Longlife service intervals - do you trust 'em for used cars?
Discussion
AcidReflux said:
As far as I'm aware, the approved oil is only available from VAG dealers... who set their own market price of course. If there's an equivalent then I'd be happy to find it. 
There should be an oil spec quoted in the handbook - VW507 or such like. There will be a variety of oils that will meet this spec., produced by the like of Fuchs etc. Look at the Opie Oils website for a selection.AcidReflux said:
As far as I'm aware, the approved oil is only available from VAG dealers... who set their own market price of course. If there's an equivalent then I'd be happy to find it.
Sadly you've been misled, as long as the oil meets the required VW standard VW504.00/VW507.00 probably in you're case, then it's fine to use. Most manufacturers have oil to these standards available. In fact you can buy Castrol Edge oil from Asda and Tesco, and that's the oil the factory use.
Ohh... that's very useful. Thank you. I'll investigate those options.
So if you were me and were happy to do an oil change yourself, would you record this on the service history for the dealer to see (and potentially use against me if anything went wrong with the engine) or would you just keep the oil receipts and show a potential buyer at resale time as evidence of regular oil changes? I'm leaning towards the latter option.
So if you were me and were happy to do an oil change yourself, would you record this on the service history for the dealer to see (and potentially use against me if anything went wrong with the engine) or would you just keep the oil receipts and show a potential buyer at resale time as evidence of regular oil changes? I'm leaning towards the latter option.
I checked out the equivalent for my BMW and it is Castrol Edge LL04, 5/W30 fully synthetic. It says designed for BMW Longlife and meets the approval code / spec from the hand book and is the same grade 5w/30.
My dad had a diesel VW and found the equivalent oil for that as well. Your hand book should tell you what it needs. This is a good side for reference as well: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-742-vw-engine-oil.aspx (match the code from what your book says - assumed you have a VW of course, could be anything from the group!)
My dad had a diesel VW and found the equivalent oil for that as well. Your hand book should tell you what it needs. This is a good side for reference as well: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-742-vw-engine-oil.aspx (match the code from what your book says - assumed you have a VW of course, could be anything from the group!)
AcidReflux said:
As far as I'm aware, the approved oil is only available from VAG dealers... who set their own market price of course. If there's an equivalent then I'd be happy to find it.
Oil that meets all the VW ratings:http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-975-fuchs-titan-gt1-lo...
Bluebarge said:
There should be an oil spec quoted in the handbook - VW507 or such like.
There certainly is. The VW in the code led me to assume that it's unique to VAG and therefore only available through them, but we all know about assuming things. Thanks to you and all who've suggested oils and sources. I'll investigate for both cars and get my socket set out.
I have an a4 tdi used to get it serviced every 18-20k miles. Now not that bothered normally around 18-30k miles.
Dont always use recommended oil as i cant be bothered buying the virgin oil just use the recommended viscocity oil.
345k miles and its still happy as larry.
Petrol i would be a bit more wary.
Dont always use recommended oil as i cant be bothered buying the virgin oil just use the recommended viscocity oil.
345k miles and its still happy as larry.
Petrol i would be a bit more wary.
Dr Doofenshmirtz said:
I like my dip-stick to show a nice tan coloured oil...not a horrible black marmite colour.
If it's black (and I'm not being oiliest) - it needs changing IMO.
Unless you're running a diesel. By the time you've driven home from the garage the oil will be black again. If it's black (and I'm not being oiliest) - it needs changing IMO.
Ozzie Osmond said:
jagnet said:
Sealed for life gearboxes spring to mind - take that literally and they can need replacing within 100k miles. They were sealed for life, it just so happens that that life wasn't very long. Get the oil changed every 50k and they'll keep on going.
PH myth number 17: "Manufacturers don't care what happens as soon as the warranty expires".It's nonsense. There's no reason a sealed for life transmission won't run to 250,000 miles. And if the fluid's knackered the transmission is probably knackered. However, a precustionary change some time after 100,000 certainly won't do any harm and is cheap.
As for engine oil, it all depends on how the car is used. With frequent cold starts and short journeys I wouldn't run much more than a year or so however little mileage had been covered. On the other hand the "3 months or 3,000 miles" boys are in my view just tearing up £50 notes.
The story goes that some of these were supplied by Mercedes (who recommended periodic gearbox oil changes on the same gearbox used in their AMG models) but sold as sealed for life by Jaguar.
The alleged reasoning is that if they hadn't sold them as "sealed for life", they also would have to supply all the various internal components, all of which were supplied by Mercedes.
Perhaps not a case of, "it's outside of warranty we don't care", but certainly poor judgement.
Personally I think it's very naive to believe that planned obsolescence isn't built into all cars regardless of premium. So not sure about this "myth" business.
Of course, if you're changing the oil more often, say 3-6k, there's no need to buy stupidly expensive fully synthetic oil. Semi synth can be bought in the same viscosities and will be vastly cheaper.
Personally, I tend to change my engine oil every 3-4k, as I find that's when it starts to darken. Sooner in the carbed cars than the injected ones. But then, when I buy a car, I'm seriously considering having it for far longer than it was intended to last for, so I think an over the top servicing schedule is justified. It costs me about a tenner to change the oil in my cars, using 10-40 semi, which will go in 90% of road cars, no fuss.
To answer the OP's question, I'd sooner buy the car with higher miles but smaller service intervals, than a lower mileage one with what I consider excessive mileage/ time between oil changes.
Personally, I tend to change my engine oil every 3-4k, as I find that's when it starts to darken. Sooner in the carbed cars than the injected ones. But then, when I buy a car, I'm seriously considering having it for far longer than it was intended to last for, so I think an over the top servicing schedule is justified. It costs me about a tenner to change the oil in my cars, using 10-40 semi, which will go in 90% of road cars, no fuss.
To answer the OP's question, I'd sooner buy the car with higher miles but smaller service intervals, than a lower mileage one with what I consider excessive mileage/ time between oil changes.
Prof Prolapse said:
Ozzie Osmond said:
jagnet said:
Sealed for life gearboxes spring to mind - take that literally and they can need replacing within 100k miles. They were sealed for life, it just so happens that that life wasn't very long. Get the oil changed every 50k and they'll keep on going.
PH myth number 17: "Manufacturers don't care what happens as soon as the warranty expires".It's nonsense. There's no reason a sealed for life transmission won't run to 250,000 miles. And if the fluid's knackered the transmission is probably knackered. However, a precustionary change some time after 100,000 certainly won't do any harm and is cheap.
As for engine oil, it all depends on how the car is used. With frequent cold starts and short journeys I wouldn't run much more than a year or so however little mileage had been covered. On the other hand the "3 months or 3,000 miles" boys are in my view just tearing up £50 notes.
The story goes that some of these were supplied by Mercedes (who recommended periodic gearbox oil changes on the same gearbox used in their AMG models) but sold as sealed for life by Jaguar.
The alleged reasoning is that if they hadn't sold them as "sealed for life", they also would have to supply all the various internal components, all of which were supplied by Mercedes.
Perhaps not a case of, "it's outside of warranty we don't care", but certainly poor judgement.
Personally I think it's very naive to believe that planned obsolescence isn't built into all cars regardless of premium. So not sure about this "myth" business.
Prior to the introduction of the V8 engine Jaguar used a rather crude ZF 4 speed gearbox from the late 80's onwards which had a recommended oil and filter change every 30k miles. Correctly maintained these 'boxes are capable of space shuttle mileages.
On the introduction of the V8 models two gearboxes were used. Both were marketed as "sealed for life". In the naturally aspirated cars - both XJ and XK - a completely new ZF 5 speed box was used and for the supercharged versions a much stronger Mercedes 5 speed one was fitted. On the launch of the aluminium bodied XJ in 2003 a 6 speed ZF box was standardised across the whole range.
Some of the 5 speed ZF boxes have failed due to lubrication breakdown at as little as 60-70k miles. These gearboxes are filled with the very expensive long life transmission oil Esso LT71141. The Mercedes box however is filled with bog standard Dexron 111 - exactly the same spec. oil in fact Jaguar used to recommend changing every 30k.
Dispite several failures and it being well known through the trade and Enthusiasts' clubs that changing the transmission oil on a semi regular basis can easily double or triple the life of the gearbox all post 1997 automatic boxes are still regarded as sealed for life by Jaguar today.
RobCrezz said:
Oil that meets all the VW ratings:
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-975-fuchs-titan-gt1-lo...
you can even buy it from Halfords.http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-975-fuchs-titan-gt1-lo...
.Personally, anyone who thinks that an Air filter will still be clean and working effectively after 6000miles let alone 18000 is frankly a mug - also I think castrol oil is a pile of s
t and would always use shell in preference and change it 4 times as often. Long service intervals frankly, are just another marketing exercise to sell cars
t and would always use shell in preference and change it 4 times as often. Long service intervals frankly, are just another marketing exercise to sell cars Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff