# how to prevent carbon buildup



## cmosentine (Jun 3, 2008)

Hi all: Been reading some pretty disturbing posts in the FSI forum concerning carbon buildup on the intake valves. One option discussed was changing oil to one with ultra-low volatility, the reasoning being less oil vapor into the PCV system.
So out of the 502 approved oils, which ones have lower volatility? How do you know?


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## PrecisionTuning.ca (May 6, 2005)

*Re: how to prevent carbon buildup (cmosentine)*

Any group 4 oil will do the job. Avoid any and all 5W30 oils that are being marketed toward new VAG products.
Motul Specific 5W40
Lubromoly 0W40 (amazing oil with a high [zinc]
Lubromoly 5W40
AMSOIL 10W40 (Great oil with high [zinc]
AMSOIL 5W40 (Good but not great in my opinion)
Any of these oils will be great. 
Try using a good valve cleaner such as the one Lubromoly sells to keep the valves clean. 

Dont use 
Castrol, Valvoline, M1 or other super market oils. 99% they are made of inferior Group 3 oil which may work fine a NA engine but can not stand the high temp of your boosted motor


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: how to prevent carbon buildup (cmosentine)*

Redline, at NOACK volatility of 6%, and Renewable Lubricants Biosyn, have perhaps the lowest volatility of the oils available. Both are group V oils. If you want to learn why group V oils have the lowest volatility, read this article: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...52272 The polarity of group V oils may also lead them to have additional benefits in reducing valve deposits besides the lower volatility because they may clean better. These are not 502 oils and neither is Amsoil. Amsoil group IV oils should have lower volatility also. 
If you want low volatility and must use a 502 oil you should find out the NOACK volatility of the various oils. German Castrol is a 502 oil and as i remember has a NOACK of 9%. Pentosynth I believe has a low Noack number for a 502 oil, but you'd need to check. Also look into Motul and Lubromoly Noack, as mentioned above.
If you want more info. on redline, read here: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4433118


_Modified by saaber2 at 8:56 AM 6-20-2009_


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

Redline is not an approved oil by VW...is the reason political or goegraphic?
I would use Redline, but for now 0W40 mobil 1


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: (meb58)*

They don't seem to care about testing for manufacturers from what I have heard. They seem to be focused on making the best oil they can make, irregardless of manufacturers' individual specs. For example, they use high anti-wear additives, much higher than allowed by the eco-centric API specs. In other words, they are not developing an oil "down" to certain specifications. They are trying to make the most shear stable, most wear resistant oil they can. 
I think you could probably say the same for some other smaller oil companies such as Amsoil and Renewable Lubricants as well. These companies don't seem to be too focused on having their brand printed on the oil cap of new cars or being sold in supermarkets, but in the case of redline, they do seem to be focused on the racing and enthusiast market.


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

I use Redline products in my other car - out of warranty. It still pulls very stong with 170,000 miles on it.


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## gehr (Jan 28, 2004)

*Re: (meb58)*

Mobil 1 0W40 currently at 175,000 miles.


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## webster426 (Jun 23, 2009)

*Re: (gehr)*

i use mobil 1 5w/30 syn......am I way wrong or what? I used this oil because VW recommended 5w/30 or 5w/40 and my other car uses 5w/20 or 5w/30. I obviously wanted to buy a case of the same oil. Bad decision? Or is this O.K.?








I know the oil is approved.....but is it not so good? The engine has had a problem with burning the oil....


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: (webster426)*


_Quote, originally posted by *webster426* »_i use mobil 1 5w/30 syn......am I way wrong or what? I used this oil because VW recommended 5w/30 or 5w/40 and my other car uses 5w/20 or 5w/30. I obviously wanted to buy a case of the same oil. Bad decision? Or is this O.K.?








I know the oil is approved.....but is it not so good? The engine has had a problem with burning the oil....

IMO the m1 5w30 is one of their poorer oils. If you want to stick with Mobil, the M1 TDT 5W40 is an excellent oil. It has a much stronger additive package and is more shear stable than both 5W30 and 0W40. Check out these excellent results on a Porsche Boxster (Delvac1 is the same oil as M1 TDT 5W40). http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/...08842 This is much, much better than the results I got using M1 0W40 on my old boxster S. I wouldn't have dared use M1 5w30 in that car. Also m1 5W40 is a "mixed fleet" lubricant meaning you can use it in diesel or gas cars, so don't let the "diesel" word on the front scare you.


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## nltomba (Jan 30, 2007)

*Re: (meb58)*


_Quote, originally posted by *meb58* »_Redline is not an approved oil by VW...is the reason political or goegraphic?
I would use Redline, but for now 0W40 mobil 1

not approved does not mean diapproved.
I use one of the best oils in my Touareg and it is not VW approved


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

*Re: (nltomba)*

Great information!


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## bcze1 (Feb 6, 2007)

*Re: (nltomba)*


_Quote, originally posted by *nltomba* »_
not approved does not mean diapproved.


For the purpose of protecting potential warranty claims, yes it does.


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## nltomba (Jan 30, 2007)

*Re: (bcze1)*

Did you suck that out of your thumb or do you have info on that?
by the way I use amsoil in my touareg and in my accord hybrid


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

Saaber2,
So...switching from M1 5W30 SH to M1 5W40 TDT might be a good idea if I have 170,000 miles on my rig? I've been using the SH which is a approved for long oil change intervals, but rarely does an oil change interval exceed 3,500 miles with filter.
Factory oil change interval is 10,000 miles - YIKES!


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: (meb58)*


_Quote, originally posted by *meb58* »_Saaber2,
So...switching from M1 5W30 SH to M1 5W40 TDT might be a good idea if I have 170,000 miles on my rig? I've been using the SH which is a approved for long oil change intervals, but rarely does an oil change interval exceed 3,500 miles with filter.
Factory oil change interval is 10,000 miles - YIKES!

I think you will get much less shear with the m1 TDT 5W40 compared to m1 5W30. Also the additive pack (cleaning and anti-wear) is stronger. This is a tougher oil and can better withstand the abuse that a 2.0 FSI can dish out. You may have a little better oil pressure with this oil as well. Also Rotella synthetic 5W40 should give better results than M1 5W40 TDT for less money but we haven't seen any UOAs on it yet in this engine. It does great on Subi turbos that also beat up oil. Very strong additive pack. The thicker oil (5W40 compared to 30 weight) may give you a slight mileage hit (1mpg?) but better for wear and longevity.
Also, if you have that many miles I assume lots of highway driving? If so, you may get results similar to adeere's runs on the 2.o FSI which were 99% highway. He had a couple oils that did great even up to 10k changes. Adeere's runs are the only runs in the database where the oil appears to have done well with that long of an OCI. So if you are running mostly all highway and you use a stout oil, I bet you can stretch your OCI significantly, maybe all the way to 10k but I would try 5k with a UOA first and if that looks good then 7500 with a UOA, and if that looks fine, then 10k w UOA.


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## Guack007 (Mar 1, 2004)

*Re: how to prevent carbon buildup (PrecisionTuning.ca)*


_Quote, originally posted by *PrecisionTuning.ca* »_
Any group 4 oil will do the job. Avoid any and all 5W30 oils that are being marketed toward new VAG products.
Motul Specific 5W40
Lubromoly 0W40 (amazing oil with a high [zinc]
Lubromoly 5W40
AMSOIL 10W40 (Great oil with high [zinc]
AMSOIL 5W40 (*Good but not great* in my opinion)
*Any of these oils will be great.*


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

*Re: (saaber2)*

Saaber2,
The car in question, my daily driver is an 05 JCW Mini making 218hp in GP trim...or was when new. The supercharger beats up the air pretty good adding to heat stress during those hot and humid days.
Higway mileage is about 70% of the daily grind. I'm assuming a heavier oil will also help with an engine that is a wee bit loose now, but not using or burning oil.


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## saaber2 (Jul 15, 2008)

*Re: (meb58)*

Sorry, i assumed VAG car. JCW is an awesome car. Drove an S and it was a blast with much less hp than yours. Front wheels loved to spin. What weight oil is speced for that car? I've been wanting to try redline 5W30 or 10W30 in the 2.0 FSI as a test to see mpg change while still maintaining adequate anti-wear. It's high temperature High Shear (HTHS) viscosity is 3.8 cP, higher than most 40 weight VW 502 oils despite being a 30 weight. f.e m1 0W40 is 3.7 cP. 
Also it uses mostly group V POE basestocks (the most shear stable kind), has high ZDDP, lots of Moly DTC, and high detergent additives. In other words, "it's freakin' loaded". Volatility is about the lowest you can get and they don't use viscosity index improvers on those oils. I would go with the redline 10W30 for that car (way, way better protection than the m1 5W30 IMO) or 5w30 for the cold months. Or if you want something thicker use 5w40. The redline 5W40 has shown excellent shear stability and possibly the lowest wear rates so far for the 2.0 FSI. Here is a redline write up I did FYI: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4433118


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## meb58 (Jun 22, 2009)

M1 5W30SH or Castrol Syntech 5W30
Unfortunately, I drive about 3,000 miles a month...Redline might be a tad expensive. I do use their gear oil and did use their oil when tracking the car...the car is too old now...or written another way, college payments are more important than a chassis rebuild...for now.
FWIW The additional hp in the JCW doesn't show up as a significant advantage at the track when either is driven well. The Glen shows a bigger difference but even then it's not a walk away difference.

_Modified by meb58 at 11:37 AM 7-1-2009_


_Modified by meb58 at 11:37 AM 7-1-2009_


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