Oil recommendations and questions here - The Definitive S2 Oil thread

[oilman]

Hi

The Magnatec is a decent 5w-40, but there are others to consider.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-656-5w-40.aspx

Out of those, the best ones are the Fuchs/Silkolene Pro S, Millers CFS/CFS NT, Motul Sport/300V, Red Line and Gulf Competition. The Motul 8100 X-Cess, Millers XF Longlife, Fuchs GT1 XTL/Supersyn, Gulf Formula G/ULE, Shell Helix, Castrol Magnatec and Mobil Super 3000 are good, cheaper alternatives.

Cheers

Tim

[domas]

Hi oilman/Tim... I guess this was asked before..
But here goes my question.
I am running an Audi 200 20v - basically same 3b engine as early s2. Due to the fact that I am from the region where the quality oils are difficult to acquire (a lot of fakes) only selected brands are available for me as I trust those dealers.
Castrol and Valvoline it is.
What complicates me more, is the situation in my car: not used for any sports events, but aggressively (full throttle/redline etc) when i am happy, AND here comes the sad one: low oil pressure. I don't want to overhaul the bottom end yet. With most 10w40 oils I get 1 bar at idle Normal pressure on cold engine and rpms over 2000 though. for this reason I am using Castrol edge Semi-synth 10w60 oil. That increases pressure on idle to 1,5bar. When oil is a little over 100c, it drops to 1,3bar. But still an increase over 10w40 oil.

Should I:
stick to what I am using now Castrol edge Semi-synth 10w60
Acquire Valvoline VR1 Racing SAE 10W-60 semi-synth http://www.valvolineeurope.com/serbi...?category=cars
Acquire Valvoline VR1 Racing 5W-50 full synth http://www.valvolineeurope.com/engli..._racing__5w-50

I know I am not supposed to use full synth oil in an old engine with 270.000km on the clock.

Long story short, I want to choose correct oil based on the fact that my pressure is low, not because I drive it like a maniac.

p.s. just for the sake of interest - what the hell is this used for? http://www.valvolineeurope.com/engli..._racing_20w-50

[oilman]

Hi

I would use the 5w-50, it's a better oil than a semi and synthetics are fine in older engines.

The VR1 20w-50 is for classic engines and is very popular for classic races.

Cheers

Tim

[domas]

Thanks for the advice Tim

In general, how does the fact of low oil pressure play in my selection of oils, or it should not matter?

[oilman]

Pressure isn't as important as a lot of people think. Flow is more important than pressure and high pressure can be damaging, so you don't want to use anything too thick to increase pressure, but reduces flow.

Cheers

Tim

[domas]

I see.

So most likely I is not necessarily meaning that my crank bearings are on the way out?

[oilman]

Hi

Probably now.

Cheers

Tim

[Thuppu]

I see.

So most likely I is not necessarily meaning that my crank bearings are on the way out?

Try to shim the oil pump relief valve spring with a 3-4mm washer and tell us did you gain any pressure.

[domas]

Try to shim the oil pump relief valve spring with a 3-4mm washer and tell us did you gain any pressure.

Hi and thanks for advice. Probably I will not go that far and try another used, but a known good pump.
Can you tell me more about the process and how to interpret it? Are you referring to tired/faulty relief valve? I only have a critical pressure with hot oil at idle.


Tim/Oilman - another question for you about the name of synthetic-blend.
From what I experienced before, I always knew that there were 3 types of oils for standard passenger cars:
a) Mineral oil
b) semi-synthetic
c) synthetic oil

Where the hell is synthetic-blend in this list??
According to mobil 1 and some other sources it is the same as semi-synthetic: http://www.mobil1.co.in/academy/what.aspx

There are also semi-synthetic oils, which are a blend of synthetic oils and conventional mineral oils. Semi-synthetic oils are also sometimes called "blends".

You, however market a blend as a Premium Synthetic oil:
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-73740-va...ngine-oil.aspx even though it seems to say synthetic-blend on the can.
Which seems to be different from Full Synthetic, as you omit word "full" here.

Generally when searched on google, most of american sources have 2 or 3 types of oil:
a) regular (read: mineral)
b) synthetic
c) and some sources include synthetic-blend which is often referred to as problematic as nobody knows what ratio of synthetic there is.

But here in Europe we have a little more and I am totally lost now. I can't find a single source explaining them all:

a) mineral oil (often called as regular oil, especially in USA)
b) Semi-synthetic, which until now was what I thought as mineral oil blended with synthetic additives etc etc
c) synthetic-blend
d) synthetic
e) premium synthetic?
f) full synthetic

What is the same and what is not? b) to e) is totally unclear now.



On a a semi-related note, after changing from Castrol Edge Sport 10w60 full synthetic to Valvoline VR1 10w60 synth-blend the pressure dropped even more (critical at idle with hot oil if I believed the gauge) Will be soon putting a manual pressure tester to see, as those dash gauges are so unreliable.

Valvoline VR1 is the same you have on your website.
Technical specifications for castrol and valvoline are attached, can this be a reason for decreased pressure with VR1 over Castrol?
Viscosity in vr1 is 23 vs 24 in castrol at 100C
and 158 vs 157 at 40C respectively, so cold VR1 is actually thicker.
Viscosity index is just as close. So I guess it should not matter?

[oilman]

Hi

A semi synthetic and synthetic blend are the same thing, part mineral oil, part synthetic. There is no indication of how much of it is synthetic. I've just asked the website team to correct the listing for the VR1 as it should be listed as a semi/blend.

The oil groups to consider are via the link below, the rest are all marketing names for one or other of the 5 groups.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/tech-articles/Basestock-categories-and-Descriptions.pdf

I'm not sure why the pressure would have varied with the change from Edge to Valvoline, but it shouldn't make too much difference.

Cheers

Tim

[domas]

Hi

A semi synthetic and synthetic blend are the same thing, part mineral oil, part synthetic. There is no indication of how much of it is synthetic. I've just asked the website team to correct the listing for the VR1 as it should be listed as a semi/blend.

The oil groups to consider are via the link below, the rest are all marketing names for one or other of the 5 groups.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/tech-articles/Basestock-categories-and-Descriptions.pdf

Thank you Tim.

I'm not sure why the pressure would have varied with the change from Edge to Valvoline, but it shouldn't make too much difference.

Cheers

Tim

neither do I, but it may just be a coincidence, change in ambient temps, and change in unreliability of the gauge in the dash

Pressure will be properly checked in the end of the month.

Thanks again

Domas

[Thuppu]

Hi and thanks for advice. Probably I will not go that far and try another used, but a known good pump.
Can you tell me more about the process and how to interpret it? Are you referring to tired/faulty relief valve? I only have a critical pressure with hot oil at idle.

It's a lot easier to test with the shim compared to try another oil pump. Just take out the oil temp sender and put the shim under the spring. It's like 10min job.

http://rosten-performance.com/products/engineparts-gasoline/oilsystem/oilpumps/shims-for-oilpump-5cyl/

I have done it, and yes, it rised the idle pressure some. Not as much as Rosten claims, but something like +0.5 bar

[domas]

Oh ok - I wasn't aware that it was so easy.
Thank you

[bartolomeus]

Hi Tim,

What would you recommend at this moment, brand and type of engine oil for RS2 with stage 1 chip, driven in the summer 30+ degrees C ?
And in the winter, -10 degrees C ?

Cheers.

[oilman]

Any idea how hot the oil is getting when driven hard?

Cheers

Tim