Viscosity chart for my vw Jetta

[Patman]

I agree, Amsoil's new 5w40 would probably be a great year round oil for your Jetta. Although if you didn't mind switching viscosities, you could always go with their 5w30 in winter and their 10w40 in summer. Despite what your owner's manual says, Amsoil 10w40 would definitely be good to temps above 60F. In fact even Amsoil 5w30 could handle the hottest summer day in Toronto, so you could even use that year round and still get a very long engine life.

 

[yannis]

This temp chart comes from the old days and surely doesn't apply in todays synthetics. Patman even a thick-headed like me can see that the future is xW30 weight oils.

 

[Dr. T]

This chart does indeed refer to dino oils. However, it is a good starting point even with synthetics. I would venture to guess that the correct/recommended Amsoil grade would be the Euro. formula 5-40 or 10-40 year round.

 

[kickster]

I think the AMS Euro 5w40 is the best for all around. I called up VW dealer and they tell me to use 10W30 Dino all year around. The guy didnt even know what VW manual says!! Ps. Has anyone done some testing with this oil?

 

[buster]

I'd go with the Amsoil 5w-40 as well. I ordered some today at PC cost. 5qts with shipping came to $32. ($24 without shipping she said) I think this oil will do very well. I'm curious to see if it completely eliminates my oil consumption. Right now I have 5k miles on ASL and only went through 1 qt. So far thats the best I've had with any oil. Results might be skewed though bc of RL SI-1. [ June 02, 2004, 04:36 PM: Message edited by: buster ]

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

This is the viscosity chart in my owners manual. 5W30 or 5W20 -22F(-30c) to 18F (-10C) 10w30 or 10w40 0F(-20c) to 60F(15c) 15w50 or 15w40 4F(-17c) to 95F (34c) 20w50 or 20w40 15F(-10c) to 95F (34c) Toronto's temp is around 15c to 35c during summer and -20c to +5 during winter season. Based on these numbers which AMSOIL is best for daily driving? It seems even 10W40 is not good enough for summer days!!

---

You failed to supply some critical information. Not sure how everyone is quick to tell you what oil to use if they don't know the exact application? What model year is that Jetta, and what engine does it have? I assume it's a new car, since I haven't seen a 5W-20 listed in a VW manual until now. That engine may not require an A3 oil, in fact I doubt it, because 5W-20 can't even meet A3 requirements! That said, and A3 oil will not hurt the engine, but you may not want to extend the service interval to whatever VW recommends for this car, if you use an A3 rated oil. What's the suggested OCI? Also, the oils you posted must have been listed in the mineral oil section of your oil chart, as evidenced by the upper ambient temp limits. These temp limits do not apply to synthetic oil. All 0W-30/40, 5W-40, 10W-40, etc synthetic oils will be fine at ambient temps above 40 degr C. You'd be best advised to check the synthetic oil section of your oil chart (Usually far left column). You will most likely find 0W-30 and 0W-40 listed, and I would think that those would be your best option, especially if you end up changing your oil in your climate only once a year. 35 degr C ambient isn't exactly blistering heat, but -20 is quite low, so I'd prefer a 0W-30/40 over a 5W-40 in this case. PS: VW will hardly put outdated oil charts in their manuals. However, like most other makers, they are dumbing down everything, making their suggestions increasingly incomprehensible and non-sensical, should one dare to think on his own. [ June 02, 2004, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: moribundman ]

 

[Jelly]

I also say:

 

[kickster]

This is the viscosity chart in my owners manual. 5W30 or 5W20 -22F(-30c) to 18F (-10C) 10w30 or 10w40 0F(-20c) to 60F(15c) 15w50 or 15w40 4F(-17c) to 95F (34c) 20w50 or 20w40 15F(-10c) to 95F (34c) Toronto's temp is around 15c to 35c during summer and -20c to +5 during winter season. Based on these numbers which AMSOIL is best for daily driving? It seems even 10W40 is not good enough for summer days!! [ June 02, 2004, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: kickster ]

 

[T-Keith]

What about 15w40 for summer and 10w30 for winter? Looks like a 5w40 would work well, but it's not listed. -T

 

[FowVay]

Choose a 5W-40 (this vis will be synthetic) that meets ACEA A3 and VW's 502.00 rating and this will fill your needs worldwide. Amsoil just so happens to make this exact product . They also make a nice 10W-40 and a 15W-40 that will work nicely for you.

 

[Dr. T]

Nice pic! Is the European Car formula the same price as the regular Amsoil lineup? Is it certified for extended/long drains? Does it have BMW LL-98/01 certification?

 

[TooSlick]

Amsoil European Formula, 5w-40 Meets or Exceeds the following: ACEA, A3/B4 API SL/CI-4 BMW LL-01/98 Daimler Chrysler 229.1/229.3/229.5 Opel Long Life - GM-LL-A-025, for gas engines Opel Long Life - GM-LL-B-025, for turbodiesels Porsche factory fill Volvo factory fill Saab factory fill VW 502.00/503.01/505.00 HT/HS is 4.2 Cp Noack Volatility is 5.5% VI is 182 TBN is 12+, Blackstone tested it @ 12.4 CCS @ -30C is 5241 FP is +449F PP is -59F Price is 45 cents more per quart than the regular Amsoil 5w-30 or 10w-30, ie $6.20/qt, vs $5.75/qt by the case. I haven't had the chance to test this formulation yet, but it certainly looks better than the oils most European car dealers are using .... Tooslick www.lubedealer.com/Dixie_Synthetics

 

[kickster]

sorry, I forgot to include my car's modle and year. It is a 14 years old VW golf (1990) with 1.8L 8v engine. 10:1 CR

 

[moribundman]

That should be the same engine I had in my '89 Scirocco. In that case, you'll be fine with 5W-40. The required oil spec was VW 500.00 back then, supplanted with 502.00. Don't use any 0W-X oil in that engine.

 

[jthorner]

I would simply plan on two oil changes per year if I lived in Toronto, one in the spring and one in the fall. Put in 10W-30 in the fall and 15W-40 in the spring. Not so hard, really. If you insist on buying into the Amsoil run-it-all-year plan then 5W-40 European formula is probably the ticket. The mid-year filter change makes the whole Amsoil run it for a year plan seem downright silly to me. If you are going to crawl under there and replace the filter, which is the messy part of an oil change, why not just do the whole job? John

 

[dB]

quote:

---

Originally posted by moribundman: That should be the same engine I had in my '89 Scirocco. In that case, you'll be fine with 5W-40. The required oil spec was VW 500.00 back then, supplanted with 502.00. Don't use any 0W-X oil in that engine.

---

How come? I've been using M1 0W-40 in my Audi 4000 with the same/similar 1.8L. I haven't noticed any problems.

 

[TooSlick]

The viscosity chart you showed was for conventional oils .... A more modern Vw/Audi chart for their '96-'99 engines allowed the use of 5w-30/10w-30/5w-40/10w-40 synthetics for all temps. It did not include 0w-30 or 0w-40 grades primarily because they weren't commonly available - but there is no problem with using either of these. In fact, you could use anything from a 0w-30 to a 10w-40 synthetic year round in this engine - any where in North America. I would tend to recommend the 5w-40/10w-40 in this case, simply because you have an older engine. However, if oil consumption is low w/ the 5w-40/10w-40, you could go to a VW 502 rated, 0w-30 or 5w-30 synthetic and get even better engine performance and fuel efficiency. I'd start out with something like the Amsoil 5w-40 and see how that does .... I agree with John about the six month filter change ...what I do is use an oversized Amsoil oil filter on my engines and I run the same oil/filter for a year, which is typically 12,000-15,000 miles. The 1/2 qt added capacity of the oversized filter makes up for not changing the filter @ the six month point and there is plenty of filtration capacity. My oil analysis testing has proven the validity of this alternate approach. The new MANN longlife, VW/Audi oil filters are good for 18,000 miles/2 years when used with a VW 502/503.01 quality synthetic oil. So if you used one of those along with Amsoil, I'd simply change the oil and filter every 10,000 miles, or at least once a year. I'm running 10,000 mile/1 year, oil change intervals in my 1.8L, 225 Hp Audi turbo, so running that far in a non-turbo VW/Audi engine is very conservative .... Tooslick www.lubedealer.com/dixie_synthetics

 

[moribundman]

quote:

---

quote:Originally posted by moribundman: That should be the same engine I had in my '89 Scirocco. In that case, you'll be fine with 5W-40. The required oil spec was VW 500.00 back then, supplanted with 502.00. Don't use any 0W-X oil in that engine. How come? I've been using M1 0W-40 in my Audi 4000 with the same/similar 1.8L. I haven't noticed any problems.

---

I have had problems with 0W-X oils in my Scirocco. All of them led to loss of oil pressure when the car was pushed hard. Never had that problem with 5W-X and 10W-x oil in that engine. I assume a '90 Golf has the exact same 8v engine as my old Scirocco. [ June 05, 2004, 04:22 AM: Message edited by: moribundman ]