VW factory fill "Break in " Additive......??????

Nosmo King · Mar 4, 2003

For the last ten years( maybe more ) there has been a rumor floating around that VW’s come from the factory with “special break in oil “ and that this oil must be left in the motor for at least 5000 miles or “ The motor will burn oil”. I do NOT believe this to be true.

VW had a recent ( last two years ) problem with experimenting with low tension piston rings and this is well documented and the oil burning from this factory error has got service writers once again spreading this rumor. My family has owned 7 water cooled VW’s and apart from bad valve guide seals and the recent ring problems, these engines just do not burn oil.

My question. Does anyone have any proof that the factory fill oil is in someway ‘special’. If this is a ‘break in oil’ then there must be a TBA or some other VW document that we can all look at . Or has anyone done an
oil analysis or heard of someone that has ??

Love this site………have learnt allot.

Red Wolf · Mar 4, 2003

Try this link,VW factory fill analysis
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000024

FowVay · Mar 5, 2003

Volkswagen does in fact specify a different oil for their "factory fill" requirement than they do for their "service fill" requirement but I have not been able to find out what the exact difference is. Factory fill is generally specified as VW 521.73 as opposed to their service fill specification as VW 501.00 or whatever your vehicle calls for. Mine calls for VW 505.00 in my particular TDI diesel.

As for the "don't change it before 5000 miles" advice - I don't buy it. I changed my oil twice before my engine ever hit 5000 miles and I have over 100,000 miles now and it doesn't use any measurable oil between 10,000 mile drain intervals. You may be aware that a few people have purchased new TDI engines which were shipped with oil in them and they had the oil analysed and it came back as a xW-30 which means it is a bit thinner than what VW is recommending for their service fill. As we've seen on this board, there may be a chance that factory fill has more extreme pressure additives and other anti-wear agents to help during break-in.

It is sad that the 2.0 liter gas engine had the problem with incorrectly installed piston rings and instead of Volkswagen repairing the engines they just pass off the excessive oil consumption as being normal. If my new car burned a quart every 1000 miles I'd have a serious case of heartburn toward VW.

PontTransAm1978 · Mar 5, 2003

This is kinda off Topic, but not Really-
I have the same question, but for Toyota Engines. Anyone know if they come with a Special Factory Oil?
Thanks

Patman · Mar 5, 2003

A guy in my car club bought a 2001 Golf for his fiancee and now it's got 60,000km on it and the VW dealer is giving them a new engine due to excessive oil consumption. It's the 2.0L engine. They followed the oil change requirements to the letter, including waiting for the first oil change according to the book.

[ March 05, 2003, 04:51 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]

sprintman · Mar 5, 2003

Ah but which oil did they use???

Nosmo King · Mar 5, 2003

Thank you all for your comments and the link to
that oil analysis.

Neil Womack · Mar 5, 2003

That initial analysis of the VW factory fill does not seem all that special to me. Except its not the grade VW wants us to use after the initial 5000 miles.

All the wear metals can be explained away by the break-in.

Hope our NB owner will share his next analysis with us.

I will post all my TDI analysis results right here on the mother of all oil boards. Only up to 2000 miles right now.

DEWFPO · Mar 5, 2003

Our new 2003 Audi 2.7L bi-turbo comes from the factory with 0W-30 oil and all subsequent changes are with 5W-30. The only thing 'special' about the inital oil is it's weight. I assume it (0W-30) is synthetic, but haven't verified that

MolaKule · Mar 5, 2003

It appears that the FF oil's weight is for run-in for the tight initial clearances, and the two AW additives are for keeping wear in check.

The detergent/dispersant additives seem to be high enough to keep the crud in suspension until the FF is changed-out.

Edit: I suspect it is nothing more than a Group III base oil.

[ March 06, 2003, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: MolaKule ]

Ray H · Mar 5, 2003

So, Nosmo King, is your TDI sending anything out the exhaust tips, or is your car truly, "No Smoking"?

Nosmo King · Mar 5, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Ray H:
So, Nosmo King, is your TDI sending anything out the exhaust tips, or is your car truly, "No Smoking"?

No smoking around here.....

Patman · Mar 7, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by sprintman:
Ah but which oil did they use???

You're gonna love this, VW uses 5w20 for this car here! My friend emailed me to say that they had all oil changes done at the VW dealer with 5w20. I didn't even realize VW had switched to 5w20 for some of it's cars.

Their Golf wasn't burning all that much oil really, one quart per 2000 miles, but my friend was quite upset over it so I guess that convinced the service advisor to do something about it. He says they got the car back with the fresh rebuild on the engine and it feels much stronger than before.

Whimsey · Mar 7, 2003

And you mock me and my understressed V-8 Ford truck that I'm using 5W-20 Ford oil in

j/k. What are the oil change intervals that VW recommends with the 5W-20? And do they recommend a brand or is it their own?

Whimsey

Patman · Mar 7, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Whimsey:
And you mock me and my understressed V-8 Ford truck that I'm using 5W-20 Ford oil in

j/k. What are the oil change intervals that VW recommends with the 5W-20? And do they recommend a brand or is it their own?

Whimsey

I haven't found out what brand of 5w20 VW uses, but I know my friend was going with 5000 mile oil change intervals.

Whimsey · Mar 7, 2003

Patman,
I hope you can convience your friend to have the 5W-20 oil in his VW analyzed @ the 5,000 mi change. I'm at the point where I can change my Ford 5W-20 oil out at 2,500 or let it go to 5,000 and then change and have an analyses done. But since this has been a miserably cold and snowy winter with more "local" driving I thought maybe I'd change it at @ 2,500 mi and a then do the 5,000 mi run through the spring and summer. At which point I'll have it analyzed. That way we can see how the 5W-20 handles the summer heat. It only costs me $23 with all taxes to have my Ford dealer do an oil change, so the cost of the oil change is not a factor. What I'm concerned most about is protecting the truck, within Ford's oil warranty requirements.

Whimsey

TooManyWheels · Mar 7, 2003

In response to the person asking about Toyota factory fill -

I have a 3 week old 2003 Toyota Tacoma 3.4L, with 800 miles. Would an oil analysis at this current mileage point provide any informative information for the board, relative either to composition of the factory fill or to early life engine wear characteristics?

TooSlick · Mar 8, 2003

Pat,

VW doesn't use 5w-20 in any of their engines....

If this dealership is using it, they are trying to get better cold weather performance than you'd get with a petroleum based 5w-30, and they don't want to go to the cost of running the 0w-30 synthetic VW is using in most of their engines.

New VW spec is VW 503/506 for gas/diesel engines - this corresponds roughly to the ACEA A5/B5 spec.

TS

Patman · Mar 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Patman,
I hope you can convience your friend to have the 5W-20 oil in his VW analyzed @ the 5,000 mi change.

I will ask him if he'll do it. He's had his own oil analyzed (his was the terrible 94 Z28 report I posted for him a few months ago) although I think the fact that they get the oil changes done by VW might be a hindrence to this process too.

Patman · Mar 8, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by TooSlick:
Pat,

VW doesn't use 5w-20 in any of their engines....

If this dealership is using it, they are trying to get better cold weather performance than you'd get with a petroleum based 5w-30, and they don't want to go to the cost of running the 0w-30 synthetic VW is using in most of their engines.

New VW spec is VW 503/506 for gas/diesel engines - this corresponds roughly to the ACEA A5/B5 spec.

TS

I had a feeling VW didn't specify this oil. My friend did mention this time around they are going to use 5w30 though.

VW factory fill "Break in " Additive......??????

Similar threads