Hello,
New 2.0T owner here.
its been suggested to me to use a zinc addative to prolong the life of my turbo.
Is there a commonly held opinion on this topic?

Thanks in advance.

 

I know that when I owned a Skyline a friend of mine put a zinc additive to his oil in his built Skyline... The only reason he did it however was because he used Shell Rotella T that was lacking the zinc/some other ingredient a conventional synthetic oil would contain. After ordering his zinc additive from the States, and buying cheap Rotella T from Canadian Tire/Wal-Mart it would cost him something like $12 + filter for an oil change... And he even found a cheap source for filters.

Regardless, what I'm getting at is that any full synthetic oil should contain all the active ingredients required to keep your turbo in tip top shape.

A couple tips to prolong the life of your turbo would be keeping the boost at appropriate levels, let the car reach operating temp before boosting, and letting the car cool down after hard or long drives... I think a turbo timer is overkill, and counter productive as while your car sits there idling the water temp goes up (assuming the 2.0T is also water-cooled). Taking it easy when you're a block from your destination and letting it cool down for 15 secs before shutting her off is all you need to do.

 

Avoid any additives...waist of time and money and can actually do serious harm!
What you must do is having proper grade synthetic oil changed with filter regularly which is the BEST advice and investment. Should you drive agressively then 10 minutes before arriving to distination drive in a very relaxed way giving a chance for the turbo to cool down before you turn the ignition off.
Use 91 octane and do you preventive maintenance and you are set

 

Thanks for the advice. i will heed it on the addatives and scheduled maintenance.
What is everyones prefered oil?
Also can i assume (dont say it) that you mean 91 octane as a minimum and that i higher grade is acceptable? preferred even?

DK

 

If your car is stock (no modification/engine tune) simply use 91 octane.
Most prefer using Shell V Power 91 or anyther station as long as they do not have any ethanol added to it.
Ethanol is a cheaper blend added to fuel and will hurt the turbo engine on the long run.
I always say use whatever the manual says, if it says octane 91 then be it since using a higher grade will simply be a waist of your money...

Regarding synthetic oil, I use Motul Total Quartz 9000 and the bigger size OEM filter from my independent Audi garage specialist. You can also use Mobil 1 or Castrol synthec German label only.
Enjoy!

 

I like what the guys put down here, great posts..!