Touran Diesel VW 505 vs 507 oil

Hi,

Had to do an emergency top up of the oil in my diesel Touran (103kW/140BHP) engine over the weekend.

Looking at the service book, that engine without a particulate filter will take VW 505, 506 and 507 oil.

With a filter, it requires 507 oil.

I have no idea whether mine has the filter, though I suspect it does being UK.

Long story short - garage only had Castrol Edge Diesel 505.01 compatible and running out of oil is bad (TM) so it got 0.75l of that shoved in.

If the engine really wanted 507 is this enough reason to book a full oil change soon (had one last Sept) or are the differences in 505 and 507 relatively minor, given this was a top up?

Many TIA.

Tim

Reply to
Tim W
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if it was only .75 of a litre down then it was not seriously low on oil (since it probably holds nearly 9 litres). So why did you top it up with the wrong stuff?

I would expect it will be fine till the next oil change, but I would bet the official answer is to change the lot ASAP.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Check the manual again. I'll bet it will say a lesser oil is fine for top-up.

Personally, I wouldn't worry.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

Not that it';; make a blind bit of difference at that concentration.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Mrcheerful wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 14:00

Because the oil level warning light came on?

(The yellow one, not the red-your-engine-is-now-dead one ;-> ) And it was off the bottom of the min marker on the dipstick.

My bad - should have checked before leaving. I've kind of got used to my old mouldy Lanos never eating oil, so having a newish VW much through the stuff is still catching me out...

I'm sure the official answer will be as you say. Just wondered what the unofficial answer would be :)

Reply to
Tim W

Duncan Wood wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 14:22

Duncan/Chris

Thanks.

I'll skim the manual again.

I'm sure you're right. My instinct was at least shoving some sort of diesel turbo rated oil of any sort in is way better than running off the dipstick min, as I still had 100 miles to cover.

Engine oil capacity is 3.8 l so I have 20% wrong oil.

I wonder why VW diesels eat oil... Not just mine - quite a lot of mentions of VAG diesels of certain types (may be the PD engine series) doing it.

Regarding the oil, in the old days it was Xw-Y and diesel or non diesel. The spec was fairly clear and one could make an educated guess if putting a bit of 5w30 in an engine that normally took 5w40 would be a bad idea or not.

Unfortunately I have no clue what the difference between 505 and 507 is - except it seems to be to do with the particulate filter. There was a mention of someone who had used 505 for more than one full oil change instead of 507 having to get their filter regenerated (cleaned?) which doesn't sound too disasterous.

The fact that the non filtered same engine is spec'd to run on 505 (if not longlife service) suggests it's not going to lead to bad things happening to the cam or crank bearings.

Off to Halfords to get a couple of litres of the right stuff...

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

The particulate filter's not cheap though. Either way 3/4l won't have much effect though.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 16:02

Probably the first thing I should do is ascertain for a fact whether I have one of these beasties. I'll ring VW tomorrow (forgot it was a carry forward BH today).

I suspect it almost certainly does though, based on the "No BioDiesel" sticker by the fuel cap.

Yep. As no one has said "arrgh your engine will explode, 507 has magic ingredient " I'll run with that. It's going to get further diluted anyway when it's munched some of that and I put some more 507 in. Might bring the next service forward slightly - TBH September is a PITA for me anyway.

Thanks folks :)

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

If it worries you just change the oil, it's contamination of the filter that's the difference.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Duncan Wood wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 16:20

I'll think I'll leave it. Don't really have money to waste on a 9 months early oil change - just wanted to take a straw poll as to whether I was likely to bust something expensive. I'm happy enough now :)

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

Unless you're in the habit of pottering about DPFs last for ages anyway.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

And putting 505.01 in was a good choice for a PD, if that was the best available. I'd be more worried were it not PD oil.

My Leon 2.0 PD140 without a DPF uses a little, but not much. A litre lasts between 10K changes easily.

505.01 is for standard change intervals, PD engines, no DPF. Note the .01 is essential for PD. Can't remember what 505.00 is. 507.00 is for DPF and is also longlife. The petrol longlife is 504.00.

Indeed. It's cam wear that means you need 505.01- there's high load from the PD injectors, though even then lower spec oil is OK for emergency top-up, as specified in the manual.

This may help:

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Reply to
Chris Bartram

Mine has that sticker, but no DPF, I'm pretty sure. Look under the bonnet, if only 507.00 oil is specified on the sticker, then you have a DPF, I'd say, but I thought that it was more common on the PD170 engine. The 140 can have it, but doesn't always.

FWIW, the VW specialist who last serviced the Leon put 507.00 in it: It's not *that* expensive. About 8-10 quid for the litre of quantum longlife III I bought to top up with.

If I was you, I'd not worry about it, and keep a bottle of 507.00 in the boot for top-ups.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

I am surprised it holds so little, and since it has a low level light that comes on so early then there is probably a history of problems from low oil.

Something like a mondeo diesel holds nearly 2 gallons of oil, so a missing half gallon or so makes very little odds.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Mrcheerful wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 17:49

I was, since it always took nearly a gallon to fill pretty much every car I've ever owned, including 1.3l engines.

Reply to
Tim W

I think it's quite common for the PD engine to have a highish oil consumption in the first 10,000 miles or so. Certainly that was the only time mine needed a top-up between services.

Tim

Reply to
Tim Downie

VAG engines in general often have a highish oil consumption.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Tim W wibbled on Monday 28 December 2009 11:04

Thanks to everyone who replied.

VW just confirmed my beast takes 507 oil and recommended Castrol SLX Longlife II. The latter appears to have been replaced by Castrol Edge 5w-30 (VW 504 00/507 00)

On an aside, this seems quite useful:

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Though it cannot resolve which one of the two oils I need. Might be useful for others?

Reply to
Tim W

IME the first 20,000. It drops off quite a lot after that.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

Chris Bartram wibbled on Tuesday 29 December 2009 21:02

The first year was when I was caught out by the yellow light.

Then it settled down a lot. It's now in the 4th year at about 35000 miles that it caught me out again. Though, partly because we've just moved. At the last house, I had some oil to hand so I checked it from time to time.

Since we've moved I have no garage and no oil to hand, so I didn't get into the habit. Will now :)

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim W

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