What oil in VW diesel?

[Tony Kimmell]

Hi all,
I've got a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit with a 1.6L diesel in it. Not sure what would be the best oil to use in it. I used Rotella-T and Delvac in my old Cummins powered Dodge years ago, but obviously this Rabbit is not nearly as heavy duty as the Cummins.

I've seen Valvoline's new Premeum Blue diesel oil, which looks good to me since I use Valvoline in my gas engines already. And Farm and Fleet has Mystic brand diesel oil in all different weights, which also brings me to the question: what weight oil should I use? 10W40, 15W40, SAE30, SAE40, etc???

This thing is driven 80 miles a day, on my 2 hour long rural newspaper delivery route.

Thanks!

Tony Kimmell
Towanda, IL

 

[Sin City]

Tony, I would suggest using an API SL/CH-4 or SL/CI-4 5W-40 oil in Illinois in the winter. That would also be a good oil to use the rest of the time but it is more expensive since it is only sold as a synthetic. 15W-40 CI-4 would be OK in warm weather. 15W-40 may very well work in the winter but I think your VW may seem a little reluctant to start. If you have heavy oil consumption then 15W-40 may be needed in all but the coldest weather. I almost forgot that Schaeffer's oil 15W-40 would be a good choice. It could pass as a 10W oil in the cold cranking test if they choose to do that. This oil has shown very good performance in used oil analysis but is of course more expensive. You could order it from a site supporter such as bob is the oil guy or Tim Mills.

How many miles do you have and what MPG do you get?

 

[Neil Womack]

Tony

I don't know what temperatures you expect or the cold weather starting problems of your Rabbit.

I can tell you the Schaeffers Supreme 15w-40 gave me no problems starting down to 15*f this winter.

Don't laugh, thats about as cold as it gets here. Thank goodness. The trade off is its been over 100*f 15 of the last 20 days with the hottest past of the year still coming.

The Schaeffer's 15w-40 gives excellent results at a much lower cost than the full synthetics.

Check this out. http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=000042

To help compare apples to apples compare the cold cranking results or the cP on each oil. Delvac 1 has a cP of 6100@-30*c $6.50/qt, John Deere 0w-40 has cP of 3250@-30*c $5.50/qt and Schaeffers 15w-40 synthetic blend is 4877@-25*c $qt.

 

[FowVay]

I use Pennzoil Longlife 15/40 in my old 82 Rabbit diesel. I have tried synthetic but it leaked immediately. The gaskets and seals are just too old and brittle.

In the winter time you might try using the 10W-30 version of the popular diesel oils. I know Pennzoils has a longlife 10/30, Rotella has a 10/30, etc.

If your engine has a worn vacuum pump shaft then you may experience a low oil warning buzzer/light at idle with the 10/30.

I am going to try a case of the Schaeffer's 15/40 in my Rabbit just to see if it also leaks. I did use Lubrication Engineers Monolec 15/40 2 years ago and it didn't leak.

 

[Tony Kimmell]

quote:

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Originally posted by Sin City:
How many miles do you have and what MPG do you get?

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It's got 134,000 on it as of now. I'm not exactly sure exactly how many MPG it gets, but I know it's around 40-45 (almost 50 on the interstate).

Cya,
Tony