7500K service - who's getting it done?

[pepsimax]

So I was kinda getting worried about the oil in my car, as it was getting slightly close the low, so I went what the heck oil change, with 4700km left till service on the onboard computer.

So I went to McGrath VW spares in Sutherland & bought the oil filter - $29 bucks & then Repco to purchase Penrite 5w-30 Enviro+ ($77 5L) but forgot to purchase a new oil pan nut but they are about 9 bucks i heard.

The mechanic who changed my oil was kinda enough to let me go into the workshop to view the condition of the oil & also the underside of the car.

The oil looked pretty **** house, I should have of taken photos of the condition, but the mechanic said don't listen to the 15,000km service, cause it is not taking into account driving style/conditions.

He tested brake fluid (needs changing), checked tyres & everything else for - $65 bucks, which I was pretty happy with & can go back to get a stamp, as I didn't have the book with at the time

[brad]

You must have amazing eyes if they are capable of doing oil analysis.

How long since the car was built? (interested to see actual age of brake fluid)

[sierra055]

It's funny, it just shows there's a big variation in opinions on this.
I religiously change my oil every 5000k's and mentioned this to the dealer during the usual "let's meet the service manager" part of delivery and I was very strongly advised not to change the oil until the 15k service. They said that a thinner oil is used when new and it's quite common to run low before the service and to just drop in for a free top up.
Still not sure what i'll do - wait or continue my standard 5k oil changes.

[pepsimax]

You must have amazing eyes if they are capable of doing oil analysis.

How long since the car was built? (interested to see actual age of brake fluid)

Car built 2010, he did the test on the brake fluid where it came up red

[AdamD]

It's funny, it just shows there's a big variation in opinions on this.
I religiously change my oil every 5000k's and mentioned this to the dealer during the usual "let's meet the service manager" part of delivery and I was very strongly advised not to change the oil until the 15k service. They said that a thinner oil is used when new and it's quite common to run low before the service and to just drop in for a free top up.
Still not sure what i'll do - wait or continue my standard 5k oil changes.

How many km do you do per year? I was in the same position as you (have done and continue to change oil every 5,000km or six months). I don't do many kms, and so my 1yr service ended up being done at 8,000km, when they changed the oil.

There has been talk from dealers of VW potentially refusing warranty claims on engine internals should oil be changed before 15k/1yr, so unless you're planning on keeping the car forever, I'd stick with their schedule.

[grtuned]

How many km do you do per year? I was in the same position as you (have done and continue to change oil every 5,000km or six months). I don't do many kms, and so my 1yr service ended up being done at 8,000km, when they changed the oil.

There has been talk from dealers of VW potentially refusing warranty claims on engine internals should oil be changed before 15k/1yr, so unless you're planning on keeping the car forever, I'd stick with their schedule.

If it could be proven that new oil changed every 5,000km damages an engine ill shave my hair!!

[Diesel_vert]

I agree. If you need the car to last forever, then 5 000 km oil change intervals are the way to go.

Pro tip - accquiring a tanker and buying in bulk will save money and secure supplies for generations to come.


However, if you only need the car to last for a single century, then 7 500 km/6 months will be sufficient.

If you're really cheap and only need the car to last for a decade or so, then 15 000 km/1 year will suffice.

[AdamD]

If it could be proven that new oil changed every 5,000km damages an engine ill shave my hair!!

VW are only concerned about that first oil change, not subsequent intervals. I'm sure they'd be more than happy for dealers to take your money every 5,000km for the period of your ownership of the car if you're so inclined.

There's been a metric ton of discussion on whether or not VW uses a special blended run-in oil from the factory, but whether they do or not, they do seem very keen to have that initial oil fill hang around in the engine for a fair while.

[Transporter]

I'm yet to top up between 7,500km oil changes I'm doing in any of ours 6 vag cars in family, the mk5 TDI Golf was the 7th one it got sold at 45,000km. In all of them I've drained the factory oil and replaced oil filter at around 1000km. I've never had a single engine issue. What ever reason they may have for the first oil to be left in the engine for that long, I'm not buying onto it, I'm finding that many other car manufacturers have a very similar oil burning issues, they're also on 15,000 km service interval and abolished the first oil change, most likely just to prove how environmentally friendly their cars are.

Also...

I don't think that those who have the oil burning problem will get their cars close to 10 years and definitely will need a tanker for the engine oil top ups. So, it's somehow hard to take the manufacturer recommendation seriously, when their latest creations often need a rebuild shortly after sold and long before the first oil change.

My T5 owner's manual from 2004 says change the engine oil every 50,000km or 2 years if on LL regime (today it's 20,000km or 12 months). Yeap, it was very popular after year 2000 for the oil change intervals to be 30,000km or more in some brands, I even remember reading that soon we should see the lifetime oil fills in the engines. ...and somehow they backed off from it. Gee, I wander why?

Changing the engine oil every 7,500km or 6 months will add up the cost of 40L of engine oil, which if one takes the above recommendation and buy in balk will cost no more than $500 for 2x20L of Mobil1 or even less for Shell UltraExtra, if you take it over 10 years, however, topping up 1L every 1500km will cost much more than that. Now can someone tell me what is worst for the environment, because really I don't know?

Perhaps, maybe if there were no problems with the oil usage, engine oil sludge, the DSG problems, then I would say, yes they have it right let's take their recommendation and change that oil every 15k km, they are right they know what they talking about. For many car makers it's now a decade of the excessive oil consumption, and they don't mind or do anything about it. The DSG is more than 25years old technology and still not reliable. So why on earth you should trust them? How many people can say that when they enquired about the issue they had with their car, can say that they were happy with the honest answer?