Hi there Briskodians. After a chat I had yesterday with friends some questions arised in my mind and I need your help to clarify them. Before posting here I tried a couple of searches but I was unable to find what I was looking for. So I am posting here.

 

The main case is that there is a car using 5w-30 oil. What will happen if one of the below scenarios occures.

 

Scenario 1.

Car had 504/507 oil in it and he topped up with 600 ml of 502/505 oil, both of them 5w-30.

 

Scenario 2.

Car had 502/505 oil in it and he topped up with 504/507, both of them 5w-30.

 

Will there be any problem in any of the two scenarios, keeping in mind that next service of the car will be in five months and the car will cover about 7.000 to 8.000 Km

 

Thanks in advance for your time.

@stratosg - In the base case, ignoring that he's mixing oils with VAG spec numbers, the 2 liquids in the container will naturally mix together over time, given that they're the same or very similar density.

 

In the specific case, we can't be entirely certain since we don't know what all the chemicals in the additive packs are, but he#s not exceeding the basic life of the lower spec oil.

@KenONeill Thank you very much for your reply. I had the same opinion, especially when those two oils are from the same manufacturer but my friends were talking about sludge and turbine failure and timing chain issues as the tensioner will not work and stuff like that.

@stratosg - No problem. Also, the cam drive chain (or belt) tensioner in most engines is spring-loaded rather than hydraulic, so it isn't affected by the oil. What can be affected are the valve gaps on a hydraulic tappet engine, but as long as the hot viscosity of the oil is correct, all this does is open up the gaps when the engine is cold, making it noisier and less powerful.

Good that most are spring loaded, but not much peace of mind to those with ones that are not.

Then there are those early 1.2TSI with Chain Tensioners that were replaced with ones that had no Fundamental Design, manufacturing and material failures due to QC issues.

 

With a 1.2 TSI engine of any age it is a good idea to stop using Long Life oil (VW 504 00) 

and do Regular Fixed Oil & Filter Changes at under 16,000 km / 12 Months and use 5w 40 Full Synthetic to VW502 00.

(& try not mixing Oil Types even if the Long Life oil & not long life both are 5W 30 Full Synthetic, even in small amounts.)

@Awayoffski

Maybe I will present myself as a thick, but can you please explain the reason for stop using 504 oil and use 502 (5w-40) instead? By the way I think Shell's Helix Ultra 5w-30 is 502/505 while Helix Ultra Extra is 504/507. In such a case? Do you still recommend 5w-40 oil? If you have already answered this, please provide me the link to the related post, in order to save your time from rewritting.

 

To be honest I use 504 5w-30 oils in my car since new. I always had a slight issue of oil usage, no more that 500 to 700ml every 7000 Km. At 88.700 Km I had my chain replaced as I had that famous rattling when starting the engine.

 

Thank you for replying to my question.

 

Simply because 'Long Life Oil' does not mean longer life of engines or a superior oil, just that VW Group and other manufacturers wanted longer service intervals for fleet and business users.

So you pays you money make your choices and trust VW Group if you want after all they are the biggest vehicle manufacturers in the world and if they recommend long life oil, or Castrol / Quantum then best trust them, they always have the customer and the planet uppermost in their minds...

The only two VAG cars I've owned, [Golf] Mk5 Twin Charger EA111 and [Octavia] Mk2FL vRS TSI EA888 both use hydraulic tensioners. Both prone to failure. I thought they were pretty common across VAG chain drive TSI engines rather than spring loading.

Edited 18 July, 20179 yr by TheClient

Ok, I got it @Awayoffski 

I just thought that there would be any other technical issues. As for VAG and their customer care, I am well treated as well that's why I keep servicing my car in an independent garage owned by a former Skoda technician. And I keep the 15.000Km or once a year constant cycle.

 

Edited 18 July, 20179 yr by stratosg

5w 40 is a technical reason enough, it suits the Ambient temps of Greece pretty well, maybe better than 5w 30 does, but that is just an uneducated belief.

But seeing as one chain replaced then maybe worth the change from Long Life oil.

4 hours ago, Awayoffski said:

5w 40 is a technical reason enough, it suits the Ambient temps of Greece pretty well, maybe better than 5w 30 does, but that is just an uneducated belief.

But seeing as one chain replaced then maybe worth the change from Long Life oil.

 

I think you are well aware and well educated of our ambient summer temperatures.

 

Concerning the timing chain. My car had that rattle since the very first months of ownership back in 2010. But as usual they kept saying "That's normal all Tsis does the same" until my warranty expired. Then they kept saying that I have to replace the timing chain. I kept her until rattling was there for a couple of minutes. Then in December of 2016 I replaced her alongside the tensioner and the guides, as well as the gears (cogs ?) and oil etc...