Oil choice for VW 1.8T

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The girlfriends 2014 Jetta 1.8T comes with dealer service every 10K miles, thats great and all but 10K / 1 year is a long times to wait between changes. Now if this was a lease or if we planned on getting rid of the car early 10K oil changes would be fine, but we plan to keep it for the long haul. So I plan on doing a change in between the dealer changes, effectively changing the oil every 5K / 6 months. I would leave the filter on for the 10K dealer service. I don't know a whole lot (spec wise) about VW 502.00 oils. I do know that M1 0w40, Castrol 5w40, and Castrol 0w40 seem to have good reviews, and these are the oils I would like to work with since they are all available at Walmart for a good price. Now, my question is...which is BEST. Main consideration being deposits, as this is a direct injection turbo motor. I want this car to live a LONG and healthy life free from silly deposit issues or otherwise caused by neglect / poor products / bad habits. Driving style is mixed, with plenty of short trips and a couple of 15 mile drives per week as well. This car is driven moderately I would say, it is not ragged on but being turbo'd it does have nice low end torque and that is used often. The turbo certainly get's spooled up while the car isn't warmed up.

Sorry to ramble! So again, what would be your recommendation? Out of these 3 oil choices, looking for the one less likely to leave deposits and obviously have good wear protection (which I am sure they all do). Thanks!
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
10k/1 year changes are MORE than adequate. If you want to do more whatever, but you will see no benefit.

Castrol 0W-40 is best.


I respect your opinion on that, and they may very well be! Im not here to argue about OCI. Once the maintenance plan runs out I will probably extend to 7.5K intervals but for now changing half way between dealer OCI's makes the most since. If this car was a highway cruiser I would have no issue doing a 10K OCI as it has decent size oil sump and is fed quality oil. However the reality is it makes plenty of short trips (like most cars) consisting of very frequent 1-5 mile jaunts and I want to keep the oil fresh and get rid of the fuel delusion caused by these short trips.
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If it were me Id choose M1 over Castrol, but thats just personal brand pref. 2nd choice would be castrol 0w40.


Castrol 0W-40 has more factory approvals and a healthy dose of PAO.

Mobil is GTL and lost LL01. Clear choice to me.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If it were me Id choose M1 over Castrol, but thats just personal brand pref. 2nd choice would be castrol 0w40.


Castrol 0W-40 has more factory approvals and a healthy dose of PAO.

Mobil is GTL and lost LL01. Clear choice to me.


This is the kind of info I am looking for, thanks! Assuming the Castrol has a lower NOACK then?
 
I'd switch it up each time. Try something new and see how it sounds, how a UOA looks once the dealer changes are over too. Castrol this change, Mobil 1 the next.
 
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If it were me Id choose M1 over Castrol, but thats just personal brand pref. 2nd choice would be castrol 0w40.


Castrol 0W-40 has more factory approvals and a healthy dose of PAO.

Mobil is GTL and lost LL01. Clear choice to me.


This is the kind of info I am looking for, thanks! Assuming the Castrol has a lower NOACK then?


You asked about fewer deposits..not sure how any of the above proves castrol would leave fewer deposits..
 
Do yourself a favor and comb the vehicle each and every time it has been inside a VW dealership service center. Verify that each belly pan fastener has been reinstalled. Ensure the drain plug is secured and not stripped out. Verify correct amount of fluid has been refilled after an oil change. If you find any discrepancy return and have it noted and corrected immediately.

The most detrimental thing you can do to a VW is have it serviced at a VW dealership.

As for doing your own maintenance - USE OEM or OES filters. Don't go down to Wal-mart and get their cheapy products. Mail order your filters and use what is provided from VW (Mann-Hummel, PurFlux, etc). As for the oils, I'd personally choose one brand/product and stick to it. If you're having the dealer do the 10,000 mile interval services then find out what they use and stick with it. There truly is no bad name brand oil on the market if it meets specifications for your car.
 
How much does it consume between changes? Perhaps topping off x.x quarts between 10k would allow you to justify 10k OCI's.

As far as oil, but whatever is cheapest/ easiest for you. You won't see a difference in using 2 approved oils.

Whenever you guys drive any decent amount of highway miles, take the VW too.

Me personally, I'd say skip the dealer and do it yourself. M1 has rebates all the time and you can buy Mann filters at Rock Auto at a great price. Also, she or you wont have to waste time at the dealer.
 
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Originally Posted By: gregk24
... but we plan to keep it for the long haul. So I plan on doing a change in between the dealer changes, effectively changing the oil every 5K / 6 months. I would leave the filter on for the 10K dealer service.


I think you have a great plan. I have done 5K oil changes and 10K filter changes for years, works perfectly. Use the Mobil 1. You simply can't go wrong with that.
 
How long do you receive free dealer oil changes? On my Golf 2.5L, 3 yrs. I drive a very short distance to work so I know the oil temp is very cool. For this reason I do 6 mo oil changes (myself) and leave the filter alone. I'm using Pennzoil Ultra Euro 5w-40, great oil. After this runs out have Castrol 0w-40 and Valvoline MST 5w-40 in my Autozone clearance stash from last yr/s. I would recommend buying a magnetic drain plug and plenty of gaskets. Now that my free dealer oil changes are over, I bring in my own oil/filter and dealer charges $24 for this as well as state inspection. Works out perfect. Hope you have many safe/carefree miles in your VW!
 
Originally Posted By: FowVay
Do yourself a favor and comb the vehicle each and every time it has been inside a VW dealership service center. Verify that each belly pan fastener has been reinstalled. Ensure the drain plug is secured and not stripped out. Verify correct amount of fluid has been refilled after an oil change. If you find any discrepancy return and have it noted and corrected immediately.

The most detrimental thing you can do to a VW is have it serviced at a VW dealership.

As for doing your own maintenance - USE OEM or OES filters. Don't go down to Wal-mart and get their cheapy products. Mail order your filters and use what is provided from VW (Mann-Hummel, PurFlux, etc). As for the oils, I'd personally choose one brand/product and stick to it. If you're having the dealer do the 10,000 mile interval services then find out what they use and stick with it. There truly is no bad name brand oil on the market if it meets specifications for your car.


This is certainly not applicable across all VW dealers. As with any new business relationship, it is important for both sides to feel out the other.

I will however, agree that only OEM or OES filters should be used.
 
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If it were me Id choose M1 over Castrol, but thats just personal brand pref. 2nd choice would be castrol 0w40.


Castrol 0W-40 has more factory approvals and a healthy dose of PAO.

Mobil is GTL and lost LL01. Clear choice to me.


This is the kind of info I am looking for, thanks! Assuming the Castrol has a lower NOACK then?

Castrol NOACK s 9.1% which is really good for 0W40 oil.
Old M1 0W40 version had NOACK of 8.7%, and I used that oil occasionally in my previous car, VW CC and in wife's Tiguan. Issue I ahd with M1 0W40 was cold performance that always created valve lifter noise, even when 5W30 M1 ESP did not.
New M1 0W40 FS has better cold numbers, but lower HTHS (3.6cp) and in reality it is actually 0W30 oil. Since it is GTL based. and it is almost 0W30 I would say M1 0W40 FS has better NOACK numbers then Castrol 0W40. However, I do not like such high TBN in M1 which IMO indicates that they still have issue with rapid TBN depletion in DI engines. Also, they lost LL-01, which is apparently now most stringent specification while Castrol still has it. My guess is that M1 is still tweaking GTL technology.
So, stick to Castrol 0W40. Whatever you do, avoid POS Castrol 5W40 that VW dealership is using and cut your OCI to 7.5K (I do 5K). In my CC M1 0W40 had TB depleted to 2.7 after only 5K, and I did like 70% HWY driving. So 10K in the U.S. using high sulfur gas in DI engine? No way!
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Is it me or the number of VW owner really going up in this group?

No, they are lazy to scroll down and see Euro forum.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If it were me Id choose M1 over Castrol, but thats just personal brand pref. 2nd choice would be castrol 0w40.


Castrol 0W-40 has more factory approvals and a healthy dose of PAO.

Mobil is GTL and lost LL01. Clear choice to me.


This is the kind of info I am looking for, thanks! Assuming the Castrol has a lower NOACK then?

Castrol NOACK s 9.1% which is really good for 0W40 oil.
Old M1 0W40 version had NOACK of 8.7%, and I used that oil occasionally in my previous car, VW CC and in wife's Tiguan. Issue I ahd with M1 0W40 was cold performance that always created valve lifter noise, even when 5W30 M1 ESP did not.
New M1 0W40 FS has better cold numbers, but lower HTHS (3.6cp) and in reality it is actually 0W30 oil. Since it is GTL based. and it is almost 0W30 I would say M1 0W40 FS has better NOACK numbers then Castrol 0W40. However, I do not like such high TBN in M1 which IMO indicates that they still have issue with rapid TBN depletion in DI engines. Also, they lost LL-01, which is apparently now most stringent specification while Castrol still has it. My guess is that M1 is still tweaking GTL technology.
So, stick to Castrol 0W40. Whatever you do, avoid POS Castrol 5W40 that VW dealership is using and cut your OCI to 7.5K (I do 5K). In my CC M1 0W40 had TB depleted to 2.7 after only 5K, and I did like 70% HWY driving. So 10K in the U.S. using high sulfur gas in DI engine? No way!


Thanks for the info! So the Castrol OE the dealer uses is bad? It has had two 10K / 1 year OCI's with that already. Based on your info, I think Ill go forward with Castrol 0w40 changing half way through the dealer OCI. Filter will stay on for the full 10K and will be changed by dealer. Not sure how much longer the maintenance plan has.
 
10k miles is a lot of kms. You said you do lots of short trips though? So is it lots of short trips multiple times per day? Do you actually do 10k miles per year? If you do, I'd definitely go with the 5k oil change.

With many short trips and not heating the oil fully, that would classify as "severe service". If you did all highway driving then it would be fine.

I don't get people here saying to just run 10k. Dumb advice in my opinion. It's a turbo car and will beat the poop out of most oils. Why risk anything when an extra DIY oil change will cost you less than $50 per year. There's absolutely nothing negative about changing oil more often other than the small cost.
 
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