Changing oil more frequently on a modified car is always wise, but it will NOT prevent the effects of over-fuelling, and oil dilution, which is also regualrly reported in the US on FSI engines.
....I'm assuming that a Revo (Stage1) ECU remap takes the dangers of over-fuelling into account as Revo are strongly reputed to know what they are doing.
I think you may be confused by the simplistic term of "overfuelling". There is nothing wrong with provding excess fuel at certain limited times when the engine needs it (during cold starts), or when it can use the excess fuel (during high load and hard acceleration).
The specific issues with the FSI and US maps relates to overfuelling when it can NOT be used. The stratified mode (which is disabled in US/Cdn cars) operates during light engine loads and part throttle. At this stage of operation, the engine is designed to operate on a very lean fuel mixture. This creates exceedingly high operating temperatures in the combustion chamber (this is why Ultra Low Sulphur petrol is required), but because this is still within the design specification, the ignition timing, and more importantly, the fuel injection timing are modified by the ECU to cope with this specific scenario. However, on the yankee maps, because the stratifed mode is disabled, a "conventional" amount of fuel is injected (but the standard yankee ECU is designed to cope). However, this is not ideal, because fuel is injected directly into the combustion chamber, and any critical excesses of fuel will wash the oil film off the cylinder bore. Now compound this issue with a US remap, which will obviously by supplying more fuel than standard (to cope with the supposed increase in power from the remap) and it goes beyond the critical over supply of fuel = recipee for dramatic engine wear.
So, to answer your question, I don't think you need to worry about a Revo map providing excess fuel during periods when the engine can use it.
So far on my modded GTI (39k miles and Revo'd at 23k miles) has only been having it's oil+filter changed on 'longlife' service intervals, so your comment attracts my attention. What would you recommend please, T_T ? All my 'hardware' performance mods were done one by one over time but long before the remap. I say "all" but should exclude the Neuspeed Discharge&Charge pipes and Forge DV.
OK, I have stated this elsewhere, but allow me to refresh.
Firstly, the LongLife
serving regime should be separated from the LongLife
oils.
LongLife servicing regimeThe actual LongLife serving regime really should not be used on any high performance, high revving petrol engine. Although the LongLife regime was introduced across virtually all VAG cars in 2001, with virtually no restrictions on useage, as time has progressed, and presumably VAG have gained "real-world" data, then the LongLife "requirements" have changed quite noticeably. From 2006, the detailed requirements for LongLife were notably "downgraded".
This is the actual list of requirements for LongLife regime:
- Mileage: more than 30 miles per day
- Type of Journey: Motorway and main road driving. Mainly longer distance journeys. Constant speeds.
- Conditions: Normal engine loading - eg, with little or no towing, with little or no hill climbs. Normal vehicle loading.
- Driving style: Moderate acceleration, moderate braking, engine revs mainly below 3000rpm
You need to be able to comply with all those requirements. If you cant, then you should not even consider LongLife.
LongLife oilsLongLife oils are a specific high grade fully synthetic. They undergo all the "standard" oil tests, but also have to undergo more rigourous tests. The two crucial areas are the "duration" tests, and HTHS tests. The duration tests demand that the oil can last over twice as long as the ACEA requirements for conventional drain high performance engine oils. The HTHS is more intersting, and relevent to turbos. HTHS stands for High Temperature High Shear, and basically places an additional, extremely rigorous test at 150deg C, whereas conventional ACEA tests only go up to 100deg C.
So it can be deduced that LongLife oils are of considerably higher quality than even the best conventional fully synthetic oils.
My recommendation for "modified" carsNow, to the point of modifications, particularly engine based mods. My advice is simple. Do NOT use the LongLife servicing regime, and only use the conventional fixed interval "Time and Distance" servicing regimes. However, please DO continue to use the higher quality LongLife oil, and not the lesser quality Time and Distance oils.
Still awake at the back . . . .
