FYI: VW 2.5L Oil Quality Specs

[Volvohead]

In perusing the latest Bentley's, the brand new VW 2.5L engine has relatively relaxed, older-spec oil requirements indicated: A2 or A3, or VW 500.00. The A2 minimum requirement is particularly noteworthy. Bentley's was also very careful in underscoring the much more rigorous oil specs for the TDI and turbo engines.

Again, this is from the Bentley Publications service manual. While not an "official" publication, Bentley has enjoyed defacto authoritative status for decades. It also appears consistent with what I have already determined so far - the 2.5 is a much, much easier engine on oil than its TDI and small-sump turbo siblings. It opens up a much wider variety of options. A full synthetic is obviously not necessary with those requirements if OCI's are prudent.

As the 2.5 is a new engine with great promise and future production ahead of it, I thought I would share this very interesting information with the Veedub owners.

 

[Volvohead]

A2 and 500.00 are both obsolete, which is what is so noteworthy about this particular new engine.

There are many A3 choices, including some more efficient 30 weights, that should work very well in it. This seems to be an engine that comes closer to the mainstream in its oil requirements.

 

[TooSlick]

ACEA A2 is an absolete specification and should not be listed. The VW 502.00 or VW 505.01 specifications are preferred for all new VW engines. The older VW 500.00 spec actually includes some piston cleanliness requirements that are not part of Vw 502.00 and is also a prerequisite for VW 505.01 status.

I'd agree a good 15w-40 like Delo 400 would work fine in the 2.5L engine, but fuel efficiency wouldn't be that great.

TS

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yeah, VW still lists the same VW 502.00 spec requirements for all their gasoline engines sold in the US, including 2006 models:
http://www.vw.com/vwcom/content/objects/pdf/service_maint/engoil_gas.pdf

 

[Tornado Red]

quote:

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Originally posted by Quattro Pete:
Yeah, VW still lists the same VW 502.00 spec requirements for all their gasoline engines sold in the US, including 2006 models:
http://www.vw.com/vwcom/content/objects/pdf/service_maint/engoil_gas.pdf

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Yes, 502.00 at a minimum. No 500.00 in any modern VW engine.

 

[Tornado Red]

Here's the 502.00 motor oils, North America and Europe.
http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/529/Audi_Approved_Oil_Chart.pdf

It's still Castrol, Elf, LiquiMoly, Mobil 1 0w40, Motul, Pennzoil European Formula, maybe Valvoline and QS if you can find the right one.

 

[Volvohead]

I think you're both missing the point. Based on what is now coming out in the service data, the 2.5L engine is not limited to just a handful of 502 approved full synthetic oils. This makes sense. Unlike the others, the 2.5 is a large sump (6.3 qt) NA design. The blanket VW spec, as a one-size fits all solution, has to cover the much more difficult small sump turbo models.

It is obviously easiest to follow the universal VW spec blindly, regardless of engine. VW certainly encourages this practice in their consumer literature. But A3 types and blends such as Schaeffers 7000 should work just fine in the NA 2.5.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Volvohead, you're probably right, however, in order to not give the manufacturer a pretext to deny warranty claims, you're better off adhering to their VW 502.00 spec when chosing an enigne oil. I agree though that this engine should be rather easy on oil, similarly to the 4-cylinder 2.0 that it replaced.