I have a Fabia I with the 1.2 AWY engine. National suggest using either 10W40 Magnatec or 5W30 Castrol Edge oil. The latter is supposedly the premium option. I am not fussed about the extra cost, but can someone please confirm it's safe to use a 5W30 oil? Is there an advantage to it?

Also, do I want an engine flush with the oil change, whatever that is?

Many thanks.

You only really need an engine flush if oil changes have been severely neglected. Even then, many would argue against.

On your motor mate i would stick with 10w40 if your on 10k servicing. Only need the 5w30 if on longlife 20k variable service.

I use quantum platinum oilin my fabia vRS and it runs nicer than last time when i used quantum longlife 5w30 as it needed servicing asap and thats all i had as it was ready to go in my octavia as that is and has alw ays been on QG1 Longkife service intervals due to miles i did in her. Its a shame tje fabia vRS cant go on that shedule. But tbh i wouldnt wanna run the diesel more than 12k ne way without changing oil.

Billy

Dont bother with the flush - this can cause more problems than it fixes

Do use the CastrolEdge 5/30w its a far superior oil, will last much longer (stay in spec) and the lower w rating will give you around 3% improved fuel consumption. Factory fill is 5/30w

The viscosity is largely irrelevant, look at the manual, it states the standard the oil should be certified to eg 502.00 not the viscosity it needs to eg 5w40.

The viscosity is largely irrelevant, look at the manual, it states the standard the oil should be certified to eg 502.00 not the viscosity it needs to eg 5w40.

Many thanks to everyone who replied.

The trouble with your suggested approach is that it is very far from straightforward to find out what standards the oil is certified to. For example, the particular 5W30 oil appears to satisfy 504.00. But this is judging by the photograph National will helpfully show and using it together with the name to look up the same looking oil elsewhere. But then it could be a slightly different version, and Castrol will kindly offer you different datasheets on their website that differ in the VW standards that apparently the same oil satisfies.There is no mention of whether the particular oil does or does not satisfy 501/502/503 that my AWY engine supposedly requires. But then the engine would be fine with 504 if on variable service intervals. It is probably reasonable to interpret that to mean that it will also be fine if I change the oil every year/10000 miles. But that takes me into the realm of thinking about it rather than just matching the exact number, and there is already some uncertainty about whether the oil really satisfies 504.00 or 504.001.

What it boils down to is whether it's better to pay Skoda to put in some 10W40 oil on the grounds that they know what they are doing, or pay less to National for supposedly superior oil. This is not something you can answer by just matching numbers without understanding what they mean. But I hoped that someone on here would know.

I have now gone ahead and had the oil changed. I used the 5W30 oil that National offer, and did not bother with a flush. UKP40 all in, and they did not even try to sell me something overpriced that I would "definitely" need.

Edited 24 June, 201214 yr by jeremiah

The 1.2 has a VTS option? Either way it has absolutely nothing to do with understanding what the numbers mean and absolutely everything to do with the company concerned not making it clear what they are putting in your sump. If you don't know how can you make an informed decision?

The OP did right using the Castrol Edge - it is a premium oil.

Castrol Edge 5W/30 is VW504.00/507.00 spec oil - i.e suitable for all variable servicing regimes AND all standard 10,000 mile/12 month regimes. 504.00/507.00 are the latest VAG specs and supercede the plethora of older specs 501/502/503/505. It is a superior spec in every way and can be safely used in almost all VAG engines. (504.00 for petrol, 507.00 for diesel) exceptions being some exotic engines e.g. V10 and R5

It is fully a synthetic longlife low ash oil - amongst the best available.

5W/30 does offer some significant advantages over older 10W/40 oils. Lower fuel consumption, better starting in cold conditions and lower wear during cold starts.

Having said that, a 1.2 3 pot is not fussy about oil, so long as its changed regularly at 10k/12 months max - VAG dont support variable servicing intervals on the 1.2 3 pots - the hydraulic chain tensioner on early engines (those before 2003) sometimes caused expensive failures put down to oil related problems, but in many cases I think this was due to low oil levels. They revised the design in 2003/2004.

My sons new Octavia came with a factory supplied top up kit of 1litre Castrol Edge.

Edited 25 June, 201214 yr by xman