotless but I can not see it cleaning heavy varnish out of an engine.I would try their 5W40 with it being winter. In the warmer months go with their 15W40 diesel oil!
 
Well everybody I appreciate all the replies on this. Some of them were very thoughtful and I might try some of what has been suggested here (besides running the Red Line itself) in the future.

I'm not really primarily interested in its cleaning ability, although if it did happen to clean deposits that A-RX didn't, that would be a very interesting result. Either way it would be a side benefit.

What I'm really interested in is the question of whether it will help a fairly old engine get even older and whether I notice any subjective benefits to using it. I'd like to run two or three OCIs and do at least a couple of UOAs and see what happens. Whether the further experimentation and the UOAs will actually happen is anybody's guess, but I definitely have an interest in keeping the engine going as long as I can. If it has almost 300k now, well, what does that mean? I don't think it's on its last legs. is it good for 400k? 500k? Will a different oil help? I don't know, but the difference could be important to me. I'd like to keep the car a long time.

Dave at Red Line recommended 10W-40 and so did a couple of posters here, and that's what I'm going to try. I'll go for a reasonable OCI, unless the oil gets visibly dirty really quickly, in which case I'll decide what to do when I see it.

I've only got 2k on my current fill, so I'll be switching to the RL in a month or two.
 
that's a lotta love for a 78 toyota truck, those things are like tin cans. i wouldn't feel safe with all the bigger heavier cars doing 60mph on wilshire or the freeway for that matter
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top