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From: Alhambra on 26 Jun 2007 15:20

"Tim Downie" <timdownie2003(a)obvious.yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5ecmkoF383slsU1(a)mid.individual.net...
>I took my 2.0 140 PS TDi VW to my local garage for a 20,000 mile service
>(which is pretty basic).
>
> When I got it back I noticed the the fuel consumption seemed pretty high.
> I'd recently had two new front tyres so I checked the pressure and found
> that they were a little low. I topped them up but the fuel consumption
> continued to be almost 5 mpg off the original consuption figures.
>
> When I checked the receipt I noticed that they'd used 15W/40 oil (which
> was suspiciously cheap at 5:06 +VAT a litre)that they've since assured me
> is suitable for my engine. As a "goodwill" gesture, they've agreed to
> change the oil for the proper stuff from VW and the filter. VW dont'
> specify a viscosity in their car manuals but the spec has to be VW 507 00,
> VW 505 01.
>
> Obviously my trust in the garage has taken a bit of a knock but without
> demanding to see the cans of oil that they use, I'm not in a position to
> question whether the oil they put in was suitable or not. I'm more
> inclined to beileve that it wasn't and that's why theyve agreed to change
> the oil and filter again at their expense.
>
> Anyway, at the end of the day, is it likely to have done any damage to the
> engine given that the PD engine is so fussy about its oil spec? I've
> driven about 400 miles with the "wrong" oil.<<



They are fussy about oil - to the point where VAG will refuse a warranty
claim if they believe that a non-spec oil has been used.

It's doubtful if any damage has yet been caused - but I would get it changed
as a matter of urgency. The PD Diesels tend to have higher than average oil
consumption by default and I use the official VAG aftermaket 'Quantum' brand
to top up in between services - anything else is just not worth the risk
imo.

I take your point about he stuff that garages use though - I took a Nissan
TDi in for an oil change at 3000 miles (because I don't really believe all
that guff about brand new engines not requiring an oil change until the
first scheduled service - have they eliminated swarf these days?) and I
found out afterwards just used stuff from a big barrel that they obtain on a
regular basis from a local supplier, the point being that they didn't know
for certain whether it was for diesel of petrol engines and every drum they
bought tended to be different stuff.

That was at a Peugeot Rapid-Fit centre, btw. Mind you, the oil change and
genuine Nissan filter only cost �20, so I should have sussed. The filter
probably cost almost half of that, add in some labour, and there's not much
left to fund 4.5 litres of quality oil ;)


From: reg on 26 Jun 2007 15:31

"Adrian" <toomany2cvs(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns995BA7DCB33D0adrianachapmanfreeis(a)204.153.245.131...
> asahartz (asahartz(a)hotMEATPIEmail.com) gurgled happily, sounding much
> like they were saying :
>
>>>When I checked the receipt I noticed that they'd used 15W/40 oil
>>>(which was suspiciously cheap at 5:06 +VAT a litre)
>
>> How the hell is that cheap? �25 a gallon?
>>
>> Jeez, I get 5 litres for a fiver in Asda ! ;-)
>
> There's cheap, and there's inexpensive.

theres cheap, there's inexpensive & then there's Asda's cooking oil @ a
fiver !!!


From: Chris Bartram on 26 Jun 2007 15:35
Tim Downie wrote:
> I took my 2.0 140 PS TDi VW to my local garage for a 20,000 mile service
> (which is pretty basic).
>
> When I got it back I noticed the the fuel consumption seemed pretty high.
> I'd recently had two new front tyres so I checked the pressure and found
> that they were a little low. I topped them up but the fuel consumption
> continued to be almost 5 mpg off the original consuption figures.
>
How does it perform?

> When I checked the receipt I noticed that they'd used 15W/40 oil (which was
> suspiciously cheap at 5:06 +VAT a litre)that they've since assured me is
> suitable for my engine. As a "goodwill" gesture, they've agreed to change
> the oil for the proper stuff from VW and the filter. VW dont' specify a
> viscosity in their car manuals but the spec has to be VW 507 00, VW 505 01.
>

The price isn't too cheap- GSF retail a quality PD oil for 5.70/litre,
but the grade of the stuff you have is wrong- I *think* all the 505.01
oils are 5w/40 or better, and doubtless the oil doesn't meet 505.01,
which is the minimum for PD engines. It's a bit thick, but I wouldn't
expect that to knacker the economy, unless the hydraulic tappets are
playing up?

> Obviously my trust in the garage has taken a bit of a knock but without
> demanding to see the cans of oil that they use, I'm not in a position to
> question whether the oil they put in was suitable or not.

I'll bet it wasn't.
> I'm more inclined
> to beileve that it wasn't and that's why theyve agreed to change the oil and
> filter again at their expense.
>
> Anyway, at the end of the day, is it likely to have done any damage to the
> engine given that the PD engine is so fussy about its oil spec? I've driven
> about 400 miles with the "wrong" oil.
>
Probably not. You'll never know to be sure though. The PD oil has a high
shear capacity (due to the unit injectors placing a high load on the
cam). To be honest, I'm very wary of using any garage that appears not
to know the car well. The PD has been around long enough now for
everyone to know about the oil requirements. It's probably even on or
near the oil filler too.




From: Adrian on 26 Jun 2007 16:00
reg (reg(a)ihatespam.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying :

>>>>When I checked the receipt I noticed that they'd used 15W/40 oil
>>>>(which was suspiciously cheap at 5:06 +VAT a litre)

>>> How the hell is that cheap? �25 a gallon?
>>>
>>> Jeez, I get 5 litres for a fiver in Asda ! ;-)

>> There's cheap, and there's inexpensive.

> theres cheap, there's inexpensive & then there's Asda's cooking oil @ a
> fiver !!!

No, that's definitely *cheap*... with particular emphasis on all the
(negative) connotations of the word...
From: Zimmy on 27 Jun 2007 07:39

"Tim Downie" <timdownie2003(a)obvious.yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:5edmq0F37jf0kU1(a)mid.individual.net...
> Chris Bartram wrote:
>> Tim Downie wrote:
>> > I took my 2.0 140 PS TDi VW to my local garage for a 20,000 mile
>> > service (which is pretty basic).
>> >
>> > When I got it back I noticed the the fuel consumption seemed pretty
>> > high. I'd recently had two new front tyres so I checked the
>> > pressure and found that they were a little low. I topped them up
>> > but the fuel consumption continued to be almost 5 mpg off the
>> > original consuption figures.
>> How does it perform?
>
> It goes alright, it's just thirstier.
>
>>
>> > When I checked the receipt I noticed that they'd used 15W/40 oil
>> > (which was suspiciously cheap at 5:06 +VAT a litre)that they've
>> > since assured me is suitable for my engine. As a "goodwill"
>> > gesture, they've agreed to change the oil for the proper stuff from
>> > VW and the filter. VW dont' specify a viscosity in their car
>> > manuals but the spec has to be VW 507 00, VW 505 01.
>>
>> The price isn't too cheap- GSF retail a quality PD oil for 5.70/litre,
>> but the grade of the stuff you have is wrong- I *think* all the 505.01
>> oils are 5w/40 or better, and doubtless the oil doesn't meet 505.01,
>> which is the minimum for PD engines. It's a bit thick, but I wouldn't
>> expect that to knacker the economy, unless the hydraulic tappets are
>> playing up?
>
> 35mpg instead of 40 around town, 40 instead of 45 on a long jouney at the
> weekend. That's a significant drop.

15w/40 is only 'thicker' than 5w40 when its cold, not hot so you wouldn't
expect it to hit your long journey mpg at least.
I suspect that possibly something else has changed or maybe your old oil had
gone really thin. See what happens with your new oil anyway.
Even cheap new oil is better than expensive old oil (within the correct
viscosity range) especially with turbos. I doubt any damage will have been
done.

Remember that even the manufacturers recommend thicker oils for hotter
countries (and thinner for colder) for the same engine.

Z




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