Definitive oil answer?

[akgray]

Hi All,

New here but regular poster on Minifinity (got 2 of them). Anyway just bought a 150 TDI and love it. I do my own servicing and I noticed its coming up to 6000 miles since the last oil change. The car docs say it should be on long life servicing and using expensive oil. I would rather stick with short servicing and change the oil every 6 months. The haynes says you can use 5w/40 oil for this, has anyone got any recommendations? Would this be OK?

Just checked the service record and it has never has long life oil in and has been serviced every 10000 miles if that is any use. Current milage 55000

Cheers

Andrew

[FlosstheAwol]

Hi mate,

if your car is a 150 tdi it has the 'PD' (pump Deuse) engine in it.

You HAVE  to use the correct oil that is certified for use in a 'PD' engine otherwise serious damage will occur to the camshaft and injector rockers.  with it being a pd engine in doesn't have an injection pump so to speak, each injector is its own pump driven by the camshaft through a rockershaft and uses far far higher pressure to inject the fuel into the cylinder-hence how it makes its power.

If your car is on the 'longlife' service plan it will be using oil rated to vw 506.01  for pd engines this oil is good for upto 20K miles as the engine has sensors on the sump to measure oil temp and contamination.  you can get the oil from vw for about £12.50 a litre.

If your going to service it yourself every 6k miles perhaps you should use a vw 505.01 which is also a pd engine oil,  this is the oil for the 'fixed' service plan and is recommended to be changed every 10k miles or 12 months  you can buy this oil in halfords under the badge 'castrol syntec'  for £36 just make sure it has VW 505.01 on it.

Hope this helps

John

[teash]

I`ve asked this question I don`t know how many times and still don`t know which oil to use. I`ve an 03 130tdi in the service book it states to use 505 01 so I changed the oil and used Castrol Edge 5w-40. And since the oil change it rattles like a bastard on start up which it never used to do. So i`m thinking its the wrong grade of oil. Don`t know if its relivant but the car  is classed as an import and isn`t on the vw database so they`re unable to help as well

[akgray]

HI Thanks for the info, I have just put some millers 505.01 in and it seems fine so far. I get trade from the local factors and it cost me £31 inc the new filter. It seems thiner than the oil which came out. My service history shows no long life oil ever!

[Mantamad]

I`ve asked this question I don`t know how many times and still don`t know which oil to use. I`ve an 03 130tdi in the service book it states to use 505 01 so I changed the oil and used Castrol Edge 5w-40. And since the oil change it rattles like a bastard on start up which it never used to do. So i`m thinking its the wrong grade of oil. Don`t know if its relivant but the car  is classed as an import and isn`t on the vw database so they`re unable to help as well

Mine is an 02 TDI 130 and also uses 505.01 oil with no problems - I don't think that fact that its an import would have any effect on the type of oil as its the same engine. I had the problem of rattling tappets on a BMW, it started off with a rattle only on start up but after an oil change got worse. I used an engine flush then another oil change and it was worse than ever. Ended up replacing the tappets to gain piece and quiet! That was on a car with full BMW history and about 75,000 miles.

If you only get the rattle on start up for a few seconds, don't worry about it, many cars do this.

Another point on the oil as made above, Halfords do sell  the Castrol stuff but only in 4 litre containers - you need 4.5 litres for an oil change so you either have to buy 2 4.5 litre tubs (expensive) or an overpriced 1 litre top up bottle.

Main dealer stuff is £37 for 5 litres.

[teash]

Cheers for your reply Mantamad, it must be a strage coinkidink that when the oil change to morning after it sounded like a bag o spanners on start up. And your right about the amount of oil in the bottle so I foolishly bought the extra litre bottle at a stoopid price but, after the oil and filter change (and the sump plug was left out for a good half hour) after banging the 4 litres in it was bang on the mark

[Bluefox]

Hi mate,

if your car is a 150 tdi it has the 'PD' (pump Deuse) engine in it.

You HAVE  to use the correct oil that is certified for use in a 'PD' engine otherwise serious damage will occur to the camshaft and injector rockers.  with it being a pd engine in doesn't have an injection pump so to speak, each injector is its own pump driven by the camshaft through a rockershaft and uses far far higher pressure to inject the fuel into the cylinder-hence how it makes its power.

If your car is on the 'longlife' service plan it will be using oil rated to vw 506.01  for pd engines this oil is good for upto 20K miles as the engine has sensors on the sump to measure oil temp and contamination.  you can get the oil from vw for about £12.50 a litre.

If your going to service it yourself every 6k miles perhaps you should use a vw 505.01 which is also a pd engine oil,  this is the oil for the 'fixed' service plan and is recommended to be changed every 10k miles or 12 months  you can buy this oil in halfords under the badge 'castrol syntec'  for £36 just make sure it has VW 505.01 on it.

Hope this helps

John

This is correct. Halfords now sell two types of 505.01 oils, a Castrol Edge version or their own - cheaper but not much worse - Halfords version. Also, as it's a Halfords oil, it's often on promotion... which means about £20 for 5 litres

[Mantamad]

I must look out for that - I wasn't aware that Halfords own brand was made to 505.01 spec.

[Agreeable Slick]

All halfords oil is made by comma. So when people start slating them you can turn round and laugh in their face. Like i do. 

[Mantamad]

That is good to know. I have bought Halfords own brand oil many times in the past for other cars - it has always been to the required spec I needed and was happy with that.