'02 VW Golf GTI 1.8T recommendations

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Hey guys,

Bit of a lurker, I just wanted to get some opinions on Oil suggestions for my golf. There are alot of recommendations floating around, but most of them are quite old. The golf has about 170K km's on it. I bought it about a year ago and put nulon 10w-40 in it and swapped it for the same at ~8k km's. I'm coming up on the next change and want to see what others think? I've been lurking a bit and am thinking group 4/5.

Premium oil is a bit harder to come by here in Australia, and I'm not really sure about what weight would be best for a 170K km car. I'm thinking of going with Motul X-cess or X-Clean 5w-40 as they are pretty high quality possibly the 502/505 specific, theres also the newer 504 specific but is only 5w-30 which I think might be a bit thin for so many KM. I've also looked at Penrite 10 tenths (a local brand) but it only comes in 10w-40 and 5w-50 and has a zinc level of ~2000ppm which might be bad for the CAT right?

Car stats

2002 Volkswagen Golf GTI, Stage 2 160KWish (up from 110KW), k03s turbo swap, 3" downpipe sports CAT, upgraded intercooler 4BAR FPR
VW 502/504
Sydney Australia, pretty temperate lowest temps you would see is 50F, high of 104F
I'm a bit of lead foot on occasion, but not all the time, I want to start taking the car to a few track days 3ish ~15min sessions
Mostly 30 min trips to and from work, then maybe once a fortnight a 2 hourish drive up or down the coast
Recently replaced the crank angle and cam hall due to an issue where the engine would shutdown, new fuel pump other than that looks good at the moment

the standard go to quality brands of oil are a bit harder to come by here, mostly oil would come from ebay, or shops called supercheap and sparesbox, I'm looking at ~$80 for 5L of motul X-cess

Let me know, thanks,
jsmccc
 
Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
buy a newer car,imho.


Right throw away a perfectly working car bc its "old" Typical disposable American thinking.
We have customers who run 5000-7000 miles on our cheaper Cam 2 semi syn,in the 1.8t motor, oil analysis shows no issues up to 6500miles. Youll be fine with any decent semi or full syn for reasonable intervals.
Also the coolant temp sensors are a known issue. On my 97 A4 1.8t it would cold start dead of winter fine, but if i drove down the block to grab a bagel, it wouldnt restart, just crank away. Id have to unplug the sensor and then get a rough smoky start from all of the fuel. Throws off the mixture. And also make sure youre getting the updated larger capacity filter from the diesels. Mann number 940/25.
 
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Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
buy a newer car,imho.

Super helpful. Next time how about you just hit the back button?

OP, Rotella T6 5W-40 does really well in the 1.8t (stock or modified) on 5,000 mile intervals. You are also safe, of course, with any VW 502 5W-40.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
buy a newer car,imho.

Super helpful. Next time how about you just hit the back button?

OP, Rotella T6 5W-40 does really well in the 1.8t (stock or modified) on 5,000 mile intervals. You are also safe, of course, with any VW 502 5W-40.


Just a reminder that in his location, the Rotella brand doesn't exist, it's Rimula outside of North America.

For the OP: I see nothing wrong with Nulon or Penrite if they meet or claim to meet VW 502.00.
 
kudos to the OP--the older ones a a lot more fun than newer nanny & electronically-controlled turds.
IMO I do not think you need something toward the 'exotic'($) side like Motul--lots of the folks from Aus. have good advice on oil recs---another IMO a 502/505 rated 5-40 will do you fine--isn't Shell Ultra Helix popular/reasonable priced there?
Keep that ole 1.8T going strong, and enjoy
Steve
 
Hi fellow Aussie! Have a look at SCA for Castrol edge 5w30 A3/B4 when on sale. It goes on sale for anywhere between $25 for 5L at the lowest and more often around $35 for 5L. Has the most approvals and is almost a 40 grade in viscosity. Best bang for buck oil here when on sale. Stock up with a few jugs when it goes on sale!

Don't bother with the group 4/5 [censored] and wank factor motul. There's little difference, certainly not enough to justify double the price!

Nulon and penrite are overpriced for aussie made oil and they don't carry enough approvals to justify their prices.
 
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Hi jmccc, Welcome !!!

For your VW GTI turbo, I would get a full synthetic oil that carried both the VW 502 / 505 spec and the Porsche A40 spec.

The one that comes to mind is Shell Helix Ultra 5W40, which is a full GTL synthetic that carries the above VW and Porsche ratings. It's also very easy to find and affordable. The VW spec matched what the car requires and the Porsche spec means it can easily handle a track day. Castrol Edge 0W-40, Edge 5W-40, M1 0W-40 and Valvoline SynPower 0W-40 also meet the above requirements, but usually cost a bit more, and I don't think for any significant advantage. The M1 costs a lot more, while the SynPower 0W40 and Edge 5W40 are not too bad in price. All these oils are also API SN and Euro A3/B4.

There are some local options like Nulon 10W40 "Fast Flow" full synthetic which is API SN, Euro A3/B4 and VW 502 / 505, this is a high Moly oil. Then there is Penrite 10W40 "10-Tenths Racing" which is a full PAO and Ester oil which is API SN, Euro A3/B3 and VW 502 / 505, this is a very high zinc oil (1680 ppm). Both are great oils, but they meet less manufacturers specs than the Shell, Castrol, etc oils.

To be honest, I think the Penrite has a lot of zinc for a car with exhaust CAT's and no requirement for a high zinc oil. It seems VW is strongly heading down the low SAPS oil route with their newer VW 504 / 507 spec, and the Penrite is heading in the opposite direction.

I was looking at Nulon yesterday and they are really picking up their game. Their new formulation of Nulon 5W30 "European" full synthetic is now PAO based and carries formal VW 504 / 507 approval. But their 10W40 only "claims" VW 502 / 505. It's probably good, but it's not really approved.

Choice is your mate. But here is one wild card option for you, I often see Valvoline SynPower 10W50 around and it's rated SN, A3/B4, VW 502 / 505 which should be a good performance oil for your car.

Me ? Any of the above, I would buy on price and just follow the sales.
 
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welcome2.gif


Any 502/505 should be fine, but I don't know exactly what oils are available where you are, but if it meets the required VW spec then it's fine
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: jmccc
I bought it about a year ago and put nulon 10w-40 in it and swapped it for the same at ~8k km's. I'm coming up on the next change and want to see what others think?

2002 Volkswagen Golf GTI, Stage 2 160KWish (up from 110KW), k03s turbo swap, 3" downpipe sports CAT, upgraded intercooler 4BAR FPR
VW 502/504
Sydney Australia, pretty temperate lowest temps you would see is 50F, high of 104F


Right now your Nulon 10W40 Full Synthetic (SN, A3/B4, VW 502/505) is on sale at SuperCheapAuto at 25% Off regular price (7-25 June). If you liked it the first time, you can run it again.
 
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