What oil do you use?

[m4xmw]

I`m running a 1990 90 2.3E.
Engine is NG type.

Currently running on 15w40 that meets the Audi spec.(I buy 25litres for under £20)

What oil does everyone else use???

Mark

[brd]

Pretty much any standard engine oil around 10W40 - 15W40 for petrol engines that you find in the local stores is fine. Most important is to keep the oil and filter changes regular as the book says.

[JohnnyBee]

Running a turbomotor has its drawbacks at times, particularly where lubrication is concerned, so I always use full-synthetic 5W40; I have got it as cheaply as £3.20 per litre buying it by the 20 litre barrel, but the usual suspects normally charge between £4.40 and £5.20.
I dunno, but I'd rather use top-quality stuff than have to pull the motor down for a rebuild!
JB.

[brd]

oops... I could see this happening...
Its a long discussion with supersports bikes too... the "synthese is best" discussion. In fact, it is quite often not as they are not equipped with the detergent etc properties of "standard oils" as they are designed for performance engines which have very regular oil changes (I raced bikes for a few years).

If you care about your darling... don't necessarily buy the cheapest... but don't get caught up either in what is not actually designed for what you have nor for the use it will have.

[JohnnyBee]

I can see where you're coming from on this one, Bri, but the 'ain't necessarily so' angle is generally used to justify not using top-notch (read, expensive) oils in motors.
Of course it isn't going to matter if you're changing the oil every 1 or 2000 miles; the stuff hasn't had chance to degrade or even colour up with that little use.
Further, it doesn't really matter whether you've got a 20-year-old boat anchor for an engine or a state-of-the-art all alloy/ magnesium F1 lump; the oil in both cases is there for two purposes; primarily for bearing lubrication, and secondly the removal of heat from critical components.
Any old oil with do the first job, but the second one is a lot more difficult to quantify, particularly when you introduce the time factor into the equation.
That lump of machinery hanging off the exhaust manifold gets bloody hot even on go-to-work journeys, never mind when it gets up onto boost.
The oil that's going through the shaft bearings also gets bloody hot, locally up to 400 degrees C, which is well inside the range at which normal cheapo multigrades start to 'crack off' and lose their properties.
The other issue is what happens when you turn off; with standard oils the residual oil in the head and other hotspots (turbo?) sits there and fries, steadily building up heavy carbon particles that will be eventually washed down to the sump.
Anyone remember the Ford CVH engine?
That was a classic case, where black gunge would eventually block the pump strainer and drop the oil pressure to zero - and that wasn't even on turbomotors!
I think perhaps you got it right when someone said that it's down to the sort of use the motor gets, and that's a reasonable stance to take; however from a pure engineering standpoint I'd still have to say that you have to cater for all eventualities, hence using synthetic in any turbo application.
JB.

[m4xmw]

Good replys so far but I`m not doubting how good certain oils are and their chemical composition, just wanted to know what everyone was using.

I only use decent ester based motorcycle oil in my Honda vfr 800...high shear strength etc...
I just couldnt justify using a pricey oil in my Audi, when the OEM spec is nothing fancy.

Obviously the oil and filter gets changed frequently.

Any more brands that others use?

Cheers in advance

Mark

[m4xmw]

What grade magnatec is it?

10w40?
15w40?

thats the main ask... I`m not sure whether of not to use 10w40 instead of 15w40..

regards
Mark