1995 Audi S6 2.2L turbo oil recommendation....

[vtdave]

I have a '95 Audi S6 2.2L turbo (AAN engine) with 219k on the clock. I found many old threads from 5+ years back recommending M1 0w40, GC, Rotella T6 and Castrol Syntec 5w50. The car seems to "like" thick oil, and the turbo seems to run a little hotter than present-day Audis. I park the car outside all winter long (-20F), so startup viscosity is important to me.

So...my question...now that we live in the age of SN oils, and I have an old engine that cooks oil, should any of these recommendations fall off the list? And should any other oils be added? I am wondering in specific whether for a car like this it makes sense to just splurge on some RL 0w40. Excellent cold flow and high temp protection without all the cheap viscosity enhancers you'd find in Castrol 5w50, etc. I'm not exactly worried about zinc/phosphorous in my cats.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[JHZR2]

I dont see how you can go wrong with M1 0w-40 for that duty.

 

[dparm]

Those are awesome cars. Love the old-school S models.

The T6 would be a solid choice if you truly want something on the thicker end (it's about 15-20% thicker than the M1 0w40 that JHZR2 mentioned).

 

[SatinSilver]

If you get a chance post up some pictures Dave. My neighbor just bought a 2005 A6 and it looks like new. Nice, big car.

 

[vtdave]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver
If you get a chance post up some pictures Dave. My neighbor just bought a 2005 A6 and it looks like new. Nice, big car.


Funny you should ask. I just upgraded my laptop to Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and discovered it doesn't work with the image uploader I've been using. Here is an unfortunately [censored] pic from a cloudy day, but you can tell what the car looks like:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41377097/IMG_20131028_133802_449.jpg

Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F? I remember seeing a chart showing it is substantially thicker than M1 0w40 at that temperature. That's not a deal killer. But I wonder whether its benefits at operating temperature and/or compatibility with "old school" metallurgy outweigh the startup thickness disadvantage.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: vtdave
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
If you get a chance post up some pictures Dave. My neighbor just bought a 2005 A6 and it looks like new. Nice, big car.


Funny you should ask. I just upgraded my laptop to Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and discovered it doesn't work with the image uploader I've been using. Here is an unfortunately [censored] pic from a cloudy day, but you can tell what the car looks like:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41377097/IMG_20131028_133802_449.jpg

Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F? I remember seeing a chart showing it is substantially thicker than M1 0w40 at that temperature. That's not a deal killer. But I wonder whether its benefits at operating temperature and/or compatibility with "old school" metallurgy outweigh the startup thickness disadvantage.


I think that T6 will be fine even at -20f.
That is old school engine, my friend had it in Europe when people were using 15W40, at best 10W40.
I used in Opel Vectra B 10W40 and I was skiing once in Bosnia. I figured out it is VERY, VERY cold, and overthere winters are killers. I got in the car and display was showing -42c. I am not sure in f, but it was [censored] cold. Well, anyway, 10W40 started engine just fine, problem was I was going downhill from that point, so car needed like an hour to warm up

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: vtdave
Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F?


I used T6 in our old Jetta 2.0 once. At around 0F, the engine was really struggling to crank. If I had to deal with -20F, I'd be running M1 0w-40. No contest.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: vtdave
Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F?


I used T6 in our old Jetta 2.0 once. At around 0F, the engine was really struggling to crank. If I had to deal with -20F, I'd be running M1 0w-40. No contest.

Yeah, there is no better winter oil then 0W grade.

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: vtdave
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
If you get a chance post up some pictures Dave. My neighbor just bought a 2005 A6 and it looks like new. Nice, big car.


Funny you should ask. I just upgraded my laptop to Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and discovered it doesn't work with the image uploader I've been using. Here is an unfortunately [censored] pic from a cloudy day, but you can tell what the car looks like:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41377097/IMG_20131028_133802_449.jpg

Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F? I remember seeing a chart showing it is substantially thicker than M1 0w40 at that temperature. That's not a deal killer. But I wonder whether its benefits at operating temperature and/or compatibility with "old school" metallurgy outweigh the startup thickness disadvantage.


I think that T6 will be fine even at -20f.
That is old school engine, my friend had it in Europe when people were using 15W40, at best 10W40.
I used in Opel Vectra B 10W40 and I was skiing once in Bosnia. I figured out it is VERY, VERY cold, and overthere winters are killers. I got in the car and display was showing -42c. I am not sure in f, but it was [censored] cold. Well, anyway, 10W40 started engine just fine, problem was I was going downhill from that point, so car needed like an hour to warm up

You're nearly at the crossover point since that's -44f! I thought -15f was cold here in WI, but man!

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: vtdave
Originally Posted By: satinsilver
If you get a chance post up some pictures Dave. My neighbor just bought a 2005 A6 and it looks like new. Nice, big car.


Funny you should ask. I just upgraded my laptop to Mac OS 10.9 (Mavericks) and discovered it doesn't work with the image uploader I've been using. Here is an unfortunately [censored] pic from a cloudy day, but you can tell what the car looks like:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/41377097/IMG_20131028_133802_449.jpg

Anyone have an opinion on T6 at -20F? I remember seeing a chart showing it is substantially thicker than M1 0w40 at that temperature. That's not a deal killer. But I wonder whether its benefits at operating temperature and/or compatibility with "old school" metallurgy outweigh the startup thickness disadvantage.


I think that T6 will be fine even at -20f.
That is old school engine, my friend had it in Europe when people were using 15W40, at best 10W40.
I used in Opel Vectra B 10W40 and I was skiing once in Bosnia. I figured out it is VERY, VERY cold, and overthere winters are killers. I got in the car and display was showing -42c. I am not sure in f, but it was [censored] cold. Well, anyway, 10W40 started engine just fine, problem was I was going downhill from that point, so car needed like an hour to warm up

You're nearly at the crossover point since that's -44f! I thought -15f was cold here in WI, but man!

I am from Bosnia, man winters overthere are killers! Last year they had in two days 6ft of snow following with -20!

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: vtdave
I have a '95 Audi S6 2.2L turbo (AAN engine) with 219k on the clock. I found many old threads from 5+ years back recommending M1 0w40, GC, Rotella T6 and Castrol Syntec 5w50.

Here is your oil chart in case you don't have the manual:

When I had my old Audi 200 Turbo, I would have had no problem using 5w-30 year round, except that it did consume it. I had my best results with various 40s, and tried Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 15w-40, RP 0w-40, and Mobil Delvac 1 ESP 5w-40. The first one was priced best. The latter two were nice for winter and for avoiding seasonal oil changes. I had no problems with cold starts with either the 0w-40 or 5w-40.

It will be hard to beat the price of M1 0w-40 in the States, though.

 

[bar1]

Great car with a nice engine. I had a '96 Audi S6 2.2 tq . Used VW502 spec. oil in it. Mostly M1 0w-40. Had no oil related problems. Car had original Webasto coolant heater so no cold starts.
I would get a block heater if you worry abt. oil visc. at startup.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: bar1
Car had original Webasto coolant heater so no cold starts.

That would be nice! I don't know if VW/Audi ever had them as an option in NA. I know they got rid of block heaters and went to oil pan heaters sometime before my 1991 was made thanks to some lawsuit in Quebec about a garage burning down.

 

[Morris400]

I also have a 2.2l AAN (URS4) and I run rotella t6 5W40. I have run T6 in both my audis for the past 6 years urs4 and b5 s4. Both loved it. Cars ran great. I change the oil every 5k km .

I changed the valve cover gasket the first couple weeks of owning the urs4 and noticed lots of staining on the inside of the valve cover. Ended up changing the gasket again a few months latter and the valve cover was spotless. Looked brand new.

Car fires up every time even in -38c temps.

Rotella is my vote, but the 5-40 not the 0-40. Ran 0w40 once and it was a big mistake....car ate 3L of it in 1500km. Not sure why...car was then and is now still solid. No engine issues what so ever and no leaks.

 

[dparm]

Ooh post a photo of that car! Love the old Audi S models.