Der Kimbo

When I lock the car, the xenons will flicker on and off a few times 5 - 10 sec after locking the car (Just the xenons no other lights).

I've also noticed there it a LOT of oil blow by. I park the car backards in the garage, and the wall is spattered with oil.

Anyone else notice these things?

DrGP

and the Alusil cylinder walls, it takes excessively long for the piston rings to seat(if they ever completely do). PLUS the synthetic oil does not help the break in process.

RI A6

My UOA on the factory oil (turns out it is from the factory and not changed out by the dealer, like I was previous told by the sales manager) at 1800 miles indicates that it is extremely weak and shears down quickly. This will contribute to large blow-by. In addition, there is high fuel dilution of the oil in the early days, causing further breakdown of the oil.

I used an aggressive break-in and it appears that oil consumption is now under control. I also changed to Elf, which was designed to be shear-stable under high performance conditions. We'll see if that's true when I get my oil analysis back next week.

For break-in on this beast, I would recommend some hard acceleration and deceleration in 2nd and 3rd gear to provide maximum wear-in of the rings. But, I'd advise not even coming close to full throttle, since with the blow-by we're getting early on, a whole bunch of fuel will end up in the oil, under homogeneous injection mode, causing additional shear. I'd also suggest allowing time for cool down between 2nd and 3rd gear runs, to keep from developing hot spots on bearing surfaces, along with mostly highway driving for the first 1K miles. If I had to do it over again, Id change out oil in the 1st 600 miles, then again at 1200 miles, rather than waiting until 1800 miles like I did. I'd also not use a 0W-40 oil, like Mobil 1, since these oils tend to shear to 30W quickly, and will have higher oil consumption. Elf Excellium LDX 5W-40 seems to run well in this engine. I suspect Motul 8100 5W-40 and Pentosin 5W-40 will also run well.

RI A6

That's when ring seal is weakest. Get out and drive the car like it's meant to be driven. At least you'll enjoy loosing oil!

RSfizzy

Don't let the engine idle during the break-in period or for the life of the engine?

RI A6

you should never let any engine idle when the oil is cold.

RSfizzy

I live in Colorado and during the winter, I always thought that it was a good idea to let your car idle to warm the engine up before you drove it. Is this not correct? Please explain as the snow will fly here in two months.

RI A6

Maximum wear occurs at initial startup. After that point, if there is no load on the engine and rings, you'll have maximum blow-by, which causes fuel dilution in the oil. This increases overall wear and reduces cold weather protection. It's best to start her up and drive her off, staying at low RPMs until the oil is up to temperature.

Here's a BITOG post on the subject<ul><li><a href="http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=42;t=003742#000021" >http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=42;t=003742#000021</a</li></ul>

ocelot27

The engine idles fast for the first 20 secs or so presumably to get oil pressure up and get things flowing - I usually wait a few secs after I start until I drive then wait until I have temp of about 140 to go ***** out.

RSfizzy

WIll do, thanks for clearing that up for me.