Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2000 19:21:16 -0500
Reply-To: Dominique Cormann <kozmik@HOME.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dominique Cormann <kozmik@HOME.COM>
Subject: Re: Engine oil change interval (VW content...)
In-Reply-To: <20000207122658.69764.qmail@hotmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
First of all you should visit Freds TDI forum. He has one forum setup
for this topic! Its been talked about for a long time now, since people
just can't believe what VW is asking. The folk their have dug up quite a
bit of info to make this topic less fuzzy.
What the dealer is saying is true. In europe and in north america VW is
recommending 10K mile / 16K kms oil changes. What he didn't make clear
though was that this was 10K mile or 6 months. So if you do lots of
highway miles, then you can do upto this number, but if you do short
trips, then you'll end up changing it by the months.
Even VW's older engines had high numbers for the drain time.
My 84 VW rabbit1.6 D is 12K kms or 8000 miles
Our 91 TD jetta is 8000 kms or 5000 miles
Both are OR 6 months.
You can change it more often, and perhaps extend the engine life, but
the oils quality plays a much higher role then changing it extra frequently.
( Use a CH-4 oil, the syntec is CF )
People in Freds TDI forum, several of them now have posted oil analysis
data from their oil after 10K miles on the Castrol syntec that the
dealer puts in. Every single person showed data from different oil
analysis companies that said the oil did not need to be drain yet!
So this number from VW was conservative enough that these people still
hadn't used up the oil. If you don't trust VW, me, or people on the
internet, test the oil yourself. Its not expensive. I can buy oil test
kits at my local fuel/oil distributors for around $10 - $25 canadian.
That will end the mystery pretty quickly.
Do what the dealer says for the beginning, since they are giving you
free synthetic oil ( they are supposed to, so make sure they are ), and
because you want the engine to break in correctly, so don't change the
oil for the first oil change to quickly!
Regarding the warrenty. It isn't absolutely clear, what it says is that
if they find that you did not properly maintain the car and they are the
ones who decide what is proper ( see the catch ), then they can take the
warrenty away. Its their ball game. But its not designed to screw you,
it really is a waste to dump the oil sooner, and if you do it on the
first oil change when the engine was filled with break in oil, you are
now harming the engine since the rings won't seat properly.
On Mon, 7 Feb 2000 04:26:58 PST
Richard Bias <rbias@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Good morning All,
> I see on the list that there are some people like me who have purchased a
> new VW recently. I have a 1998 Beetle. I have always changed oil in new
> cars at 1K, then 3K and then every 3K interval after that. I talked to the
> service manager at the dealer when I bought my car and told him that I was
> thinking about changing my oil in the new Bug at 1K then at 3K and then let
> them do the free oil change at 5K and so on (The recommended oil change
> interval on the new 2L gas VW engines is at 5K, 10K and then every 10K after
> that). He said to me when I told him what I planned to do, an emphatic "NO.
> It will void your warranty. These engines were designed to go 10K between
> oil changes." Is any one else out there worried about this? Thanks.
> Rich and Annemarie
> 85 GL "Buba"
> 98 Bug
> ______________________________________________________
> Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
--
============================================================---------
Dominique Cormann Email: kozmik@home.com
Homepage: http://kozmik.guelph.on.ca
Diesel page: http://kozmik.guelph.on.ca/gtdproject
84 Rabbit D - daily driver
84 Rabbit GTD - work'in on it