Red Line 5w50 VOA

[Engine45]

Especially in the FL heat I’d be all over the 5w50. A UOA comparison from you guys would be really neat too. I know we have some 0w40 tests from @FULLTHROTTLERICK ‘s truck already.

For buying it, eBay has been my go-to lately. They frequently run 10% off coupons and HRP is a Red Line dealer on there. Brings it down to $175-ish a case and always delivers in a couple days:

5W50

Doesn’t look like they have the regular 5w40 available at the moment. Just the euro is listed. Which is still good but it’s a mid-SAPS version with lower calcium and phosphorus.

On the reel. You are a national trx treasure

 

[Engine45]

Please God don’t make 1000 hp TRX 2026. I’m almost paid off and ready to mod it to the max.

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Please God don’t make 1000 hp TRX 2026. I’m almost paid off and ready to mod it to the max.

We’d all be better off with an OEM tuned 1000hp Rex with a full factory warranty than our random high hp builds that might go kaboom. That said, i get what ur saying 100%. If they came out with a new TRX on 40s from the factory, I would be taking a dump in my hand and throwing it at the wall

 

[KDTO_TRX]

FULLTHROTTLERICK,
Any update on Red Line 5w50? Have you changed your oil and had an oil analysis done?

 

[OnTheReel]

Long time coming but finally got everything together.

Sample #1 M1 5w50 (I posted earlier on the forum)
Sample #2 RL 5w50

Let’s get right to the numbers. M1 performed well, but iron wear rate with the Red Line was much lower yet. This is the big one on this platform. They tend to shed a lot of it so getting the rate this low is virtually unheard of. Especially on an engine pushing 15 PSI boost in a 6500lb brick. Subtracting the background 2 PPM iron found in the virgin sample left the rate at 2.89 PPM/ per 1000 miles. 62% lower than the universal average for all oils in the platform! Talk about having your cake and eating it. Adding more power and still seeing less wear!

Copper. This is one that can be sticky with these trucks. Absent any spikes in aluminum or tin we can assume leeching from the oil cooler, which is all it is here. Completely harmless. Typically, doing what I have done (changing oil chemistries back and forth) can make it worse. The copper passivates and then a different chemistry like the esters in Red Line will effectively strip that copper oxide layer and restart the process. I spoke to Lake Speed Jr. about this a little while back and he is working on some testing which hopefully will give us more information on the science behind the leeching. It’s not something that has been studied enough.

Viscosity. As expected, Red Line simply doesn’t shear and held up great. Which in big part contributed to the low wear rate. Think I’ve been pounding the table on viscosity enough now!

Finally, I didn’t want to make it all about E85 because this oil would work equally well with gasoline. But it’s impossible to ignore the impact of this fuel on the oil. Or more accurately, the lack of impact. It’s common to for people to say that if you run E85 you should change oil twice as often. The thinking would be that since you burn a lot more fuel than with straight gasoline, the opportunity for dilution is higher. This is flawed thinking because alcohol is so light, it’s gone before it ever really takes hold in the oil. Left behind is just water which is also quickly evaporated. Thus as expected, and as I’ve seen in the past on other vehicles, dilution was below detection limits. So basically nothing. Oil was clean in color, free of any smell and my catch can has been staying pretty much empty. I don’t have to baby sit it like I used to.

Thanks in big part to the clean fuel, TBN retention was also stellar, this oil has a LOT of life left! Good thing I didn’t change it! 4k would likely be no problem.

Some final thoughts/ operational notes:

I have a ton of fun with this truck and do WOT on-ramp pulls once or twice every time I take it out. That said, I’m sensible. I don’t run it hard until up to temp. I minimize idling, and don’t short trip it. My average speed for this interval was 43 MPH. Probably double what a city slicker would see. Anyway, my point is that these are easy things anyone can do to get better results with any product.

The worst test results I’ve seen with these Hemis are always short tripped, idled, or run hard with high oil temps. All scenarios which are made much worse when you use these sub-par factory spec oils that simply don’t have the MOFT and polarity to protect in anything less than ideal conditions.

Very pleased to say I have found my oil. I will probably turn the truck loose for awhile and NOT sample every change as I have done basically since I bought it. I had a lot of fun watching the progress but I sort of knew this would be where I would end up!

 

[KDTO_TRX]

Thanks for the update.

 

[saturnfire]

---
"The worst test results I’ve seen with these Hemis are always short tripped, idled, or run hard with high oil temps. All scenarios which are made much worse when you use these sub-par factory spec oils that simply don’t have the MOFT and polarity to protect in anything less than ideal conditions"
---

Unfortunately this is probably 40-50% of my driving -> Idle, short trips, etc. I try to offset with some longer runs, but it is what it is. Looks like we have a New Oil to use.

 

[916Ghost]

I just scored a case of 0-40w redline on eBay for $130 shipped to my door. I have been running 0-40w Amsoil. I have a 22’ new in February or 22’ and only have 11k miles. Been changing oil every 6 months. But after this case I might have to switch to the same 5-50w as @OnTheReel

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

---
"The worst test results I’ve seen with these Hemis are always short tripped, idled, or run hard with high oil temps. All scenarios which are made much worse when you use these sub-par factory spec oils that simply don’t have the MOFT and polarity to protect in anything less than ideal conditions"
---

Unfortunately this is probably 40-50% of my driving -> Idle, short trips, etc. I try to offset with some longer runs, but it is what it is. Looks like we have a New Oil to use.

Same here. Usually under 10-20 min trips + lots of idling waiting on kids/wife/etc lol. Sounds like our trucks will def benefit from the thicker redline!

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

I just scored a case of 0-40w redline on eBay for $130 shipped to my door. I have been running 0-40w Amsoil. I have a 22’ new in February or 22’ and only have 11k miles. Been changing oil every 6 months. But after this case I might have to switch to the same 5-50w as @OnTheReel

I wouldnt throw that away by any means. 0w-40 redline is still Tits compared to Penzoil and a bit better than the Amsoil you've been running.

 

[RamTrxUSA]

Same here. Usually under 10-20 min trips + lots of idling waiting on kids/wife/etc lol. Sounds like our trucks will def benefit from the thicker redline!

Ill be making the switch as well just finished off the amsoil case I had. Going with redline the heavier oil as I do the same. A lot of idling, short trips, and traffic.

 

[FULLTHROTTLERICK]

Ill be making the switch as well just finished off the amsoil case I had. Going with redline the heavier oil as I do the same. A lot of idling, short trips, and traffic.

yea we've got the 0w RL in now but will def try the 5w-50 next change

 

[SCARd4Life]

Long time coming but finally got everything together.

Sample #1 M1 5w50 (I posted earlier on the forum)
Sample #2 RL 5w50
View attachment 152166
Let’s get right to the numbers. M1 performed well, but iron wear rate with the Red Line was much lower yet. This is the big one on this platform. They tend to shed a lot of it so getting the rate this low is virtually unheard of. Especially on an engine pushing 15 PSI boost in a 6500lb brick. Subtracting the background 2 PPM iron found in the virgin sample left the rate at 2.89 PPM/ per 1000 miles. 62% lower than the universal average for all oils in the platform! Talk about having your cake and eating it. Adding more power and still seeing less wear!

Copper. This is one that can be sticky with these trucks. Absent any spikes in aluminum or tin we can assume leeching from the oil cooler, which is all it is here. Completely harmless. Typically, doing what I have done (changing oil chemistries back and forth) can make it worse. The copper passivates and then a different chemistry like the esters in Red Line will effectively strip that copper oxide layer and restart the process. I spoke to Lake Speed Jr. about this a little while back and he is working on some testing which hopefully will give us more information on the science behind the leeching. It’s not something that has been studied enough.

Viscosity. As expected, Red Line simply doesn’t shear and held up great. Which in big part contributed to the low wear rate. Think I’ve been pounding the table on viscosity enough now!

Finally, I didn’t want to make it all about E85 because this oil would work equally well with gasoline. But it’s impossible to ignore the impact of this fuel on the oil. Or more accurately, the lack of impact. It’s common to for people to say that if you run E85 you should change oil twice as often. The thinking would be that since you burn a lot more fuel than with straight gasoline, the opportunity for dilution is higher. This is flawed thinking because alcohol is so light, it’s gone before it ever really takes hold in the oil. Left behind is just water which is also quickly evaporated. Thus as expected, and as I’ve seen in the past on other vehicles, dilution was below detection limits. So basically nothing. Oil was clean in color, free of any smell and my catch can has been staying pretty much empty. I don’t have to baby sit it like I used to.

Thanks in big part to the clean fuel, TBN retention was also stellar, this oil has a LOT of life left! Good thing I didn’t change it! 4k would likely be no problem.

Some final thoughts/ operational notes:

I have a ton of fun with this truck and do WOT on-ramp pulls once or twice every time I take it out. That said, I’m sensible. I don’t run it hard until up to temp. I minimize idling, and don’t short trip it. My average speed for this interval was 43 MPH. Probably double what a city slicker would see. Anyway, my point is that these are easy things anyone can do to get better results with any product.

The worst test results I’ve seen with these Hemis are always short tripped, idled, or run hard with high oil temps. All scenarios which are made much worse when you use these sub-par factory spec oils that simply don’t have the MOFT and polarity to protect in anything less than ideal conditions.

Very pleased to say I have found my oil. I will probably turn the truck loose for awhile and NOT sample every change as I have done basically since I bought it. I had a lot of fun watching the progress but I sort of knew this would be where I would end up!

I have my RL 5W50 sitting next to the TRX. Will change this week, but want one more change to more fully remove the Schaeffer's 0W40 before UOA. Thanks for confirming the benefits of RL 5W50 and I will add to the knowledge base next year.

 

[Dre212]

Great write up! I live in south fla so I’ll be making the switch to RL 5W-50. Question is what filter should I pair it up with? I’ve been running the SRT filter with Amsoil my last couple oil changes.

 

[JKMTRX]

I had some leftover 0W-40 RL that i just changed oil. Will up to 5W-50 next time i order oil. Happy someone dove into this. When i first got the truck i also questioned this and most responses i got was use same weight oil as specced from factory. Even the shop that modified it said the same thing.

 

[Fifty]

So is is 0w-40 RL during the winter (colder months) and 5w-50 RL in the summer?

Or 5w-50 RL all year round?

 

[saturnfire]

So is is 0w-40 RL during the winter (colder months) and 5w-50 RL in the summer?

Or 5w-50 RL all year round?

I would say 5w-50. in the warmer climates. I will go to that since here in the Texas Gulf coast it only gets below 32F a few days a year. It is 90F+ for 5+ months.

 

[OnTheReel]

I intend to run it year round. I ran the M1 5w50 all winter last year. Been dropping into the 30s here at night already. Not super cold, but even after sitting two days it fired up this morning and was as quiet as a church mouse, not one bit of ticking or rattling.

Anyone who has run the Pennzoil or other shelf products knows these Hemis typically sound like shit for at least a few seconds under these conditions. Which is interesting, isn’t it? Oils that flow better (on paper) wind up sounding much worse. There’s more to cold start protection than flow.

I do get it, 5w50 sounds like A LOT. But it’s still a “5w” and actually beats the -30* CCS standard for that grade by a decent margin (6000 cP, upper limit is 6600). For more context, Valvoline makes a conventional 5w20 that’s 6100 cP @ -30! In other words, worse and only an SAE 20.

Now I grant you a good synthetic 5w20 will be in the 4000s, but the accepted SAE J300 limit for a 5w anything is what it is. If your oil falls under that, you’re sensible during warmup and not in the arctic circle it’ll be just fine.

 

[Two]

Anyone who has run the Pennzoil or other shelf products knows these Hemis typically sound like shit for at least a few seconds under these conditions. Which is interesting, isn’t it? Oils that flow better (on paper) wind up sounding much worse.

Okay, but is that after just pushing the button, or doing the "flooded routine" first?

 

[916Ghost]

I have a case of the 0-40 redline switching from Amsoil 0-40. But bought it before all this talk of moving to a different weight. So I will be tell next year. I have my 22’ from February and only have 12k miles. I change it every 6-7 months depending on my schedule and time I have.