Switching from conventional to VW 502 00 rated oil

[strsi]

My sister ownes an '01 Jetta with the 2.0L 4 cylinder gas engine, non turbo. It has somewhere around 70k miles on it.

I never paid much attention to what maintence was done on it in the past because its not my car. However after joining this site & reading up, it got me thinking...

The owners manual calls for a 5w-40 or 5w-30 oil that is A3 & VW 502 00 approved. It calls for 10k oci.

As far as i know the oil was changed aprox every 5-7k miles. Always done at jiffy lube other places of the like using whatever conventional oil they dump in it. The problem is that for as long as i can remember the engine has always gone through a lot of oil. Usually 1-2 qts have to be added between changes.

Id like to try switching it to a vw 502 00 approved oil to see if that helps the problem. The ones i see that are available at some local stores are M1 0w-40, Valvoline syn 5w-40, castrol syntec 0w-30 or 5w-40, or maxlife syn 5w-30.

Would i have any problem switching to one of these on the next oil change? I've read about people having problem with leaks or oil comsumption sometimes after switching to a syn on i higher mileage engine (although i've never experience this myself with my own cars). Would it maybe help to use a few qts of one of the above oils & a few qts of conventional oil for the first time? Then if that goes smooth switch to full syn the next time?

 

[tdi jerry]

my wife has a 2003 beetle with the 2.0 engine.we have used nothing but mobil 1 0w40 in it vw -502-505 spect.the car use's no oil at all.we got this car when it was new so no other oil has been used in it.

 

[vronline]

You can switch directly to synthetic with no problems.

 

[hempulator]

I also have a 2001 Jetta w/ the 2.0L. I have used M1 0w40 since it was new,I now have 75,000 miles on it. Good service from the oil,too bad the rest of the car is a lemon.The fact that it is a non-turbo should not give you any problems regardless of the oil used as long as it is high quality.Change it every 5000miles. Good luck w/ your Jetta,ours has been nothing but problems after about (1) year of ownership.Mostly sensor problems and electrical problems. Basically a car that is all hype and little quality.

 

[williar]

No problem switching to synthetic, but your Jetta's oil consumption will likely get worse, not better. The engine has already been damaged.

But hey, it won't hurt anything to give it a try!

 

[JAG]

Sounds like she has one of the infamous 2.0L oil burners with funky rings. You can search online about this. I'd expect the oil burning to continue unless the rings are replaced which does not seem worth it given the cost to do it.

 

[glenncof]

After studying the ACEA and Euro mfg spec's the one oil that stands out is M1 0W40 European Formula ($6/qt WM). It may not be the best in your situation but it looks like a darn good starting point.

Get the VW/Audi list. A few others I see somewhat available are Valvoline SynPower 5W40, Maxlife Synth 5W30 10W30, and Castrol Syntec 5W40 (this is a question mark, verify country of origin). Rare are PP and QS 5W30 5w40 Euro Formulas, Napa?

Of these I have only seen SynPower on sales for $1/qt in last 1 year.

Find a good VW forum and connect with others on specific issues for your car.

 

[strsi]

hempulator, yea her jetta has had tons of problems with sensors too & the windows falling off the tracks.

I understand that cars that burn oil will generally burn even more if its synthetic. However I was hoping the fact that these vw 502 00 oils it calls for are thicker Xw-40 might actually help prevent burn off as opposed to the thinner 5w or 10w-30's that have normally been put in it at jiffy lube or where ever else? Or would it just be better to use a high mileage 5w-30 oil?

 

[hempulator]

Strsi,
Keep in mind these cars do have a (10) year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty when they are purchased. The transfer of the warranty is probably an issue if she is the second owner.

 

[strsi]

my mom was the original owner, its still under her name so the warrenty still applies. BUt i thought the warranty was less then 100k, i'll have to look. Anyways i've read before that consumption is a common problem with some jetta's & that the dealership does an oil consumption test to see if yours qualifies to be fix. We had it done a few years back & they said it was in the normal range & wasn't burning excessive oil. ---- in my opinion.

But anyways i was just hoping that one of these vw 502 oils might help or maybe just a high mileage oil.

 

[strsi]

i just checked the manual & it was a 50k warranty it came with.

 

[rustlerdude]

Depending which engine you have, AEG or AVH 2.0 your warranty can be from 60k to 100k powertrain. The avh I think is the longer one since it eats cat converters like no tomorrow.

For the record, vw has found mexico slacking in it's quality control. Now most new cars are made in germany with only some parts made in mexico. All passats, rabbits and gti's are made in germany...the beetle and jetta are mexican but their quality has gone up.

I just got a rabbit and i'm planning on seeing how well GC does in the 2.5 engine.

 

[Finklejag]

Quote:

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For the record, vw has found mexico slacking in it's quality control. Now most new cars are made in germany with only some parts made in mexico.

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Let me have some of that Kool-Aid you are drinking. VW's that are built in Mexico are same as the ones built in Germany. Mexico builds all Jetta/Bora's and New Beetle's for the entire world. The Passat and Golf/GTI were never built in Mexico for the US market. After owning four VW's in the last seven years. I will take a Mexican built one over a German built one anyday.

FYI. The current Passat has one of the worst reliability ratings for its class right now. It's made in Essen Germany.

Back to the subject. I been using 76 5W-40 in my mothers 01 2.0slow. It still burns a little oil. I do once a year OCI's on her car.

 

[strsi]

it actually has the AZG engine code.

 

[branshew]

Quote:

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Let me have some of that Kool-Aid you are drinking. VW's that are built in Mexico are same as the ones built in Germany. Mexico builds all Jetta/Bora's and New Beetle's for the entire world. The Passat and Golf/GTI were never built in Mexico for the US market. After owning four VW's in the last seven years. I will take a Mexican built one over a German built one anyday.

FYI. The current Passat has one of the worst reliability ratings for its class right now. It's made in Essen Germany.

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Thank you.

VW's quality problems have little to do where the cars are made. IMHO it comes from 2 sources: complex over-engineering and the poor quality of the parts that go into them. VW outsources most of their component manufacturing to 3rd party suppliers like Beru, Boge, Bosch, Febi, Mann, Elring, etc... Put a bad part in an overengineered system and it's doomed to fail.

That said, I love my Passat 1.8T. It's a lot of car for the money and a lot more fun to drive than any comparable Honda or Toyota - reliability be ****ed.