Which oil should i use?

What does your manual say? Somewhere in there will be a list of oils suitable for use in your car. Often there will be a range of oils dependant on temperature, so in the UK pick one that covers -10 to plus 30 Celcius or there about. Failing that go to Halfords and use their oil selector. You won't go far wrong if you stick to a known brand like Castrol or Duckhams.

If its a PD diesel (probably) and you have choosen to stick to the long-drain (i.e according to the computer) then you must use the VW approved long drain oil 506.01 oil at approx £12 / litre.

If you choose to do 8-10k or not more than 12month oil changes then you must use the 505.01 oil at about £9.50 / litre.

Nothing else should be used in the PD engines.

If it's a petrol car, then use the VW or equivilant SLX-synth. (£9.50/l) again according to the on board service interval thingy.

I am pretty sure this is the correct info.

Tim..

The correct oil to use will depend on how you intend to determine the service intervals.

VW give you the choice between using a cheaper oil, and servicing it after a fixed time, or using a more expensive oil and having a potentially greater time between services.

Which method you use depends on the type of driving you do, and the sort of annual milage you expect to cover.

You really need to study the handbook, and/or consult your dealer.

Chris

Pretty much so.

505.01 oil, is a 5w-40 fully synthetic spec oil. The 5w-40 oil we have at work for Vauxhalls on longlife services, has the 505 spec listed on it.

Quantum, or something else that complies with the relavent VW standard and viscosity. GSF sell it, as do VW dealers. And guess what - the spec number will be in the car's handbook.

I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get a 506.01 oil at less than that away from a dealer - £6 a litre would seem at the limit of what's sane to me, with "normal" VW 500 oil costing around 2-3 quid a litre.

£12 a litre for oil is just ridiculous - in old units it's over £54 a gallon. National Tyres will do an oil and filter change for about £20, a little more for semi or full synthetic. I will never to buy a VW or any new car if the oil costs so much. I remember back in the 1960's, I used straight SAE30 oil in my mini at about a tenner for five gallons. The car didn't burn oil and I never had a breakdown in 10 years and about 100,000 miles, and all at about 40mpg.

I'm thinking about buying a replacement car next year (no, I don't have the Mini anymore!). However, I'm considering buying an older quality car (BMW or Merc) rather than throwing away thousands on a new car when I will probably lose three thousand in the first year.

Terry D.

Right. Think about it for a minute - the oil in your mini would have been changed about every 5000 miles tops, more likely every 3000 miles or so, and the engine was managing something in the region of 50 horses a litre. The PD engines are managing more like 70 horses a litre, running on diesel (which dirtys oil far quicker) and have turbo chargers which are very hard on oil, and have extended service intervals, allowing you to go for a long way over

10k between oil changes. Given that the major cost for an average joe (or fleet owner) of an oil change is not the cost of the oil and filter, but the time of a main dealer spanner monkey and the leisure / work time lost getting to a garage, I can see why that's attractive. It'd be attractive to me given that I sometimes do 4000 miles a month. And there's a lot more to oil than just semi synth and fully synth.

These expensive oils are long life types and what you pay extra for them saves on labour costs. And oils are rather more sophisticated in their specs than just semi or fully synthetic, etc.

What an extremely crude engine design is happy with oil wise has little relevance to today's multi valve designs. The camshaft loading etc can be such that an older oil type will break down in miles.

No matter what the car is use oil to the spec - or exceeding it - that the maker specifies.

Yup... Thats the oil I use in my 1.8T quattro, have done for 70k miles, 12 quid a litre and seems to be fine, I have even used a gallon of "diesel" car oil for about 20k miles with no adverse effects, 170k miles later car still runs like new, I have never put long life or any VW/Audi oil in my car and I am still on the same engine/turbo.

I have also mixed fully syth with semi syth, and done oil changes with normal mineral stuff. always do my own changes.

Saying this, while the car is under warranty you need to stick to the manufactures recomended oil and intervals, and keep reciepts, incase you have a claim further down the line. After the warranty runs out, its up to you..

Actually the camshaft loading is one thing that is generally lower with modern multi valve designs than older engines. Smaller lighter valves = lower valve spring force = lower contact pressures for a given camshaft profile. If you want to see cam lobe wear issues you need to look at older

2v engines such as the Ford Pinto and CVH, Mini, MGB etc rather than 4v per cylinder modern engines which just don't suffer from it at all.

You don't see as many blocked oil spray bars either though:-)

'Twas my understanding the lighter loads allowed cam profiles that wouldn't last on push rod etc engines. But as usual I'll bow to the expert.

How much?

Where does this £6/litre oil come from?

For instance, my Zetec *needs* 5W/30 or lighter oil. Any suggestions where this might be had for less than £10/litre in less than industrial quantities?

Used to get it for £15 a gal from the ford dealer...

'used to'

I used to get petrol for 63p/litre... not that long ago, either :-(

Woops, 12 quid a gallon :)

Bought 5 litres of Formula E 5W/30 for =A318.50 from a Ford dealer in Birmingham last Friday...

Andy