Oils what do you use? And wht should I use?

[MathewRB]

Hi,

I belive in using the most suitable grade of Oil for the gae and millage on my cars and the highest quality.

I have a 2000 mk4 Golf 2.0 GTI 115BHP in all original condition with 140k on the clock.

But what Oil should I use 5/30 seems a bit thin should I use a 10/40?

Does anyone knwo the qty of Oil requiresed for a full change?

Mathew

[itavaltalainen]

I almost always go down the 5w40 route these days.... If you order online they cost the same, if not less than 10w40 at halfords!

Just make sure the oil fulfills VW 502.00 and you're on the safe side. Also should be a ACEA B3/B4 oil, stay away from Ford oils (ACEA A1 or A5).
If you find an oil that does not have the above mentioned VW grade check if it has (Mercedes's) MB 229.3 or MB 229.5 (not .31 or .51) and then you can also use it as these require more of oil than VW 502.00.

Oil amount required should be approx 3.8 liters.

[MathewRB]

Wow you know your Oils!!!

so you go down the 5w40 is the oil not to thin? Would 10w40 not be better for the car as it has 140k on the clock.

[Doctle Odd]

To answer your questions I always use the correct oil for the car. This car needs 0W30 303.00 - 502.00 and it takes 4 liters including filter. the wrong oil can cause sludging tho not so much in these engines (open to correction) A gallon of oil is always a lot cheaper than paying to supply and fit a replacement engine

[MathewRB]

When you say this car do you mean the car I have mentioned?

[Doctle Odd]

No I mean whatever car I happen to be driving or fixing that needs an oil change. 1962 Morris Minor 10W30, 1985 VW Polo 15W40 and so on.

[itavaltalainen]

5w40 is not too thin, it's only thinner than 10w40 when cold (and that is when you want it to be thinner!)

cold 5w40 is still ways thicker at 0 degrees that even 5w30 at 100 degrees!

you can use 5w40 with 502.00 specs - the previously quoted 0w30 is LL2 oil which has a reduced HTHS (high temp high shear) viscosity - i.e. actually causes more problems than it solves, the only engines where you would HAVE TO use LL2 oil is some R5 and V10 Diesels which have plasma coating on the cylinders that can be damaged if you use other oils.

for your 2.0 115PS engine 5w40 with 502.00 is the ideal grade (change every 10.000 miles or annually - stay away from longlife and cheap mineral oils)

[Doctle Odd]

I get the info for servicing from Autodata I have never had any reason to doubt their accuracy however I will digress

[itavaltalainen]

autodata is not wrong, the oil you mentioned WAS the oil VW specified, for LL it has been surpassed by LL3 now.
they sometimes don't update these things and stick with the car maker's original specs.

It's a similar story for Ford - you can still buy and some sites/places like Halfords even only bring up A1/A5 oils for Ford cars from the 2000s, although they are qualitatively speaking worse than A3/B4 which are cheaper.... and all because Ford increases the official fuel mileage by 0.1mpg - on the paper - that these oils safe compared to other synthetic oils. in this respect they don't care about the additonal wear in the engine - failures due to this will happen (long?) after the car has run out of warranty...

[MathewRB]

Looks like Iam talking with Oil barons here.

Iam a fan of the Castrol Edge (fully synthetic) product however they only make 5w/40 for diesel engines and Iam a petrol. Can you recommend and brand?