SUNRG
Top Post Dawg
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2003
- Location
- Roanoke, VA
- TDI
- None currently. Previously owned 04 Golf TDI & 05 Passat GLS Wagon TDI
http://sustainablepower.net/TDI/VW-AUDI_Oil_Spec_Article.pdf
Many of you may remember Herve Blanquart helped the TDIclub community understand the 505.01 specification in the Fall of 2003 when he was working with Motul. Herve is now with ELF and recently wrote an article on VW/Audi Oil Specifications which was published in its entirety in "Quattro Quarterly" thanks to Paul Rivera.
Below are questions I asked Herve regarding the article, followed by his email reply.
-- My email to Herve:
Herve, this is a great document, thanks for putting it together and Laurent thank you for sharing it with me. I’m very interested in understanding these oil specifications and I just have a couple of questions…
You wrote:
<ul type="square">More troublesome is the fact that the minimum HTHS (High Temperature High Shearing) viscosity of 2.9cP that the SAE requires for xW30 and xW40 oils has been judged insufficient by most German car manufacturers to prevent wear on the cams and bearings…[/list]Is ELF Evolution CRV 506.01 with a HTHS of 2.9 – 3.4 capable of preventing wear on cams and bearings as well as a 505.01 oil with an HTHS minimum of 3.5?
<ul type="square"> … Models after 2000 came with an option to use the 503.00/506.00 generation of oil, with better fuel economy (thinner viscosity), but mostly a 30,000 kilometer or once-every-two-years oil drain interval!! This switch did not come smoothly, and two “interim” standards, 503.01 and 505.01, were created to address the needs of specific “higher stress” engines which did not take well the thinner viscosity of 503.00/506.00, until the release of 506.01 which solves these problems.[/list]If engine protection and longevity were your top priorities would you use ELF Evolution CRV 506.01 or ELF Excellium DID 505.01 in your PD TDI?
-- Herve's reply:
I wrote the article to tackle the current situation of the US market. 502.00 appeared in the mid 90's. The current VW standards in Europe are 10 years ahead of that. The article was "simplified" to address the US-enthusiast-Audi clientele (notice: I did not even go into ACEA Diesel standards).
It is indeed possible to reconcile a better fuel economy with wear protection, and it is possible to do so with an HTHS between 2.9 and 3.5. It is harder, though, and <u>much more expensive</u>: the base stocks have to "pick up the slack" that a thinner viscosity will create. Group IV and Group V will be used more freely, and in any case, it will be specific base stocks that will be identified and registered by VW in the use of a formulation that meets 506.01.
Between 506.01 and 505.01, if price is no object, I'll take 506.01 without hesitation. There are between 5 and 8 years of technology separating the two...
Notice that VW AG allows intervals with 506.01 up to 50000 km (31000 miles !!) or every 2 years. You still have to check your oil level and top-off before that (the best oils still have a "natural" volatility when brought to high temperature), but 506.01 is like "super-oil", it does it all: long intervals, fuel economy, anti-wear...
Herve Blanquart
ELF sales agent - Western US
Many thanks to Herve for sharing this info with the TDIclub!
Cheers!
Many of you may remember Herve Blanquart helped the TDIclub community understand the 505.01 specification in the Fall of 2003 when he was working with Motul. Herve is now with ELF and recently wrote an article on VW/Audi Oil Specifications which was published in its entirety in "Quattro Quarterly" thanks to Paul Rivera.
Below are questions I asked Herve regarding the article, followed by his email reply.
-- My email to Herve:
Herve, this is a great document, thanks for putting it together and Laurent thank you for sharing it with me. I’m very interested in understanding these oil specifications and I just have a couple of questions…
You wrote:
<ul type="square">More troublesome is the fact that the minimum HTHS (High Temperature High Shearing) viscosity of 2.9cP that the SAE requires for xW30 and xW40 oils has been judged insufficient by most German car manufacturers to prevent wear on the cams and bearings…[/list]Is ELF Evolution CRV 506.01 with a HTHS of 2.9 – 3.4 capable of preventing wear on cams and bearings as well as a 505.01 oil with an HTHS minimum of 3.5?
<ul type="square"> … Models after 2000 came with an option to use the 503.00/506.00 generation of oil, with better fuel economy (thinner viscosity), but mostly a 30,000 kilometer or once-every-two-years oil drain interval!! This switch did not come smoothly, and two “interim” standards, 503.01 and 505.01, were created to address the needs of specific “higher stress” engines which did not take well the thinner viscosity of 503.00/506.00, until the release of 506.01 which solves these problems.[/list]If engine protection and longevity were your top priorities would you use ELF Evolution CRV 506.01 or ELF Excellium DID 505.01 in your PD TDI?
-- Herve's reply:
I wrote the article to tackle the current situation of the US market. 502.00 appeared in the mid 90's. The current VW standards in Europe are 10 years ahead of that. The article was "simplified" to address the US-enthusiast-Audi clientele (notice: I did not even go into ACEA Diesel standards).
It is indeed possible to reconcile a better fuel economy with wear protection, and it is possible to do so with an HTHS between 2.9 and 3.5. It is harder, though, and <u>much more expensive</u>: the base stocks have to "pick up the slack" that a thinner viscosity will create. Group IV and Group V will be used more freely, and in any case, it will be specific base stocks that will be identified and registered by VW in the use of a formulation that meets 506.01.
Between 506.01 and 505.01, if price is no object, I'll take 506.01 without hesitation. There are between 5 and 8 years of technology separating the two...
Notice that VW AG allows intervals with 506.01 up to 50000 km (31000 miles !!) or every 2 years. You still have to check your oil level and top-off before that (the best oils still have a "natural" volatility when brought to high temperature), but 506.01 is like "super-oil", it does it all: long intervals, fuel economy, anti-wear...
Herve Blanquart
ELF sales agent - Western US
Many thanks to Herve for sharing this info with the TDIclub!
Cheers!