Lowest Noack oil for my 2018 VW GTI

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Hello

I have 2k miles on my oem fill. I plan to change my oil at about 3500 miles. Got a few questions. I want to prolong carbon build up as much as i can.

1) Whats the lowest noack oil from the big oil companys(m1, castrol, valvoline, pennzoil) that meets vw 502 505 specs?
2) Torn between 5w40 and 0w40, which generally has lower noack? I live in san Francisco.
 
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Hello

I have 2k miles on my oem fill. I plan to change my oil at about 3500 miles. Got a few questions. I want to prolong carbon build up as much as i can.

1) Whats the lowest noack oil from the big oil companys(m1, castrol, valvoline, pennzoil) that meets vw 502 505 specs?
2) Torn between 5w40 and 0w40, which generally has lower noack? I live in san Francisco.

In theory, 5W40 should have lower NOACK then 0W40. However, that is if both oils have same base oil etc. That is usually not the case. I would say safest bet would be Castrol 0W40. Old VISOM based M1 0W40 had NOACK 8.7% (Castrol 0W40 has NoACK of 9.1%) but there is no info on new GTL based M1 0W40. It should have lower NOACK but at the same time it has very high % of sulfated ash, which is not good when it comes to CBU.
I would look W30 oils. 0W30 and 5W30 should have lower NOACK then W40 oils.
Now since you are in CA you should have low sulfur gas. That means you could use VW504.00/507.00 oils. Mobil1 5W30 ESP meets that specification. According to some tests that oil has NOACK of 5.6%. Your 2018 GTI is approved for VW504.00/507.00. However, since that spec. has lower SAPS< I would do 3K and do UOA to see TBN retention and go from there.
 
Last edited:
Driving style has a lot to do with valve deposits...more than oil choice I might argue. Provided you use 502 oil of course.

If you short trip you should have bought a different car. With the maturity of this motor VW should have figured it out by now but I guess they’ve been a little distracted!
 
504/507 oil TBN starts low but doesn't come down as fast in my experience. I did a couple uoa on my 2015 Passat TDI at 10k miles and TBN was 3.8 left on both samples. That was the 5w-30 castrol edge professional I bought from the dealer.
 
Mobil 1 0w-40,Shell helix ultra 5w-40 or Pennzoil 5w-40 if you want your engine to stay clean and have trouble free crank case ventilation
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
Hello

I have 2k miles on my oem fill. I plan to change my oil at about 3500 miles. Got a few questions. I want to prolong carbon build up as much as i can.

1) Whats the lowest noack oil from the big oil companys(m1, castrol, valvoline, pennzoil) that meets vw 502 505 specs?
2) Torn between 5w40 and 0w40, which generally has lower noack? I live in san Francisco.

In theory, 5W40 should have lower NOACK then 0W40. However, that is if both oils have same base oil etc. That is usually not the case. I would say safest bet would be Castrol 0W40. Old VISOM based M1 0W40 had NOACK 8.7% (Castrol 0W40 has NoACK of 9.1%) but there is no info on new GTL based M1 0W40. It should have lower NOACK but at the same time it has very high % of sulfated ash, which is not good when it comes to CBU.
I would look W30 oils. 0W30 and 5W30 should have lower NOACK then W40 oils.
Now since you are in CA you should have low sulfur gas. That means you could use VW504.00/507.00 oils. Mobil1 5W30 ESP meets that specification. According to some tests that oil has NOACK of 5.6%. Your 2018 GTI is approved for VW504.00/507.00. However, since that spec. has lower SAPS< I would do 3K and do UOA to see TBN retention and go from there.


Thank you! Solid info
 
Originally Posted By: dbias
504/507 oil TBN starts low but doesn't come down as fast in my experience. I did a couple uoa on my 2015 Passat TDI at 10k miles and TBN was 3.8 left on both samples. That was the 5w-30 castrol edge professional I bought from the dealer.

That is because it is TDI.
Gasoline is different issue. In my VW CC with 2.0T I barely made 3K with Mobil1 5W30 ESP before TBN dropped below 1.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
NOACK? Seriously?


Word.

There's so many more intelligent important (don't want to hurt anyone's feelings) things to base your pick of an oil for your engine, than to blindly pick an oil based solely on its lighter fractions evaporation rate at a temperature most oils and engines will never see.

99% of Americans are a fickle bunch, and will never ever keep ANY vehicle long enough to see the difference between today's oils that meet the specs for whatever engine they are using. The other 1% who do keep a vehicle long enough to see the differences between oils know that nothing mechanical runs forever, and periodically requires some TLC in the driveway. Other than the VW sludgers, most all engine failures and recalls of the past 20 years have been due to manufacturing defects, stupid engineers, or CAFE requirements that ask engines to do something they aren't intended to do nor are very good at (high boost at low RPM). Just my .02, but you are obviously free to interpret and take action as you wish.
smile.gif

I'd pick whatever spec oil is available and fits your budget, because honestly, with upper and lower limits for nearly all elemental components of engine oils today, there is very little room to differentiate between competitors when talking spec oils. It all comes down to how well their marketing department works. Hundreds of statistically similar UOAs don't lie.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: dbias
504/507 oil TBN starts low but doesn't come down as fast in my experience. I did a couple uoa on my 2015 Passat TDI at 10k miles and TBN was 3.8 left on both samples. That was the 5w-30 castrol edge professional I bought from the dealer.

That is because it is TDI.
Gasoline is different issue. In my VW CC with 2.0T I barely made 3K with Mobil1 5W30 ESP before TBN dropped below 1.


Good point about the low sulfur in diesel but i think the sulfur in gasoline had come down in the last couple years so maybe the TBN would hold up better now. will have to look for 504/507 uoa
 
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
Originally Posted By: CT8
NOACK? Seriously?


Word.

There's so many more intelligent important (don't want to hurt anyone's feelings) things to base your pick of an oil for your engine, than to blindly pick an oil based solely on its lighter fractions evaporation rate at a temperature most oils and engines will never see.

99% of Americans are a fickle bunch, and will never ever keep ANY vehicle long enough to see the difference between today's oils that meet the specs for whatever engine they are using. The other 1% who do keep a vehicle long enough to see the differences between oils know that nothing mechanical runs forever, and periodically requires some TLC in the driveway. Other than the VW sludgers, most all engine failures and recalls of the past 20 years have been due to manufacturing defects, stupid engineers, or CAFE requirements that ask engines to do something they aren't intended to do nor are very good at (high boost at low RPM). Just my .02, but you are obviously free to interpret and take action as you wish.
smile.gif

I'd pick whatever spec oil is available and fits your budget, because honestly, with upper and lower limits for nearly all elemental components of engine oils today, there is very little room to differentiate between competitors when talking spec oils. It all comes down to how well their marketing department works. Hundreds of statistically similar UOAs don't lie.

European manufacturers are very, very specific about NOACK.
Average American does not drive GTI.
Not sure how CAFE is stupid, but some people survived 20th and moved to 21st century. I understand that in some parts of the U.S. (like in my neighboring states) it is still struggle to move to 20th century.
 
Originally Posted By: dbias
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: dbias
504/507 oil TBN starts low but doesn't come down as fast in my experience. I did a couple uoa on my 2015 Passat TDI at 10k miles and TBN was 3.8 left on both samples. That was the 5w-30 castrol edge professional I bought from the dealer.

That is because it is TDI.
Gasoline is different issue. In my VW CC with 2.0T I barely made 3K with Mobil1 5W30 ESP before TBN dropped below 1.


Good point about the low sulfur in diesel but i think the sulfur in gasoline had come down in the last couple years so maybe the TBN would hold up better now. will have to look for 504/507 uoa

It is bit confusing, it is average requirement. Gas refiners could hypothetically ship gasoline up to 80ppm as long as average is I think 15ppm.
That means majority of that low average is already consumed by CA.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Not sure how CAFE is stupid, but some people survived 20th and moved to 21st century. I understand that in some parts of the U.S. (like in my neighboring states) it is still struggle to move to 20th century.


My point about CAFE is because of the way they have chosen to implement certain functionalities, we now have to deal with LSPI and engine oils that are trying to mask a problem that didn't exist until all those factors came together. ACEA oils generally have much higher additive levels of calcium and other "normal" oil additives and you haven't heard a peep about LSPI on those engines. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that extremely high cylinder pressures at low RPMs are very destructive to pistons, bearings, and spark plug electrodes. Just ask anybody who ever activated their nitrous fogger in gear around 1500RPMs...
31.gif


Subaru Abuse
 
Ravenol makes a number of different VW 502 oils in 0w30, 5w30, 0w40 and 5w40.

I believe they are all PAO based and have a NOACK of 7-8%

The Amsoil (Non euro) 0w40 and Rowe 0w40 RS also have excellent specs and Noack of 7.6 or 7.7%
 
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Not sure how CAFE is stupid, but some people survived 20th and moved to 21st century. I understand that in some parts of the U.S. (like in my neighboring states) it is still struggle to move to 20th century.


My point about CAFE is because of the way they have chosen to implement certain functionalities, we now have to deal with LSPI and engine oils that are trying to mask a problem that didn't exist until all those factors came together. ACEA oils generally have much higher additive levels of calcium and other "normal" oil additives and you haven't heard a peep about LSPI on those engines. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that extremely high cylinder pressures at low RPMs are very destructive to pistons, bearings, and spark plug electrodes. Just ask anybody who ever activated their nitrous fogger in gear around 1500RPMs...
31.gif


Subaru Abuse

Seriously? In last 15 years I did not own anything but turbo engines, some making well over 300k. It is not problem as long as one decides to make it right.
If that requires additional additives, well so be it. If that requires from consumers to THINK a bit, well then they should think a bit.
 
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