AMSOIL 5w30 HDD '96 VW TDI 7400 Miles

[Andy H]

'96 Passat TDI 120905 miles
5W-30 HDD Installed Nov 03, still in service
OEM oil filter
AMSOIL foam air filter, serviced during period
No bypass filter
Recommended drain interval: 7500 miles

code:

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Jun 03 Nov 03 Mar 04

Miles on oil: 6660 14900 7415

Iron 46 41 38

Chrome 22 15 9

Lead 7 4 4

Copper 5 5 5

Tin 1 0 0

Aluminum 12 8 9

Nickel 0 0 0

Silver 0 0 0

Silicon 6 4 4

Boron 1 0 1

Sodium 3 6 4

Magnesium 36 21 25

Calcium 4178 4055 3949

Barium 0 0 0

Phosphorus 1255 1176 1188

Zinc 1446 1339 1300

Moly 2 0 0

Titanium 0 0 0

Vanadium 0 0 0

Potassium 0 0 0

Fuel 0 0 0

Vis@100C cSt 12.84 13.22 12.58

Water 0 0 0

Soot (%wt) .5 1.5 .4

Glycol 0 0 0

TBN 8.22 8.64 9.73

Oxidation 14.0 15.0 18.0

Nitration 11.0 12.0 15.0

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Makeup oil was down to 2.5 quarts for this 7400 mile period.

I used AMSOIL Power Foam to clean the upper cylinder and ring area in November, 03 when this oil was installed. Cleaning

It looks like I've made some progress, but there's more cleaning to go. Not unexpected - it took 72000 miles for petroleum oil to cause the mess, it won't clean quickly without opening the engine. I've gotten my hands on some Biodiesel and will begin using it in the fuel, and will use it for the next round of ring soaking sometime this summer when I hit my 18,000-mile oil change.

My fuel economy appears to be creeping up as the rings are cleaned as well. I've come from 39-41 early on to 43-49 now.

I'm extremely happy with the performance of this oil!

 

[Andy H]

Ted,

Could do. I ran AME while living in Srn Illinois so know it's great - even in the winter. If I did, however, I wouldn't do any more ring cleaning - too many changes to know what's happening. And I really want to continue the cleaning.

I recognize that in my single period with AME I turtured the AME by not changing the bypass element when moving from Rotella T Synth. But, even if I discount the time with AME, the wear numbers are down significantly from the uncontaminated Rotella (with a bypass filter) to the HDD without a bypass and the delta continues to increase.

I really appreciate the value of your experience - especially with TDIs. And moving to a formula that minimizes wear will come, but not until I do some more ring cleaning in a somewhat controlled environment. I've been holding off the bypass filter and biodiesel cleaning as well because I wanted to see the results of the PowerFoam cleaning.

 

[Neil Womack]

Andy use that grease I gave you yet?

Your best FE reading was 5.1 ppm per thousand miles. Is the stuck ring pack causing?

 

[Andy H]

Hey Neil -

It was good to meet you at the TDI gathering last month! And no, Buddy - I didn't take the grease you offered - you were just trying to get the satellite image of me with a Schaeffer product in my hands to send to Bob.

I'll send you some grease that won't wash off your hands - just say the word. Plain brown wrapper, of course!

Yeah - the ring thing is still in progress. I decided earlier not to tear the engine down as was suggested and have been trying chemical cleaning. Time will tell, but it's looking better.

 

[TooSlick]

Andy,

You need to rule out the use of the SAE 5w-30 as a contributing factor in this iron and chrome wear. I strongly suggest running the Amsoil 10w-40 or 15w-40 for the summer and see if these levels don't drop significantly.

A high mileage engine will often show significantly lower wear rates with an oil that is one SAE grade thicker....I've had outstanding results with both the Amsoil 10w-40 and 15w-40 here in northern Alabama. In fact, 75% of my local TDI customers are running either the 10w-40 or 15w-40, with the rest running the Series 3000.

Ted

 

[Andy H]

Ted,

You have a local TDI Fleet -- are you seeing differences in wear rates for 'non-ring-impared' TDIs running AME and HDD?

Or was your recommendation specific to my car? You recommended that I move to the 15w40 earlier...

 

[TexasTDI]

I've been running AMSOIL 15w-40 in my TDI for the last 30k miles. From 70k to present. I'm about to change the oil and have it analysed. Will post results here.

I'll be switching to the new AMSOIL 5w-40 to see how it performs. And I'll have that oil analysed after 10k miles of use to see how it compares to the 15w-40.