No, word is that VW changed the 505.01 spec somewhere in the last few years, which is why a lot of 505.01 speced oils changed to 5w30. A lot of people in the TDI world like the old 5w40 505.01 spec better if they use 505.01. Not scientific, but there seems to be be an increase in cam shaft failures in the PD TDI engines ever since the 5w30 weights came out. The SLX LL3 (long life 3) is a different oil than the standard SLX. It meets the low ash diesel spec, 507.00. Supposedly it's supposed to be backwards compatible with 505.01, and UOA show pretty decent results in the PD engines (which are some of the hardest diesel engines on oil because of the cam shaft design). Castrol Syntech 5w40 only met 505.00 spec, so technically it's not up to par with the 505.01 spec oils. There have been a lot of guys who have switched the PD TDI's to M1 TDT 5w40, Delvac 1, M1 ESP 507.00, Rotella 5w40, and Schaffers to name a good portion of the list. Not sure how these would work in VW gasser engines, but they have been performing great in the diesels, mainly due to a stronger additive package in my opinion (have more of the old good stuff like ZDDP). Hope that helps a little. If you want to read a lot on the differences between the 505.00, 505.01, and 507.00, do a search on the TDIclub.com forum and you will find enough to keep you at the computer for days on end.
Hurst
