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What oil do you run?

sandmangti

Autocross Newbie
Not an R but cool picture of last change. Need more pics in thread.
Just get viscosity you need for R.
 

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Jay-Bee

New member
Location
Calgary, AB
Castrol Edge 0w40 (Made in Belgium or Germany)

High quality Group IV (PAO) oil, i run it in both my 2.0Ts year round, 7500km OCIs with Napa Gold/Wix/Mann filters.

It went on clearance sale at Canadian tire, i bought 10x 5L jugs
 

shortyb

Autocross Newbie
Location
Upstate SC
Car(s)
Felon Taxi,Dad Wagon
Still have a few jugs left of the Castrol 0W-40 and will continue running that. $19 on Rollback and some of the best UOA numbers for my car yet. Winner.

When these are gone, I will give a 504 a go. The Pennz that AJ listed would be a good choice. Glad to see him here from BITOG land ;).
 

aaronc7

Autocross Champion
Location
USA
Car(s)
17 S3
Mobil 1 0w-40 FS mainly because it meets the spec, is cheap and locally available at walmart.

I think Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 would be a good one too that meets 504 and Dexos2. Or if there's another similar one that's available locally for good price I'd be down to try that.
 

bdelaney4000

Ready to race!
Location
Chester, NH
Just switched from Liquimoly 5w40 to Castrol Edge 0w40 and I'd have to say the car seems to be running smoother. It's most noticable when sitting at a stoplight I can't hear any of the engine ticking that used to be present when idling.
 

2018gti

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Massachusetts, USA
Car(s)
Golf GTI Autobahn MT
I just did an oil change and replaced dealer Castrol 5W40 with Castrol 0W40 A3/B4. I'm pretty impressed with it - it's definitely thinner when freezing cold than the 5W40. (Despite all the online posts I read saying "It only makes a difference at -40F"). The engine is a lot quieter on cold starts (e.g. 15 F overnight) and it just turns over easier/faster.
 

Audi Junkie

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
PA
The Pennz that AJ listed would be a good choice. Glad to see him here from BITOG land ;).
It's actually good to chime in a few years after dissecting the move to extended oil changes. For me that is around 2001, when Audi adopted 10k changes. Not many people on the car forums were into it, nor understood it well, so I volunteered to research it. I believe that lube awareness is much higher now with Euro car owners, 10-15 years later.

Remember the old 1.8t's sludge issues? Mostly that was shops using dino oil and charging for Mobil 1! Those days are long gone, thankfully. VAG never allows us to let our guard down, there's always some fatal engine issue lurking to occupy the mind. Back in the day, it was not easy to find Euro oils, so usually an HD 5w-40 like Rotella was the ticket, and it still is.

Two differences now, we have 0w-40, which was invented to address the overly thick 5w-40 in cold (esp w/a turbo) it also boosts mpg a hair, which is part of all manufacturer's goals. Another new thing to be aware of is the lowered-SAPS oils, all a thicker 5w-30 at 12cSt visc. Early on, these oils were shunned in the USA due to our high sulfur gas, which drenched the oil via a rich tune, and runined the lube. I still see this old advice not to use it on some oil company's sites, like Lubro Moly. Now, since 2017 we have the ultra low sulphur fuel, and using lowered ash oils like VW 504 works great. They are superior to old high additive oils. https://online.lubrizol.com/relperftool/pc.html


However, 504 oils are expensive, like Mobil 1 ESP. It doesn't sound like a big deal to guys who are young and only have one car, $50 jugs of oil are not a big deal. But I have 4 cars myself, plus wife MiL and SiL. That's a lot of oil! I only change 1x a year only my cars, except my V8 Benz Cabrio gets Rotella 5w-40 every 2 years! Wife gets 2x a year in her new Sportswagen. Honestly, 6 month changes is the best way to go, even change visc for winter.

The main benefit of lowered ash is reduced intake deposits in DI engines, as per a Lubrizol paper. So, with that in mind, if people actually want an oil that's better than you pay for, I suggest PZ Ultra Euro L 5w-30. It has the corresponding MB and BMW specs to VW 504 with reduced ash, but is a cheap $22/jug. Mfg specs especially VW are expensive, it's basically a licence to sell spec oil, adding to the cost. It's basically 504-equivalent dirt cheap....look at the chart!
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pennzoil-Platinum-Euro-L-5W-30-Full-Synthetic-Motor-Oil-5-qt/495194903
Frankly, VW 502 is an old and antiquated spec. Take jug Castrol, the 5w-40 is ONLY VW 502 and MB 229.3, while the 0w-40 is top spec MB 229.5. Generally 0w-40 is a better product than older 5w-40. Of 0w-40s, I think the Pennzoil Ultra is better than the Castrol. I fell for the titanium additive marketing, but it's not really unique or special, Mobil Clean 5000 used it w/o mentioning it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pennzoil-Platinum-Euro-0W-40-Full-Synthetic-Motor-Oil-5-qt/163165881

I got back into a bit of oil research with the wife's new 1.8t because of LSPI concerns, knowing the PZ Ultra Viper spec oil I was using was high calcium, so high LSPI risk. I saw that Castrol 0w-40 just changed their formula to lower Ca and higher Mg to make it safer in LSPI engines....but Euro engines generally don't have LSPI problems. Also I saw that API and Dexos 1.2 were also moving to a reduced Ca, high Mg, high Mo formula for Asian and GM engines with LSPI....so I knew what the actual formula looked like on paper.

This lead me to a gem of an oil, Rotella GT 5w-30. Yep, like a dog returning to it's own vomit, I bought a bunch of it about 8 jugs for around $1/q. It's similar to Euro lower-SAPS oil's formulas and a thick 5w-30 just like VW 504!



I know nobody else is going to try it except me. However, I wanted to explain my choice fully. I have a ton of Rotella 5w-40 I could use, or random 0w-40s I could use as well, but I got the Rotella Gas Truck (GT)! I use Caterpillar for UOAs, and maybe will have one next year. Either way, no sweat on performance of this oil. I know a cutting-edge formula when I see it. Certainly thick enough too. This should be fun.


I would say if you have an older engine, FULL SAPS or 5w-40 is good, newer engines run a 0w-40 and the newest engines should run VW 504 equivalent 5w-30, like the label on the engine now says.

5w-40 is 3-4x thicker in cold than 0w-40 (German Castrol Syntec 0w-30 on my chart is the exact same visc curve as 0w-40, trust me)
Not good for lubing turbos for the first 5 min when you get down into the teens F. Thin API 5w-30 is even thinner in cold than 0w-40, yup.


Sorry for the rant.
 
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golfdave

Autocross Champion
Location
Scotland (U.K.)
Car(s)
Mk7 Golf GT Estate
Used to run Mobil 1, 0w40, in all my previous VAG cars.....

Now running Castrol Edge Titanium FST 0w40 (A3/B4)…..Its one of the three stated spec choices (by Castrol) for my car, as VW like to state long service intervals & I placed it on short fixed intervals, which the change in oil spec dictates..(from 0w30).

So far I like it....
 

goodvibes

Go Kart Champion
Location
IL
Have m1 0-40 for my 1st change at 2k. Will likely use castrol 0-40 in the future unless I can find PP similarly priced. Gotta stick with 502 for a while. Mann filter. Plan on changing twice a year and no more than about 6500 mi or so. Oil will last longer but heard the carbon accumulation in the oil isn’t great for the timing chain and/or tensioner. Oil does get dark quickly in these.
 
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