Hi All,

From reading around on the forums, it appears that the correct oil for a PD engine is one that adheres to VW spec. 505.01.

As I'm about to take delivery of my car, and will then be off to France for three weeks, I wanted to take some with me in case it needs topping up. The only problem is that my leasing company will only allow me to purchase oil using my fuel card. This means that I have to buy oil at petrol stations.

Upon speaking to various dealers, some have told me to use Shell Helix Plus Diesel, whilst others have told me that I mustn't use anything but the real thing, on pain of loss of warranty.

Does anyone out there know of a suitable oil that's available 'over the counter'.

Thanks,

Bagpuss.

Hi All' date='

From reading around on the forums, it appears that the correct oil for a PD engine is one that adheres to VW spec. 505.01.

As I'm about to take delivery of my car, and will then be off to France for three weeks, I wanted to take some with me in case it needs topping up. The only problem is that my leasing company will only allow me to purchase oil using my fuel card. This means that I have to buy oil at petrol stations.

Upon speaking to various dealers, some have told me to use Shell Helix Plus Diesel, whilst others have told me that I mustn't use anything but the real thing, on pain of loss of warranty.

Does anyone out there know of a suitable oil that's available 'over the counter'.

Thanks,

Bagpuss.[/quote']

I think Shell Helix Plus Diesel is VW505.00 rather than VW505.01, although the Shell website doesn't make this clear :(

Castrol Longlife / Longlife II meets / exceeds the spec. you need, they meet VW506.01 which is the spec. for vehicles on variable servicing.

VAG dealers also sell own brand "Gemini" (if I remember correctly) brand oils whicj oviously meet the requirements of the PD engines... although of course unless you find a VAG dealership selling fuel, you will be out of luck.

I'd take some Millers XFE-PD oil - rated to 505.01. Depends if you wanna lug around 5 litres... Might be best to get a 1 litre pot from a dealership - I'm sure Veedub do it in 1 litre pots, if Skoda don't.

If you can't find any, try WJH motors in Riseley. They have a petrol pump forecourt, and are a Skoda garage... Phone first to see they have it in stock though.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I've just had an e-mail back from Shell customer services, and they told me that the following oils are suitable:

Shell Helix Diesel Plus VA 5W40 is 505.01 compliant. It's important to get the VA type.

Shell Helix Diesel Ultra 0W30 is 506.01 compliant for cars on variable service intervals.

I guess I will be buying my oil at Shell garages, then.

Bagpuss.

Edited to say that I've found a link on the Shell Germany website which shows all this stuff:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.shell-helix.de/ek/artikelsubp_ek_472.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dvw%2B505.00%2Bshell%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8

Castrol SLX LongLife 2 - which meets specs VW 503 00, 506 00 and 506 01 - should be widely available from Halfords and motor spares shops. I bought my first lot from the supplying Skoda dealer. A list of suitable oils for variable service cars is in our FAQs here, although there may be further oils available now.

PS: Sorry - I missed the bit about buying with a fuel card. BP Visco 7000 Longlife II would be another filling station option, although when I last filled up at a BP motorway filling station they didn't appear to have any. :(

Thanks for the reply Denis.

The whole buying with a fuel card issue has been my main problem. It limits me to oil that I can buy from the likes of BP, Shell, Esso etc. at their petrol stations. The company will only allow oil purchases on this card, and routinely turns down any attempts to buy oil or fuel on expenses :(

The attitude of the leasing company really sucked when I asked them this question. They didn't seem to care if I put baby oil in it, as long as I could buy it with their fuel card. I'm sure they would be singing a different tune if the engine blew up, and Skoda wouldn't honour the warranty claim.

Oh well, now that I know I can buy suitable oils at Shell and BP, I should be okay.

Thanks once again to all who replied.

Bagpuss.

It looks like my optimism was premature.

Neither Shell, BP, Esso or Total sell their 505.01 or 506.01 compliant products at any of their retail outlets. Apparently, demand for the product is so low that it just isn't worth it.

I've put the matter into the hands of the leasing company. Let them deal with the crap, and come up with a solution.......

Bagpuss.