Help! I've been a pillock!

[blearyeyedboy]

Dear PHers,

I'm off on a long road trip Oop North for a week from Friday. Being a sensible PHer I checked the oil level last week- I run a Mk 2 Octavia vRS petrol and I know it burns a bit of oil without cause for alarm. No mayo, car running fine, dipstick checked... and topped up with about 500ml.

Today I've replaced 2 tyres that are a bit too worn and topped up with fuel, checked the dipstick again (looks OK)...

Clearing out the boot today I can see the bottle and I swore a lot when I realised what I've done. Instead of the recommended 5w30 (Shell Helix) oil that meets the VW specifications, I've topped up with 5w40 Shell Helix that doesn't.

The variable service indicator came up out of the blue this week and suggested I service it in 500 miles, which is unusual. I'm now getitng paranoid that my car's eating its insides.

I'm an emergency on call doctor tomorrow and will struggle to get the car to any shop- assuming someone can book me in that quickly. I'm due to go off on Friday night and Blearyeyedgirl won't be impressed if there's no wheels.

Is my car likely to lunch its engine over an 800-ish mile round trip? I'd service it on my return anyway- it'd be due in another 2 months or so anyway so it's not that much of a bind to service it a bit early.

If it's too risky to take on a long trip, I'll have to see what rabbit I can pull out of a hat on Friday... or hire a car for the week.

God, I could bloody kick myself for this one. Any advice would be appreciated.

Edited by blearyeyedboy on Wednesday 4th July 22:05

[matt21]

Will be absolutely fine. Chill out and enjoy your trip.

[Schuey M]

It'll be fine. You must now switch to 10k oil changes now though, get the obc reset to that.

[mike9009]

It will make no difference at all. Others may disagree and suggest changing the oil twice to get rid of the contamination - but don't listen to them!

Mike

[williredale]

It'll be fine. Don't worry and service it on your return.

[N Dentressangle]

You'll be fine:

http://tinyurl.com/bw8dba9

It's not like you're the first to do this, by the looks of it.

Just don't write any drugs up with the . in the wrong place.

Edited by N Dentressangle on Wednesday 4th July 22:01

[blearyeyedboy]

N Dentressangle said:

Just don't write any drugs up with the . in the wrong place.

Guess I deserved that one.

These days most scripts are computerised to reduce the risk of that sort of cock up... but yes, those sorts of errors are a big concern in general! (Guess I'll have to start checking oil like I check medication doses!)

Thanks for the input, fellas.

[JollyGrnMonster]

Lmfao @ drugs comment.

Its no issue just service as normal when indicator says.

[Cemesis]

To be honest, if it a Diesel you should be doing 10k changes anyway but such a small amount of the wrong grade will make no difference.

[Jordan Rich]

meh, mine is currently running on about 4/5 different oils in the engine. as long as its oil and not sand your fine.

[danjama]

May be a good idea to do some reading about what the numbers on the front of the bottle of oil mean

[matthias73]

You should change the oil, run some engine cleaner through it, and then change the oil again. Might be worth doing it three times mind.

Pahahahahahahahaha, I wish I could find that thread again.


It might run better on the 5w40

[muley]

It'll be fine. have a safe journey.

[98elise]

Most cars will run happily run on slighly out of spec oil. Check the manual and it will proably give you that spec as an alternative.

[All that jazz]

Jordan Rich said:

meh, mine is currently running on about 4/5 different oils in the engine. as long as its oil and not sand your fine.

It's amazing how the manufacturers/media/whatever have got so many people whipped up into a frenzy over engine oil. I reckon the vast majority of petrol and diesel engines would run perfectly fine on 20w50 like we used in days gone by without causing any damage whatsoever. No need for all this LL488958349 amendment 4343ABC09584 spec stuff.

[Riknos]

Jordan Rich said:

meh, mine is currently running on about 4/5 different oils in the engine. as long as its oil and not sand your fine.

Indeed. My old car was the same.

I had some left over oil in the shed to use to top up my housemate's car, and she was getting really worried that I was going to top it up with the wrong oil.

It turns out she only had between 1-2 litres of oil in there anyway, so me filling it up with a mixture of 3 different weight fully synthetics probably did the car a world of good

[Face for Radio]

Such a small amount of 'wrong' spec oil won't be a problem.

When I've got enough, I'm going to service my car with all the top-ups I've got sat in the shed.

Everything from Fuchs Titan XTR 5w-30 to Catrol Edge 10w-60 For M-Power.

[NotDave]

Jordan Rich said:

meh, mine is currently running on about 4/5 different oils in the engine. as long as its oil and not sand your fine.

Not just me then? My record was 5 different ones in the E36 snotter

[jatinder]

Just to add if your car seems to be using a lot of oil, you might want to have a quick look at the breather pipes,I don't know if its just me VW ones have a habit of going soft and perishing very quickly.

Just replaced my mums golf breather pipework, it wasn't burning oil, just breathing it into the atmosphere, happened on my SEAT Ibiza as well. You can get cheaper replacement silicone hoses of Ebay which will outlast VW ones.

[blearyeyedboy]

Cemesis said:

To be honest, if it a Diesel you should be doing 10k changes anyway but such a small amount of the wrong grade will make no difference.

Petrol, but point taken.

Yes, it's a small grade difference... I guess I didn't know how much of a difference it made. Thanks for the input, chaps.

jatinder said:

Just to add if your car seems to be using a lot of oil, you might want to have a quick look at the breather pipes,I don't know if its just me VW ones have a habit of going soft and perishing very quickly.

There's a thought. Mind you, it doesn't go through loads of oil- maybe 500ml in 2-3 months. The TFSI's are notorious for it... which might be worth a look anyway, as you suggest.