I'm back. - did Arnie say that? Anyway, for those of you interested in oils and additives, there are a couple of sites which make amusing reading. "Bob is the Oil Guy" and "Oilem" are my two favourites. A couple of companies I've bought oils and additives from are "Powerenhancer" and the well known "Opie oils" both of which I've pestered with questions for info and who have patiently and politely answered them all. In my book, good people. I would also say that I personally think, as regards oil choice, buying he best quality oil you can afford always pays dividends. I would not "flirt" with cheaply bargain basement products, especially if you have a turboed engine.
My latest quest has come about because I've bought a SEAT IBIZA estate with the little 3cylinder 1 litre turboed direct injection petrol engine. This is the latest iteration of the TSI engine family with many improvements over the previous generation which had a bad reputation for reliability so I'm just a little nervous but there are also many plus points so I've decided to take my chances. One of the biggest troubles lurking for me in the future though is that of carbon fouling of the inlet tract and valves. Oilem has a big feature on this. Those of us running diesels will be aware of this problem VAG diesels, particularly my old VE type but also the PD's were very prone to it and there are many amusing you tube clips on people's efforts to clear them. Direct injection petrol engines (this design of engine, which is not exclusive to VAG products, have injectors which deliver the fuel directly into the cylinder of the engine, not the inlet manifold) because they do not spray fuel onto the back of the inlet valves thus cleaning them, are known to hard baked deposits on the back of the inlet valves which then interferes with the airflow and running of the engine. Additives which help to keep the inlet tracts clean can't work on the valves because it can't get near them. Well, I seem to have found one which minimises this problem. Archoil AR6900-P MAX. It's like the Wynns product in that you add it to every fill up. Who knows if it will work but, in maybe two or three years from now (or sooner if I get running issues) I'll be removing the inlet manifold and checking it out. Watch this space. It'll be a while but I'll keep you informed. Oh, it also claims to provide additional lubrication. There's direct injection petrol systems opperate at stratospherically high pressure, provided by a plunger type pump, so a little extra lube may go towards extending the pump and injector life.
Hope the mentions of interesting sites above doesn't break any site rules, obviously I only mention them because I found them useful, interesting and informative.
Regards to you all. Jock.