[s-cars] Synthetic oil weight rec's

Sat Jul 3 01:14:13 PDT 2010

Having just added an E46 M3 to the fleet, whose high revving motor puts some
high demands on lubricants, and where the topic of oil use is a topic of
religioius jihad furor akin to making cartoons of certain prophets... I
thought I'd add the views on alternative-oil choices from those M3 infidels
who have brashly chosen to not follow the OEM scripture for that car... note
much of this re-inforces what folks here have said:

- Castrol TWS (the euro "special M3 oil BMW says only use it or your engine
will spontaneously explode") is very good, BUT $$$$ and might not be as good
as newer products from others (however stating this opinion can get you
stabbed in a dark alley by an OEM zealot).  I'd never bother to put this in
a non BMW-M car, but if you want "the real euro Castrols" this is one of
them.
- Rotella full syn very highly regarded especially seems by guys who run
cars hard / track
- The 'good' M1 seems still well regarded however mixed views of "what is in
which bottle"
- Truck fleet synthetics from Shell/Mobil get thumbs up but retail
availability seems challenging
- Redline / Motul / LubroMoly are the boutique darkhorses, seem to be
excellent oils but some views that 'better for track than street' concerning
warm-up time, real engine temps and the like (aka on street the motor runs
too cold etc.).
- Syntec not particularly notable and a lot more 'what is in which bottle'
debates

I'm on M1 for the S6 and it hardly burns a drop unless I go LONG times
between changes (which I don't). Think I did Syntec a few times too which I
used to run in the 200TQA, didn't notice lifter tick but didn't track or
anything... the Syntec might have burned a bit more...

For M3 I'm undecided... it's got the TWS now, might try the Rotella, or the
best M1 I can get (don't tell anybody) or default back to the OEM TWS, but I
am of a mind to fight the power, just on principle that it's stupid to say
"nobody can possibly make an oil as exactly perfect as TWS for this car!!!
it is the one and only exactly perfect oil!!!".

Wife's A3 is one of the 2.0T oil consumers so I'll be trying alternates as
soon as we're off the CPO maintenance... Any views on that would be welcome.

+1 to the bobtheoilguy site if you want to get retardedly anal about your
oil choice research.

---- current ----
1995.5 S6 Avant
2003 E46 M3 Cic
2008 A3 2.0tDSG
---- past lives ----
2006 A4 2.0TQA
1998 A6Q 2.8 PES G2
1989 200TQA SJM
1990 CQ
1997 A4 1.8TQ Wett
1987 4kCSQ

John J. Cunningham
jc at j2c3.com
US Mobile +1 (617) 750-5025
China Mobile: +86 (0) 136 6080 9560

> -----Original Message-----
> From: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> [mailto:s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of Wylie Bean
> Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 2:39 AM
> To: LL - NY; s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com; Taka Mizutani
> Cc: S-CAR list
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Synthetic oil weight rec's
>
> One reason for my switch was consumption. Using Castrol GTX
> 20W-50 I was experiencing fairly heavy consumption.  I ended
> up going with M1 15W50 so we'll see how it goes this interval.
>
> Wylie Bean
> TheRingmeister at triad.rr.com
> 90 cq
> 91 90q20v
> 92 UrS4
> 08 Q7 3.6
> Sent on the SprintR Now Network from my BlackBerryR
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LL - NY <larrycleung at gmail.com>
> Sender: s-car-list-bounces at audifans.com
> Date: Fri, 2 Jul 2010 20:16:44
> To: Taka Mizutani<t44tqtro at gmail.com>
> Cc: S-CAR list<s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Synthetic oil weight rec's
>
> I had plenty of lifter tick using Syntec after a hard run on
> my 200 10VT.
> The few times I tried autocrossing the 200 (not worth it,
> IMHO) the lifter tick would take as much as 1/2 hour after a
> run to subside. There was still lifter tick with M1 (closest
> weight as possible to the Castrol, M1 15W50 vs.
> Syntec 10W-50), but it was much less severe and lasted for
> much shorter periods. Since then quit using Syntec. No such
> problems using M1 in the S6, although there has been more
> consumption (as in, there is some) using 15W50. I've had no
> consumption running M1 10W30.
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 8:24 AM, Taka Mizutani
> <t44tqtro at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > My big problems with Syntec 5W50 were twofold:
> >
> > 1. massive lifter tick on startup after the oil change on a cold
> > engine, every time.
> > 2. big jump in oil consumption
> >
> > Observed in a sample of 3 cars- '86 5ktq with 170k, '91
> 200q with 120k
> > and
> > '01 VW NB from new.
> >
> > After that, I stopped using it.
> >
> > Taka
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 1, 2010 at 12:49 PM, mike schowengerdt
> > <urdrquattro at yahoo.com
> > >wrote:
> >
> > > i spend 50-60 hrs @week servicing and repairing nothing
> but audi-vw
> > > and have used 5w50 casrtrol syntec in all turbo motors
> for the last
> > > ~15 years w/ nothing but good results............my
> experience, of
> > > course YMMV........................m
> > >
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