Confusion With VW Car Engine Oil

Flying-High_2

Flying-High wrote: »

Them Old VW motors will run for ever with regular oil changes... A half decent 10W40 Semi such as Carlube will more than do the job... £11.50ish for 5litres.

I'd still run the above in a 99 aswell.....

Stigy

Flying-High wrote: »

.... I only missed a bit of school but surely to F*$K..... 1991 makes it 19years old

lol, I put it down to a typo at first, but is 1991 typoable when it should have been 1999? Maybe, at a push...:rotfl:

Flying-High_2

Stigy wrote: »

lol, I put it down to a typo at first, but is 1991 typoable when it should have been 1999? Maybe, at a push...:rotfl:

Yeh with one serious fat keyboard mashing sweaty digit....:D

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

The very simple answer is that your car's manual will specify exactly what spec of oil to use. It'll be a short number or code, just as long as the oil you buy is compatible with that code, you're fine.

My advice is always to use the best oil you can afford. Fully synthetic if you can, mineral oil if you can't. Don't bother with the semi-synths, they're a triumph of marketing over substance.

Hammyman

bungle4by4 wrote: »

ok then, you deal with the question asking idiot. and tell him to spend a fortune while your at it.

see ya

My 6 year old Mondeo has just coming up to 150k on the clock with no oil leaks. I think he stands a better chance of his lasting longer listening to me than you.

It would appear you still think cars are like the 1960's where 10 year old and anything over 50k was scrap.

Hammyman

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

My advice is always to use the best oil you can afford. Fully synthetic if you can, mineral oil if you can't. Don't bother with the semi-synths, they're a triumph of marketing over substance.

Seconded. Decent quality oil isn't that much more expensive than cheapo nowadays. Top SAE spec oil from Ford is only £8/gallon more than the cheap stuff lower spec stuff from the local motor factors in my town.

reeac

1. I don't understand the confusion over the age of the car; the original poster said it was a 1999 model, not 1991.
2. surely you judge the condition of the engine by its actual oil consumption and other aspects [e.g. cold starting, noise levels] and not its age. If it's not burning or leaking oil then use the 5W30 stuff, if you have to top up at all then go for 10W40.

Flying-High_2

reeac wrote: »

1. I don't understand the confusion over the age of the car; the original poster said it was a 1999 model, not 1991.
.

After he had edited the year yes....

bengalknights

http://www.vwspares.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1137

that should do the job perfectly for you as its original vw oil

bigjl

You can get 20 litres of oil from Cosco for about £20, made by Chevron, I have used it before, when I had older cars that where happy with a 10W40. Your car takes 3.5 litres of oil so that 20 litre container will last you for years.

I don't know if your car has a service indicator. But the main difference between the long life and 10k service schedule is the quality of the oil, the long life stuff is really expensive and if you use it you will have to top it up with the same oil. Remember that VW cars have a tendancy to use a bit of oil, as do Subarus, so you need to keep a check on the oil every couple of weeks.

But you can do an oil change every 10k or 12 months(whichever comes first) and you will be fine. And you can use much cheaper oil, which means any top ups will be cheaper. I believe Lewis Day used the normal interval schedule on the Passats they have, 07plate so nearly all been sold now, when you factor in the £45 to £50 cost of the oil per gallon then the long life schedule loses appeal, I think it was more aimed at the high motorway mileage fleet market anyway.

The Chevron oil mentioned above is a 10W40, I did look at it the other week to see if it was ok for my mates Honda Odyssey and I am sure it had VW specs on it, but not sure which ones, but if you are a member you could pop in and check.

If you don't do your own servicing then I would be tempted to pop into Kwikfit as they will do an oil change and filter change for less than £30 probably, just ignore them when they try to sell you an exhaust or brake pads, I have used them before when i lived in a flat and couldn't do my own oil changes, you also get a reciept for the history file, so not a bad deal really.


Don't just top it up either, drain it out and change the filter and sump plug while you are at it, clean oil is the most important thing in ensuring longevity in your car.

When I was a courier/minicab driver doing up to 70k a year I just changed the oil, then did other jobs such as cambelt and brakes etc as they became due, once a month I would lube up the hinges and door catches, and to be honest I never had many problems, no head gaskets blowing, no engine problems, in fact I found it really easy to put 300k on a car without major issues.

I was told that something needs to be set or adjusted using VagCom when you move from flexible servicing to fixed interval servicing, does your car have the service interval indicator showing, or does it just show miles to the next service like my wifes Clio and is no m,ore than a mileage count down from 10k to 0. Which you reset after you service it and it goes back to 10k.