Syntec 5W40 or Total/Elf 5W40

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After fininishing the rinse phase in the wifes 97 Jetta need to decide which way to go. Its seen nothing but 30W's even GC. For some reason its always had a lifter tick. Now that im using Valvoline 10W40 its pretty much went away.

Mind you i did a previous clean and rinse phase about a year ago. Since then ive been doing mainteice doses...all with 30W's.
 
I would decide based on local availability and price. Both are good oils.

I use the Total/Elf 5W/40 in my quarter-million mile Saab 9-5 because it is locally available, at $6.95 per litre it is cheaper than the Mobil-1 equivalent, and no other synthetic 5W/40's with good reputations are offered in the local stores.
 
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I say go with Total/Elf. Why, you ask; because I emailed Elf a couple of years ago, and asked them to send me some cool stickers, and they did. I have the Elf stickers on my Rhino ramps.

That silliness aside, either oil will work fine in the Jetta.
 
Originally Posted By: MI_Roger
I would decide based on local availability and price. Both are good oils.

I use the Total/Elf 5W/40 in my quarter-million mile Saab 9-5 because it is locally available, at $6.95 per litre it is cheaper than the Mobil-1 equivalent, and no other synthetic 5W/40's with good reputations are offered in the local stores.

Syntec 5W40 is what i can get locally...thanks for the reply.
 
Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
I say go with Total/Elf. Why, you ask; because I emailed Elf a couple of years ago, and asked them to send me some cool stickers, and they did. I have the Elf stickers on my Rhino ramps.

That silliness aside, either oil will work fine in the Jetta.

Pretty cool. Since i can get Syntec 5W40 right around the corner...ill get that.
 
FWIW I ran all my old ABA engine on dino 10w40 & HDEO with great results for many years. So you might want to save yourself some time and money and use a W940.25 filter and 5 quarts of your favorite dino and run 5-7.5k OCIs
 
The "ideal" oil for the 2.0 NA sparker is a VW 502.00 5w40. Rotella T would probably work, but it's technically not the "ideal" oil. Neither is a conventional 10w40 the OP was using. Conventional oils haven't been "allowed" in any VW since 2000 or 2001 (and the TSB applied to the prior engines too).

It appears the most commonly found 502.00 5w40 is Castrol Syntec 5w40. Second would be any of the several euro 5w40 oils (ELF/Total, Motul, Pentosin, Fuchs, LubroMoly) that should be at a Euro parts store or a Euro indie garage. If one prefers Amsoil, they have a Euro 5w40 oil. Schaeffer's S9000 is another. PetroCanada might have an oil too?
 
Any NAPA can order liqui-moly in 5w30,5w40 and 10w40 the warehouses stock tons of it. the 5w40 is 502, 505, 229.1/229.3, ll-98. and porsche approved, Im looking at a bottle of the SM stuff right now
 
In about three weeks i getting Syntec 5W40. Since new the car has seen nothing but dino 5/10W30's. Till i came in the picture it had a couple of runs with GC. Right now im having pretty good success with 10W40 in keeping the valve train noise down. This car loves the 40W's.
 
This engine is an evolution of the 8V Volkswagen 4 cylinder. Originally introduced before even the VW 500 oil specification. You can run a conventional oil in this engine with no problems, only if your looking into extended drains (5,000 +) should you need to use a synthetic oil. But they do like the heavy stuff, 5w40 or 10w40.

The reason VW went to the must use synthetics in all the 1999 model year is that they went to free scheduled maintenance in 1999. This ended in 2002, but they kept the long drain intervals to be in step with Europe.
 
Originally Posted By: ourfamo4
This engine is an evolution of the 8V Volkswagen 4 cylinder. Originally introduced before even the VW 500 oil specification. You can run a conventional oil in this engine with no problems, only if your looking into extended drains (5,000 +) should you need to use a synthetic oil. But they do like the heavy stuff, 5w40 or 10w40.

The reason VW went to the must use synthetics in all the 1999 model year is that they went to free scheduled maintenance in 1999. This ended in 2002, but they kept the long drain intervals to be in step with Europe.

Thus far its been an awesome engine.
 
I'd use the Elf/Total, as a matter of fact I use the Elf in my race car and the Total (rebranded Elf)in my Saab 9-5 AERO. You can easily order it from the Performance Oil Store (www.PerformanceOilStore.com).

Feff
 
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
After fininishing the rinse phase in the wifes 97 Jetta need to decide which way to go. Its seen nothing but 30W's even GC. For some reason its always had a lifter tick. Now that im using Valvoline 10W40 its pretty much went away.


The Syntec is easier to find, and probably good enough. If you want a synthetic 5w40, I'd recommend Shell Rotella T 5w40 -- no VW specs but not important in that engine.

The Total oil would be overkill, I think.

That is a normally-aspirated engine, I think, so might not even need a synthetic oil. Maybe that Valvoline 10w40 is good enough?
 
Originally Posted By: Tornado Red
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
After fininishing the rinse phase in the wifes 97 Jetta need to decide which way to go. Its seen nothing but 30W's even GC. For some reason its always had a lifter tick. Now that im using Valvoline 10W40 its pretty much went away.


The Syntec is easier to find, and probably good enough. If you want a synthetic 5w40, I'd recommend Shell Rotella T 5w40 -- no VW specs but not important in that engine.

The Total oil would be overkill, I think.

That is a normally-aspirated engine, I think, so might not even need a synthetic oil. Maybe that Valvoline 10w40 is good enough?

I agree, but I do love that French oil. I'm currently running TOTAL Quartz INEO MC3 5W-30 in most of my fleet, but I'm thinking of trying the Quartz Energy 9000 0W-30 when my current stockpile runs out. After all, what's wrong with "overkill"?

LOL.gif
 
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