Are Castrol Syntec 5w40 and Pennzoil Platinum Euro Formula 5w40 group III synthetics?
I want to use auto-rx in my 1.8t VW Jetta, I don't think I have sludge issues (they are more prominent on the passat), have 100k on the car. I don't want to run a dino oil, am I going to get a good cleaning with auto-rx and the 2 syth oils listed above? I want pour a whole bottle in for 3,000 miles with the castrol syntec, then run a 5k oil change without auto-rx using the pennzoil euro 5w40, then run another 3k using a whole bottle of auto-rx with castrol syntec, then go back to the pennzoil platinum euro.
There's no real end to how long you can leave Auto-Rx in there. Auto-Rx won't wear out. It's just that there's no way for Frank to see inside your engine to determine its condition.
That might make for an interesting test/experiment. Having a known dirty engine - using a suitable oil that has some longer drain capability and just changing filters out and topping up for some protracted mileage. It would be more complicated than you would want to configure in instructions (as simple as they are in concept), but would be interesting none the less.
I am a bit curious as to what the thought process is running Castrol Syntec in the cleaning mode and then Pennsoil Platinum for the rinse. It sounds to me that this 1.8t is in need of two cleaning and rinses. On the first go around, I would follow the application for heavy sludge, which involves changing out oil filters at the mid point of both the cleaning and rinse phases along the 3000 mile operation recomendation.
On the second go around I would consider running both the cleaning phase and rinse phase for longer runs, perhaps a full 5000 mile run, both cleaning and rinsing. I say this on the second go around, because it is quite likely during the first application a much larger amount of contamination will be removed. Call it the easier to clean sludge deposits. On the second application longer dwell time will be beneficial because the remaining deposits will have been backed on over a longer period of time. This tend to make the rate of ARX dissolving the deposits take a bit longer. Besides after running the initial cleaning, you might as well get your moneies worth out of the oil and ARX on the second go around, you are going to be running a group III which should esily handle 5000 mile OCI's in this 1.8t.
Well, I was thinking running the auto-rx with the castrol syntec and the the pennzoil platinum or ultra (if they have it) european formula without it as the pennzoil synth oil has more cleaning agents in it than the castrol.
I really don't think I have sludge issues on this car, so I'll take your advice and run a full 5,000 miles on the 2nd cleaning with auto-rx. I'll do 4,000 miles on this first cleaning I'm on and change the filter at 2,000 miles.
So here's my 1.8t/synth plan...
castrol syntec with auto-rx for 4k miles, switch filter at 2k pennzoil platinum(ultra if they have it) for 5k castrol syntec with auto-rx for 5k miles, switch filter at 2.5k back to pennzoil platinum/ultra
Do I need to switch my filter out halfway during the second run with auto-rx?
I would say if you have a relatively clean engine already (no over-extended oil change intervals in engine's history and you have always used synthetic oil), then there should not be a big need to change the oil filter mid-run as you would normally do for a sludge application. If you want to do this on the first clean/rinse cycles, that might be a good precautionary measure. If you can cut open the used oil filter cans (for spin-on filters) to see the amount of stuff that the filter media caught on the first clean and rinse, this will give you an idea of how much the oil filter is loading, and that in turn will give you a better idea if the filters need changed mid-run on the second clean/rinse cycle.
It never can hurt to change the filter early other than the additional cost of the extra filters. Also, on the clean cycle, you may lose a bit of your Auto-Rx % concentration in the sump when changing the filter mid-run, unless of course you add a bit of Auto-Rx to make up for it. Not a big deal IMO.
BTW, Rotella T6 5W-40 is a good synthetic oil alternative to the either of the other two oils you mentioned- readily available and not too pricey at WM.
-- Edited by bmwtechguy on Wednesday 14th of July 2010 10:37:11 PM
Good tips... I think I'll hold off then on changing the filter mid run even if it's my first time using auto-rx. This car has always had synthetic changes at 5k, and has no symptoms of sludge. I was going to do it to be on the safe side but it sounds like overkill... and kind of a pain to do as well.
