MKIV Golf GT TDI - Changing from standard to longlife serv?

[MElliottUK]

Hi,

I have a golf which i service quite alot due to the 10,000 mile service interval. As its getting old now i want to minimaise the servicing costs.

Can i just put long life oil in and just service it every 20,000 miles?

Thanks

[7ommy]

depends on the age of the car, iirc it's only post 02 cars that can be set to variable, you'll also find the oil more expensive so might not save much

[MElliottUK]

its a 2002 with 128,000 miles

I wasnt going to switch, i was just going to put the long life oil in every 20K my car hasnt been to a main dealer for some years now, just serviced locally.

[Coupe_Daz]

The car needs to be "told" its on longlife before you start bunging oil in it. As said, only 02-> can be set to it and you need to look in your handbook or spare wheel well and look at the data sticker, there are a bunch of codes on the bottom half, your looking for code QG1, if you dont have it on the sticker the car is not set up for longlife and you cant use longlife oil in that engine

[Defcon5]

What does the car do differently when its on long life servicing? And what are the differences between an 01 and an 03 to mean you can do it?

[Who me ?]

Been mention of changing servicing intervals on Briskoda on Octavias with this engine - seem to remember problems changing back to mileage servicing from fixed - might be worth while asking over there -OK-it's a VW - but a lot of techs on there are VAG trained .

[FoolOnTheHill]

Defcon5 said:

What does the car do differently when its on long life servicing? And what are the differences between an 01 and an 03 to mean you can do it?

Sensors do things like measure oil condition and calculate when you need a service according to this, rather than just every 10k regardless.

But aye, you do need pricy specialised oil if you go this route.

I've got full vagcom and I know it's possible to tell the car to change from fixed to variable, but if it's from the manufacturer as fixed will it have the appropriate sensors?

OP you should ask on UKMKIVs

[Coupe_Daz]

As i put above, if the data sticker, of which there are 2 copies one in the spare wheel well and one inside your service schedule booklet, has the code QG1 in the list on the bottom half, the car can be put onto longlife servicing.

note: I am VAG trained, been working on vw's in a vw dealership for 6 years so far

Edited by Coupe_Daz on Tuesday 23 June 19:14

[Defcon5]

FoolOnTheHill said:

Defcon5 said:

What does the car do differently when its on long life servicing? And what are the differences between an 01 and an 03 to mean you can do it?

Sensors do things like measure oil condition and calculate when you need a service according to this, rather than just every 10k regardless.

So would an car post 03 have these sensors, but an earlier model not despite being the same engine code and everything?

[theboss]

I was always under the impression that longlife service intervals were likely to contribute to turbo failure, so by switching a high mileage TDI to longlife you could end up causing more hassle than you'll save. I can't substantiate this but its interesting that of the two MK4 TDIs I've had, the turbo lasted 50k in one (on longlife) and 140k in the other (on standard).

[FWDRacer]

theboss said:

I was always under the impression that longlife service intervals were likely to contribute to turbo failure, so by switching a high mileage TDI to longlife you could end up causing more hassle than you'll save. I can't substantiate this but its interesting that of the two MK4 TDIs I've had, the turbo lasted 50k in one (on longlife) and 140k in the other (on standard).

This makes total sense - why would you lessen the engine protection as the engine and turbo wears/ages? 10K service intervals on the oil/filter considering the punishment a Diesel gives its lubrication system is more than enough. It takes less than 25mins to do and oil and filetr change - maybe the OP should consider this and prolong the lifespan of his motor/turbo. I've a SEAT 1.9TDi 110 on 107K and I try to stick rigourously to a 10K service interval. Its still on its original turbo.

[FoolOnTheHill]

Interestingly I bought a Bora recently, that looking at the service book was serviced every 10k, so I thought it was fixed. However looking at the handbook and now VAGCOM it turns out it wasn't - it was longlife, but obviously the oil condition sensors saw fit to make it be serviced every 10k.

I have decided it is going to be fixed, I'm not changing anything in the ECU but I can reset the indicators. It now gets oil changes every 5k.

[MElliottUK]

Ive bought some standard oil (505.01) so sticking to 10k servicing, if its true then for the save on £50 on fewer services is not worth it at the risk of any other failure.