Use of long life oil in the GTI - THE opposite viewpoint !

[stealthwolf]

Hmmm....my ED30 is currently on a LL regime but given that I do lots of short journeys as well as long ones, I was gonna change it to T&D servicing. Even the car's started telling me it needs a service. Booked for a service in two weeks time.

Will they use LL oil? Or a different spec? I vaguely recall something about VW switching all oils to LL (instead of T&D). Is this true?
When the car goes in for its first service, should I tell them to use LL oil or not?

[2007GTI]

if you are on T & D, they will normally only use longlife oil unless you ask and pay more, roughly £20 in my case.

[Luck1ng]

Is it worth paying £25 for an 'engine flush' on a second service, 25K?

Thanks! =]

[topher]

Not really considering a can of flush is about a fiver, and all you have to do is drop it in the oil filler and let your car idle up to temperature for 10 minutes, then drop the oil out as normal. Could do that yourself in the carpark before handing the keys over.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

i always change the oil it what ever car i have every 5k, thats just me, i always use fully synth 0/30 or 0/40. I think the longest you should leave your oil is 10k if you what to look after the turbo. 

I agree.

But like I said earlier - not all so-called "fully synthetics" are actually fully sythetic at all.

And even those which are made from fully synthetic basestocks, even they arnt all the same.  So you may have a Gp4 PAO fully sythetic alongside a Gp5 Ester fully synthetic - and the Gp5 is vastly better than the Gp4

Furthermore, many of the European 'genuine' semi-synthetics, and even some quality European minerals can out-perform most american Gp3 so-called fully synthetics.

So oil really is a black art, and choosing correctly isn't simply a matter of popping into your local Halfrauds and picking up which ever is on offer at the time.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

i also think the problem with sludging on the old 1.8 20v t was also down to the small sump, for some reason this helped to create the 'sludging'

Don't forget that the vast majority of the 1.8 20vt sludging issues originated from accross the pond.  The thick yanks refused to use 'expensive' fully synthetic oil - which is definately needed in a turbo.  Instead, they thought they knew best by using shyte mineral oil, but chaning it every 2,000 miles.  What then happened was the mineral rapidly carbonised in the very high temperatures of the turbo bearings - effictively trying to do in the engine - which takes nature millions of years - by turning oil into coal.  Now in anyones book, solid particles in an oil are not good.  And in a turbo, mineral oil can start being broken down in as little as 100 miles.

They did similar with the PD engines, and are repeating this with the GTI engine, with the FSI high pressure pump cam lobe wear.  This is because they adamantly refuse to use 504.00 (and 507.00) spec oil (LongLife 3).  How is this related to PD issues you might ask?  Easy, the current LL3 is fully backwards compatible to all previous VW oil standards - so that would include the petrol engine specs of 502.00, 503.00 and 503.01 - and the diesel engine specs of 505.00, 505.01, 506.00 and 506.01.  So any derv heads on this site will know that the LL3 is fully compliant with the diesel PD oils of 505.01 and 506.01.  So you may still ask wtf a PD diesel has to do with the GTI engine - simple the ultra high loadings found on the PD camshafts are virtually identical to the FSI HPFP cam lobe loadings.  Yet the yanks only use 502.00 oils, which have never had any PD-type of rating.

So, for us Brits and Europeans who generally stick to the manufacturers recommendations, and only use LL3 oil in their GTI - then I strongly doubt that they will experience any of the FSI cam lobe wear issues.  Sadly, there does seem to be some Brits who like to follow what the Yanks say, and put 502.00 in their GTI, and I bet it is those who experience the FSI cam lobe wear probs. 

Dinner time - SWMBO now nagging . . . 

[illyun]

I beginning to think that time/distance oil every 5k miles is better than using the LL every 10k miles one as I drive the car enthusiastically at times 

[stealthwolf]

So...wait....TT come back! Do I demand VW use LL or TD oil?

[illyun]

So...wait....TT come back! Do I demand VW use LL or TD oil?

I think TT says you should use LL oil on a T&D schedule 

[stealthwolf]

I beginning to think that time/distance oil every 5k miles is better than using the LL every 10k miles one as I drive the car enthusiastically at times 

What about LL every 5k? Or not worth it?