2006 VW Jetta 2.5L OCI ?

[Pickemuptruck]

I was fortunate enough to purchase my father-in-law's bought new 2006 Jetta 2.5L. Oregon car. Never seen snow. Always garaged. Car is near perfect. Now has just over 25,000 original miles. VW dealer changed oil before I drove it back to Indiana. Castrol OE 5W40/Mann filter.
I just changed the oil and filter with a 4,432 OCI. Motul X-Cess 5W40/Mann filter. Sent oil to Blackstone for analysis. Came back great.
Jetta will not be driven in snow, stays in garage if weather/salt on roads. 50/50 city/highway driven. 5,000 miles per year.

Question: 5,000 mile OCI, or would you run longer? That's a year on the oil. Just wondering what you all think.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Very nice car! I do the opposite....I drive the Ford F-150 4,000 to 5,000 miles per year and drive the Civic every day.

 

[Delta]

Change it once a year at your mileage use. When I had my 08 with the 2.5 and 5MT I did around 6K a year and just did yearly oil changes. Ran a variety from Rotella T6 5w40 to Edge 0w40, never noticed a difference. Stuck with the Edge once I moved back to PA as it was easier to get around here.

 

[skyactiv]

That engine holds 6.3 qt's and is known to be reliable following the stated OCI's in the owners manual. I'd do 8K or one year, whichever comes first.

 

[tomcat27]

impressive condition for a 14 year old car. I have 25,000 on my Jetta in one year!

 

[KCJeep]

Fun car! The Castrol OE 5w40 gets dogged on pretty good here for being a "lesser" oil than Castrol's 0w40, but this is the second recent UOA I've seen on it with a really strong showing.

I know it's a short OCI but TBN at 6 at over 4k still shows strong to me.

OP a "once a year" plan for this car seems perfect to me.

 

[edyvw]

Get Castrol 0W40. It is more sophisticated oil, and will do better during cold starts, though garage solves that problem. But considering that 0W40 is same price as 5W40 in Wal mart, it is no brainer to go with 0W40.

 

[Gebo]

I'd stick with 5k or yearly OCI's

 

[JLTD]

Agree with everyone, nice car, 5k and one year with that oil is a great combo.

 

[tenderloin]

We still have our two daughters "university" car..a '07 Beetle 2.5. nearly 140,000 miles and still runs great. 5,000 mile OCI's. Old stock 0W30 GC with some Castrol 0W40 and a few 5W40 Castrol. Some M1 0W40, Pennzoil 5W40 and Pentosin. Currently 5W40 BMW (Shell) Twin Turbo Oil..I know not VW approved. Your situation I would do one oil change a year with a quality oil. No worries at all. BTW nice car!

 

[Audios]

Stick with what youre doing. These are great little cars, can have a few pricey repairs but will last forever. I found an 09 manual Jetta 2.5 wth 40k for $4k a few months back for a friend, he loves it. My brother bought a newer one with the 6 spd, and he can get 34 mpg highway. You can upgrade the headunit to something a little more modern as well, bluetooth, usb, apple carplay, google RCN 310 MK5 and youll see whats out there.

 

[JOD]

I'd change it once a year.

Some of the '05 and '06 2.5's had timing chain tensioner issues, so I'd keep an eye (or ear!) out for a rattling timing chain.

Are you changing the transmission fluid? Seems like a good thing to do given the age.

 

[Pickemuptruck]

Just got it in August. Haven't changed the transmission fluid yet. Here is what I've done so far:
Oil & Filter
Cabin Air Filter
Engine Air Filter
Brake Flush
4 Wheel Alignment/Tire Balance & Rotate.
Battery is new.
Tires are 2 years old and have 2,000 miles. (Toyo Proxes 4).

The VW Dealer (and me) have gone over the car front to back, clean bill of health. Even the VW mechanics were impressed with the condition. They told me to leave the transmission alone.

Am I or they missing anything else that you can think of?

 

[Trav]

They told you wrong, service the transmission! Honestly, I don't know where they find some of these Euro dealer "mechanics" but they should send them back where they found them. I repair lots of stuff these guys really make a pigs ear of especially electrics.
Window regulators and door latches especially the driver front door fail quite a bit and rear calipers and E brake system on some models can be problematic but otherwise they are reliable good cars.

Do not use cheap aftermarket parts (there are some high quality aftermarket but they are usually the OE supplier of that particular part, no Feb, Uro, etc are not an OE suppler of any significant parts), you will regret using them sooner than later, the OE parts are often the same price or cheaper than aftermarket some are more expensive but in any case use them.

 

[gregk24]

Nice, car. Can't believe the original miles! I would do 5K oil and filter changes with Castrol 0w40.

 

[Pickemuptruck]

Thanks, gregk24! I cant believe it either. My father-in-law didn't drive much and kept it garaged.

I forgot to mention above that I also had the following service at the VW dealer:

New fuel filter
New driver door lock/unlock switch.

Trav said to change the transmission fluid.
I'm wondering if anyone else has input on that?

What about the coolant? Any advice?

 

[Hootbro]

I would change the coolant and transmission fluid.

I recently bought a 2013 Jetta with the 2.5L and it had 24K miles and just did a complete fluid change and maintenance on everything, Fuel Filter, oil, air filter, brake fluid, trans fluid/filter and coolant.

Having a fresh service in my opinion on a new to you car even used, makes a good baseline going forward for continued maintenance so you do not have second guessing if in the event something should go arise.

 

[robertcope]

I run my wife's 2.5L 2008 Rabbit 10K between intervals. 139K miles or so on the clock and it still seems to run well, burn little oil, etc.