I have a 1984 VW Rabbot L diesel. My owners manual states to use a CD rated oil. I am doing a oil change later today. I have been so for using any good 15W-40 HDEO that I had at the time in my garage for the previous oil changes. Which have just been two. This is the first winter I have owned this diesel and have had great luck with the plain old 15W-40. Even on a few of those 0 degree F days hated to put white lighting through that but without fail she has always started and ran. I was looking at a lighter oil to put in her at the next oil change for the cold startes I have been seeing. I was thinking of RTS 5W-40, M1, D1, and other syns. Well I have ten quarts of Mobil Clean 5000 5W-30 in my garage. I am not sure where or when I bought it but its there. I was using it in my snowthrower and noticed it is CF rated. I was thinking of using it since I have it already. I am planning on a short oci with it. I will change it out at 2K miles probably. I might squeaze it to 3K. But thats the most. I was thinking of sending in a UOA on it. I would like to see how it held up in a diesel. You know that Mobil says it good for 5K or half a year. If holds up great I think I may have found my winter oil. What do you guys think? If my sample comes back good I will use it again and may go longer on it and see how long it is good for. I am thinking that my diesel will be a good test on this oil. Since it is marketed for the gas market and is rated for cf diesel. I will be putting it in tonite.
KC
Mobil Clean 5000
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Well, you can be our Guinea Pig! Back in my VW tech days (late '70s, at the transition from air to water cooled and the first diesels), I remember using CD rated motor oil in the diesels and I don't remember seeing them grenading at a higher rate. My opinion (FWIW) is that the 5W-30 Clean 5000 would not be optimal, but I doubt it would be a disaster either. I'm enough of a tightwad to understand why you want to do it. Since whatever risk exists rides with you, it becomes an experiment and we can all benefit from your experience however it goes.
Drive clean is not formulated for diesel engines API CF is a weak diesel test, most API SM oils will pass API CF. If you really want to protect this engine use DELO 400 10w30 in winter 15w40 in the summer. Second choice would be MYSTIK JT-8 super heavy duty,,, if you can find it.
RTS 5w-40 cranks nicely when cold.
RTS 5W40 is an excellent all around oil. Your little bunny will be happy with it all year around.
BTW: where did you find a 84 VW Rabbit? I thought they had all turned to little rust pellets by now.
I found this energizer bunny around the block from my house. Bought it from an older fella. He bought it with 109,000 miles on it. Put all new belts, T-belt, new batery, brakes, and mobil 1 oil in it. Drove it three hundred miles in a year and a half. Said his wife hated small cars and wouldn't ride in it. So he bought a new honda and parked this one in the garage. He said he bought it from the orignal owners. And had papers to prove it. He said that he had only drove it in the early spring and parked it. So he never drove it in the winter. And he said that the orignal owner had alway kept it in the garage and never drove it in the winter. And I can honestly say by looking at the boby that these statements are correct. it only has two quarter size spots of rust on the intire body. It is in seutiful shape. I feel realy bad that I am puttin it on these salt covered nasty winter road here in michigan. I now have about two hundred miles short of 120,000 miles on the clock now. And these are orignal miles. I bought it in June and it had a tow bar on it. The kind to haul it behind a camper. And whats great is both owners towed it. So the milage also includes some non running towed miles. I haven't changed the oil yet. I am waiting til the clock reaches 120,000 miles. I have changed my mind on the mobil 5000 and am going to put in mobil 1 0W-40 in it. I was going to put in mobil 1 T&S 5W-40 but can't find it anywhere right now. Does the 0W-40 sound like a good choice or not. The reason I leaned toward this oil is because I can not find 5W-40 and 0W-40 is the factury fill in Jeep's CRD so it has to do good in diesel.
Mobil 5000 meets CD oil ratings which is just fine for your 4 cylinder non-turbo diesel.
Hey JR,
Great find! Good luck,
Wayne
Mobil 5000 is OK, but I wouldn't run a 5W-30 in that engine. Go 10w-30 minimum weight or with an HDEO 15w-40 type.
You're saying someone used a Rabbit diesel for towing? It had a hard enough time pulling itself. I'm surprised it could even move. Check the clutch.
Hey JR go to the Wal-Mart in Sandusky or whatever one is closest to you and you can get gallon jugs of Rotella Synthetic 5w40 for just under $15, should be a great oil year round for your Rabbit.
quote:Yes, great choice for oil. You can also advance the injection pump setting a little for improved response, but I forget the exact procedure anymore. Also, I'd consider an ARX run on it just as a precaution. I've seen and have been bit by examples with clogged up lands from excessive motor oil ingestion. Before ARX, the only solution was a rebuild.
Originally posted by Cycle Freak: Hey JR go to the Wal-Mart in Sandusky or whatever one is closest to you and you can get gallon jugs of Rotella Synthetic 5w40 for just under $15, should be a great oil year round for your Rabbit.
I stopped using Clean 5000 10W30 and have since replaced it with 10W30 Rotella T HDEO.
Quote:bad info given from the uninformed. ancient obsolete info not valid here.
No No.Mobil Clean 5000 is bad juju for a diesel. Give it to your neighbor as a gift and go to wallyworld and get HDEO on the el-cheapo
JHZR2
Staff member
In the MB diesel community, similar era or even older MB diesels are being run very successfully on garden-variety API CF spec mobil 1 oil. Timing chain 'stretch' has been seen to be halved, with sing a mere unoptimized, obsolete diesel spec oil. With an EGR, etc., soot loading is pretty high on those engines.
I run delvac 1 in my MB diesel... my question to those that use CF spec oil is, why? There are obviously better diesel-oriented specifications, with newer diesel-oriented add packs, that cansuspend far more soot and protect better.
So, to that end, I'd suggest utilizing an oil that has at least an API CH-4 rating.
Lets face it... How many folks would OK putting an API SH oil into their gas engine??? not many... so why use an obsolete spec for a diesel engine? Of course that point is arguable, but I think it has some merit.
Go for delo 400, delvac 1300 or rotella. Rotella syn 5w-40 is a great oil which costs more, but is good for the winter. Based upon specs, delo 400 is probably the next best, 15w-40-wise. Also consider schaeffer's oils, which are top notch and reasonably priced.
Hope this helps!
JMH
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