Engine oil

[TDZ]

yeah can confirm vw uses castrol edge....

Was pretty annoyed as i ordered filter, plug and oil from vw dealer. Was informed that i didnt need to replace plug, just the washer...

First problem... They didnt tell me washer needed to be cut off original plug

second problem they gave me a copper washer... I thought aluminium was the goods?

Final problem they gave me castrol edge oil, for 80 bucks... I wouldnt have paid that if i knew it wasnt vw oil.

So yeah have lost alot of faith in my dealer and its only been two months of ownership!

[Tiggy1]

Hi TDZ. Don't feel too bad - $80 is actually pretty good, I was stung $130 for bottle of genuine stuff (and that was trade price!) It is special, fully synthetic longlife oil. From what I can gather, the Castrol IS genuine (even has "Castrol" on oil filler cap). Local Supercheap had Penrite VW approved oil for about $75. Gotta pay for quality I guess, and service interval is pretty huge. I was ready to change oil & filter at 1500km, but after further research and advice, am quite happy to leave until 10000km. Have by-passed local dealer here (many horror stories), and found Euro car expert who seems to know their stuff, so will be taking Tig there. Is sensible too - recommends bringing interval down to 10000km in our "harsher" conditions! He uses Castrol Edge oil, but on-sells at about $13.50/ltr (obviously buys in bulk) - anyone wanna buy genuine oil at my cost? General concensus, backed by personal experience, seems to be that VW is excellent product let down by poor customer service from majority of dealers (hope any VAG moles read this)!

[TDZ]

Hey Tiggy1, what did you find out about leaving your oil in till 10,000k? as far as i'm aware theres no additive and the factory fill was just normal long life synthetic oil?

Like i know this is quite an opinionated topic where, some choose to change their oil as soon as break in period is up whilst others are happy to leave in as per dealer recommendations.

I have no problems paying top dollar for good oil, its more i expected to get VW oil from a dealer and if i wanted castrol i'd go to supercheap or repco or something.

I'm not really concerned about the long life factor either, as i'd be changing my oil every 6 months, Anwyay was wondering if i changed my oil every 6 months (will be gettin serviced at VW specialist at normal interval) can i use normal oil full synthetic and not long life oil?

[Transporter]

Castrol doesn't have VW 504/507.00 oil that you can buy anywhere but at the dealer. It is called Professional Formula and IMO it is not any better than other VW504/507.00 oils. I use Mobil1 ESP in Tiguan from the first oil change (at 1100km) and to me it is probably the best suited for our Tig under our driving conditions.

Using other sysnthetic oil than VW approved for your engine doesn't make a sense.

[Tiggy1]

Castrol doesn't have VW 504/507.00 oil that you can buy anywhere but at the dealer. It is called Professional Formula and IMO it is not any better than other VW504/507.00 oils. I use Mobil1 ESP in Tiguan from the first oil change (at 1100km) and to me it is probably the best suited for our Tig under our driving conditions.

Using other sysnthetic oil than VW approved for your engine doesn't make a sense.

Agree totally, I bow to your experience Transporter. What you say about proper Castrol oil not being available (off the shelf) makes sense, as when I enquired (we are Castrol Dealer) was told it can only be bought in 20l & 205l drums - hence only dealers/workshops would buy it. I am used to the old tech stuff too, where more frequent changes were better than less, but with the newer technology and advances in lubricants, the long service interval is fine (have been doing it trucks for years). Hey - if VW say it's OK, and it's designed for it, do what they say! The only change I will be making (as stated previously) is to bring my service intervals down to 10000km - in deference to our higher temps and humidity up North. This isn't just my preference, was recommended by Euro car specialist with good rep up here. Wouldn't trust what dealer told me - better to hear it from someone who knows their stuff!
Cheers

[Transporter]

Yeh Tiggy1, VW say....VW designed... and how many times they get the things wrong?
When was the last time they went to court that was about badly sludged engines? It was in the last decade and also in the decade before the last and before, we called the same sludge problems the Black Death.

So, unless someone erase my memory and get rid of some of my senses, I will keep changing the oil in engine at first 1000km and than every 5k-7,5k km. The oils are cheap, the engines aren't.
The end of rant.

[Tiggy1]

Hmmm, wasn't aware of that - point taken. Was that in petrol or diesel engines?