I read this recommendation on the all-knowing internet, as a way to clear out the swarf and maximise longevity

 

All engines and gearboxes benefit from fresh, clean oil, but the size of the benefit is the unknown factor.

 

Has anyone considered this additional oil change on the VAG DSG?

I would just stick with whatever Skoda suggest, that should be sufficient although if you do extreme miles you may want to change a little more often?

So what do Skoda recommend ? & how do I change the oil on a dry DSG ?

So what do Skoda recommend ? & how do I change the oil on a dry DSG ?

The clutches are dry, but there will be oil to lubricate the gears etc.

I would guess (and I emphasise the word "guess") that a wet DSG will have a lot more bits floating around in it so would logically need more frequent oil changes.  A dry DSG is not that dissimilar to a manual box in terms of wear.  

 

Stick to what Skoda says and you should be OK.  If you do many short trips in nose to tail traffic with a wet DSG (i.e. 6 speed) then the clutches will wear more quickly so an intermediate oil change is not going to do any harm.

 

The 7 speed dry DSG shouldn't need any additional fettling.

Edited 22 March, 201511 yr by Smeghead

As the first 3 yrs / 60,000 miles are on warranty, why worry. Going outside the official servicing, gives them a means of getting out of any warranty claim, should it arise.

After 60,000 miles do what you feel best.

As the first 3 yrs / 60,000 miles are on warranty, why worry. Going outside the official servicing, gives them a means of getting out of any warranty claim, should it arise.

After 60,000 miles do what you feel best.

Because there might be reprecautions that don't show up until after the warranty has run out. I haven't read anything about changing oil in the gearbox, but at least the VW engines seem to have oil change intervals that are a little too long for their own good.

 

A recent road test of a VAG 1.4 TSI engine (ACT model) on a Finnish car magazine (TekniikanMaailma) revealed that when it comes to engine oil, the VAG recommended oil change interval is actually too long (30 000 km) and by that time oil quality had gotten so low, it had caused one of the turbo bearings to fail. Hence they recommended a 20 000 km oil change interval.

 

The bearing had only just started to fail by the time of the second oil change (60 000 km) and they suspected it wouldn't have caused a catastrophic turbo failure until after the warranty period had run out...and it would have gone unnoticed until then, since disassembling the turbo isn't exactly standard procedure during regular maintenance.

 

So changing the oil a little more often than recommended might save you a lot of money and trouble in the long run.

Edited 22 March, 201511 yr by kallekilponen

Being selfish, it won't bother me, when I buy new, I change after 3 years, due to too much expensive to repair technology to go wrong.

I take it you are not asking about the DQ200 7 Speed Twin Dry Clutch DSG.

It gets the Oil Changed from Synthetic to Mineral Oil & the ECU Software update because of the World Wide Recall,

or the Service Campaigns if in Europe which for some reason with VW is not in the World.

 

So NZ Skoda did a proper Service Campaign, 

in the UK it is hit or miss if Registered Keepers get to hear, because no Recall.

eg

http://skoda.co.nz/news/dsg-service-campaign

 

........................

For Wet DSG Boxes best to go with the Service Schedule (Guidelines) unless using in adverse conditions.

As the first 3 yrs / 60,000 miles are on warranty, why worry. Going outside the official servicing, gives them a means of getting out of any warranty claim, should it arise.

After 60,000 miles do what you feel best.

If changing oil ofter than the official recommendations is a problem, then I would seriously consider to find a manufacturer that appreciate owners which cares about their motors!

They claims that oils and machining tolerances are so good that long intervals are perfectly ok, but mechanical wear and chemical detoriation will eventually give insufficient lubrication and excessive internal wear, both in engines and in gearboxes/differentials regardless of make. Just think of how few liters it is that do this very important and complexe work.

I would never subject my hightech, turbocharged, selfgearing magnificent technical wonder to an long oil change interval of 30000 Norwegian kilometers. Most probably will my 6-speed gearbox enjoy fresh oil after about 50000 kms, instead of 60000. It is a small sacrifice for me to ease my mind, but I think it has big impact on the mechanical machine.

I remember when I had a 1.8 Vauxhall Astra it was 20,000 mile/ 1 year oil change on the engine. But if a Vauxhall commercial van, it was 30,000 miles / 1 year. In general commercial vehicles get harsher treatment. So it made no sense.

The oil change intervals are not always determined from a technical point of view, it has more and more become a commercial decision due to the competition. No dealer will impair more negative economic figures than the other brand across the street because there are a big competition for getting every sale.

They can almost without any consequences recommend long intervals to them, because commercial businesses keeps their fleet of motors 3 yrs, and they do not bother to consider the long term technical issues that may occure.

Back to tread starters question: I doubt that the 6-speed DSG needs a running in oil change at 15000 kms. There are (as I have been told) no drain plug and it is difficult access for sucking out the oil and refilling. I seriously doubt that it is possible to get out the bad stuff from the sump. Have you found something on the www to support this? Or did you mean every 15000?

Edited 22 March, 201511 yr by fatzy

Maybe it's just me but I've always been quite anal about oil changes on performance cars.

 

Over the last 20 years I've owned a UR Quattro, Coupe Quattro, 2.8 V6 80 Quattro, Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, Mazda 4x4 Turbo, Mk1 Octavia VRS.

 

They have all been pampered and had their life blood changed regularly, normally every 5000 miles for the engine and 20000 miles for the gearbox and axle/diffs, not one of them have given me any issues with oil related problems over the years.

 

When my new VRS arrives it will be given an oil and filter at 1k and again at 5k, then my paid for Skoda service at 10k, 20k,30k etc with an additional oil and filter at 5k intervals.

 

The gear oil will be changed at 10k, then every 20k after that.

 

I must add that I intend keeping the car more than 3 years.

The thing is though (I believe) the weak point with the dsg is the mechatronics and I'm not sure that the oil would help preserve that. So although the oil change can only be helpful, it might not(won't) help the thing most likely to fail.

Edited 22 March, 201511 yr by neiln

The thing is though (I believe) the weak point with the dsg is the mechatronics and I'm not sure that the oil would help preserve that. So although the oil change can only be helpful, it might not(won't) help the thing most likely to fail.

 

 

Maybe it's just me but I've always been quite anal about oil changes on performance cars.

 

Over the last 20 years I've owned a UR Quattro, Coupe Quattro, 2.8 V6 80 Quattro, Sierra Sapphire Cosworth, Mazda 4x4 Turbo, Mk1 Octavia VRS.

 

They have all been pampered and had their life blood changed regularly, normally every 5000 miles for the engine and 20000 miles for the gearbox and axle/diffs, not one of them have given me any issues with oil related problems over the years.

 

When my new VRS arrives it will be given an oil and filter at 1k and again at 5k, then my paid for Skoda service at 10k, 20k,30k etc with an additional oil and filter at 5k intervals.

 

The gear oil will be changed at 10k, then every 20k after that.

 

I must add that I intend keeping the car more than 3 years.

Ah, you saw through my deliberate mistake!

 

I've never had a car with DSG 

The thing is though (I believe) the weak point with the dsg is the mechatronics and I'm not sure that the oil would help preserve that. So although the oil change can only be helpful, it might not(won't) help the thing most likely to fail.

I know that the oil type in the mechatronics was/is an issue in some of the 7-speeds DSG's, but not in the 6-speeds? (which susi has....) The 6-speed DSG is more bullet proof and refined over the years?

DSG or not: gearboxes wear down the oil by mechanical wear, sliding gear cogs and high tooth pressure. Bearings needs lubrication and cooling by the oil.

Edited 22 March, 201511 yr by fatzy

I agree.  I am all for additional care my tsi got oil and filter at 2k.

 

I have never bothered change gear oil on a car though. It's no bad thing to do, but gear oil isn't as hard worked like engine oil and manual boxes are largely strong and bullet proof.  The dsg is a manual box ... Just automatically shifted and with a dual input shaft with multiplate clutches that allow the box to preselect the next gear.  The multiplate clutches may wear and may benefit from oil change in the wet box, but the weak bit, the mechatronics, probably won't.

 

My caveat.. Previous cars haven't been as powerful so less stressing on the box.

Well, in earlier days the oil in gearboxes and differentials was changed lets say every 100000 kms or so. The mechanical terms inside a gearbox isn't that much changed (basically), but modern Fwd cars has a built-in differential with a common oilsump. In addition the oil shall serve the multi-plate wet cluches (in the 6-speed DSG). We are talking about much more refined and sensible components than earlier inside the box.

So yes, I would find it very natural to change the oil, it is the only maintenance possible. And in my head, preferably before the set interval rather than after.

Im sure Ive heard that DSG oil is supposed to be changed every 4 years/40k miles on wet clutch boxes, whichever comes first. So on variable intervals every 2nd service.

I've changed the gear oil (gearbox and differential where applicable) in all my previous cars however they have all been around 80k miles when I bought them bar a few slightly younger ones. The oil that came out of most of them was rank looking so I'm quite happy to do it. On my Octavia though I will probably be leaving it for a while yet... Maybe 20k or every 3 years or so

My mk5 golf was every 4 yrs on the wet dsg box. When i had it done, it changed much smoother. However the oil is something like £9 a litre and it holds a lot and they charge a fortune. It did have a mechatronics unit at 12k miles though!

I checked the servicing cost table. DSG oil change is done on II and IV service. Cost is 136€+VAT.

So every 2 years at least.

Our Octavia had the 5000km oil change at dealer (for log)' will get at 10000 and 15000 as well as bed-in. Especially a turbo engine is so multi part beneficial to avoid excessive wear internally was my idea.

Fatzy is very right in his arguments. Long life CAN be run in some cases just fine, but for the general customer I don't see this making sense. My car is setup for 15000km intervals. DSG box, I'll stick to factory 60000km(?) and never neglect those.

Edited 24 March, 201511 yr by WAUOla

As the first 3 yrs / 60,000 miles are on warranty, why worry.

 

Because we only get 2 years warranty and I'll keep the car for longer than that.

Because we only get 2 years warranty and I'll keep the car for longer than that.

 

Jeez..... I got 5 years on mine!  Doesn't cover wear and tear though so careful about those DSG clutches