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99 Jetta Oil

Hello All,

I have a '99 JETTA GLS, and I have a motor oil question. I've never really paid attention to the oil that the dealer and/or quick oil change places have been putting in my car, but while jumping my car the other day due to a dead battery I noticed that the engine really sounded like it was running roughly. I looked at the little sticker from the oil change place that I always go to, and it said that they put in 15W30. I thought that sounded mighty odd, so I checked the manual wich suggests 5W30. So I called the oil change place about it and they said that they always put that oil in my Jetta. So I then called my VW dealer about it, and they also said that 15W30 was the right choice. I went to VW's website an viewed a PDF

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also says 5W30 or 5W40. So what's the deal? Is 15W30 okay, orhas my dealer and oil change place been poisoning my Jetta? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-snorkel

Reply to
snorkel
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Is it a 99 or 99.5 year VW. Bottom line the oil isn't going to cause a running issue this time of year.

Reply to
Woodchuck

In article snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com writes: $ I went to VW's website an viewed a PDF $

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$which also says 5W30 or 5W40. So what's the deal? Is 15W30 okay, or$has my dealer and oil change place been poisoning my Jetta? VW had some famous sludge problems a little while back, and they revised the list of oils they deem suitable for various engines. I have an Audi A4 1.8t, and the oil recommendations in the manual only match up somewhat against the current oil chart
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oil chart itself says it's for the 1.8t engine, but the link to itfrom the service page says it's for "gasoline engines" in general. The current recommendations are newer than the manual, and are the result (at least in part) of work VW did to try to find out why the sludge problem arose and what could be done about it. So I take it that the newer list supersedes the older recommendations in the manual.

There are no 15W30 oils on the list. The list is about a year old, and it's possible that a 15W30 oil has achieved certification but hasn't been added to the list yet. If so, the oil's label will list the certification. If not, you might want to ask your dealership why they are using an oil which is not recommended by VW (and which, according to the PDF you cited, should never be used except if you need to top up 0.5L or less and can't find an appropriate oil).

Reply to
Hi Ho Silver

It's a 99.5. Yes, one dealership that I called said that 15W30 this time of year isn't going to cause a problem, but this is supposedly the same oil that my oil change place always puts in the car. So I can only assume that it has been used in the winter as well.

Reply to
snorkel

Note that that PDF also recommends that the oil should have the VW 502.00 rating.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

I didn't even know that automotive oil was available in 15W-30. I've seen it for farm tractors, and that's it. What brand are they using, and is it certified for automotive use?

Reply to
Brian Running

Any synthetic oil would be safest I would think. A 5-something would be great for winter. 5-40 would be good.

IR

Reply to
IR

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