Hello there from The Dominican Republic, a fellow Skoda Owner 

 

I hope everybody is getting ready for a nice holliday season. 

I wanted to ask your opinion on engine oil. My Skoda is a:

 

Skoda Octavia mk1 (TOUR) 2006

1.9 TDI 8V turbo, diesel 66 kW (90 PS)

Engine Code: ALH   Trans. Code: FDB

It has 155,000 km

 

When I bought the car, the person was putting in an engine oil 15W40. I bought the car about 2 years ago, and I kept putting that same oil, I live in the caribbean where it is tropical / hot. They said that it was the right viscosity. I did some research now and I find online the recommendation of doing the oil change with 5W30. Which one is better? Considering km on car, age of car etc... I do an oil and filter change every 4,000 km. As time goes by and the car gets older, do the oil type stays the same or you have to change viscosity of oil used to take into consideration the age of the car?

 

Thank you very much beforehand for reading this and any help you can offer.

 

Also, do I need to use a chemical / product to put in the tank to clean the cat,turbo,valves etc and other parts that need it??

 

James

 

Edited 3 December, 20187 yr by Jamesgil

@Jamesgil - Viscosity is much less important than the correct VAG 500 series oil specification for an ALH on fixed service.

Thank you so much for your reply, how can I find out that specification? which one would you recommend I use considering age and km of my Octavia Tour? I really love my car, and want to take care of it so it last me a long time.. best

There's a decision tree on the page below that should help:

 

https://www.oilspecifications.org/articles/vw_motor_oil_specifications_explained.php

 

 

Thank you, I think I am understanding more...

According to the site this is the oil that I need to use, an oil with this specification.. am I right?

 

VW 505.01

Special engine oil for VW turbodiesel engines with pump-injector-unit and for the V8 Commonrail turbodiesel engines. Meets ACEA B4 SAE 5W-40 specification.

 

Just wanted to confirm with you before I go out and buy the amount for the oil change. They recommend here to change it every 4,000 km to be on safe side.. 

 

Thank you.

I don't believe your ALH engine has the VW PD injection system, but instead the previous Bosch system. If so, I'm not sure you need the oil variant that was designed for PD motors. It shouldn't do any harm as the oils are backward compatible but you may end up paying more for a specification you don't need.

I understand, thank you for the info, so then it would been of these...

 

VW 505.00

Passenger car diesel engine oil specification, minimum performance level CCMC PD-2. Lists viscosities SAE 5W-50, 10W-50/60, 15W-40/50, 20W-40/50 requiring 13% max. evaporation loss and SAE 5W-30/40, 10W-30/40 requiring 15% max. evaporation loss.

 

This is from the helpful site that StickyMicky posted. Of these which one would you recommend?  I am trying but don't understand how I should know which one of these to choose..  :( 

 

Best,

 

James

 

Sorry for being so lost... I appreciate your help... 

attached is a screenshot from the manual..

Edited 4 December, 20187 yr by Jamesgil

The pd engine needs an antifoaming oil to avoid major wear with the mechanical operation of the cam acting on the Pumpe Duse unit injectors. The minimum spec is 505 01. In addition 507 superceeded this spec so is also suitable.

 

DO NOT USE 505 00!

 

 

Edited 4 December, 20187 yr by bigjohn

5 hours ago, bigjohn said:

The pd engine needs an antifoaming oil to avoid major wear with the mechanical operation of the cam acting on the Pumpe Duse unit injectors. The minimum spec is 505 01. In addition 507 superceeded this spec so is also suitable.

 

DO NOT USE 505 00!

 

 

 Thank you Bigjohn for your input, but as per Stickymicky's reply on this thread, he says that my ALH is not fitted with PD injection system. (see below)

 

15 hours ago, StickyMicky said:

I don't believe your ALH engine has the VW PD injection system, but instead the previous Bosch system. If so, I'm not sure you need the oil variant that was designed for PD motors. It shouldn't do any harm as the oils are backward compatible but you may end up paying more for a specification you don't need.

 

How could I confirm that I don't have PD, and if I don't have PD, which ones of the 505 00 series should I use? thank you for your time..

@Jamesgil - In your original post you state it's a 1.9Tdi90; that is enough to tell us it's not a PD (those are 130bhp or above).

 

You don't need an anti-foaming oil unless you have a PD, and there's no point in using a long life (aka variable service) oil with your stated change regime.

9 hours ago, KenONeill said:

@Jamesgil - In your original post you state it's a 1.9Tdi90; that is enough to tell us it's not a PD (those are 130bhp or above).

 

You don't need an anti-foaming oil unless you have a PD, and there's no point in using a long life (aka variable service) oil with your stated change regime.

 

Sorry - missed that in an earlier post - in which case you don't need an anti foaming oil as it's an old mechanical injection engine - it's been a while since I've seen a Tdi90. I didn't realise this engine was still in cars by 2006.

 

If I remember correctly these engine respond well to a new set of injectors after about 150,000 miles (so as the OP's mileage is only 155km it's ok for a while) as the injectors wear giving a poor spray pattern that drops performance and economy and can cause wear due to bore wash. Other than that they slog on forever.

 

 

 

Edited 5 December, 20187 yr by bigjohn

52 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

Sorry - missed that in an earlier post - in which case you don't need an anti foaming oil as it's an old mechanical injection engine - it's been a while since I've seen a Tdi90. I didn't realise this engine was still in cars by 2006.

 

If I remember correctly these engine respond well to a new set of injectors after about 150,000 miles (so as the OP's mileage is only 155km it's ok for a while) as the injectors wear giving a poor spray pattern that drops performance and economy and can cause wear due to bore wash. Other than that they slog on forever.

 

 

 

Thank you so much John & Ken for your reply..  knowing that it is not a PD engine, of the VW 505.00 series ( I assume it is an oil form this series that I need?)

Which one would you recommend? I do short trips during the week and one long trip back and forth once a week aprox 270 km both ways.

Passenger car diesel engine oil specification, minimum performance level CCMC PD-2. Lists viscosities SAE 5W-50, 10W-50/60, 15W-40/50, 20W-40/50 requiring 13% max. evaporation loss and SAE 5W-30/40, 10W-30/40 requiring 15% max. evaporation loss.

 Best

5 minutes ago, Jamesgil said:

Thank you so much John & Ken for your reply..  knowing that it is not a PD engine, of the VW 505.00 series ( I assume it is an oil form this series that I need?)

Which one would you recommend? I do short trips during the week and one long trip back and forth once a week aprox 270 km both ways.

Passenger car diesel engine oil specification, minimum performance level CCMC PD-2. Lists viscosities SAE 5W-50, 10W-50/60, 15W-40/50, 20W-40/50 requiring 13% max. evaporation loss and SAE 5W-30/40, 10W-30/40 requiring 15% max. evaporation loss.

 Best

 

To be honest that engine is less fussy compared to the PD engine however I used to rate Castrol Magnatec semi synthetic for that breed of engine.

 

17 hours ago, Jamesgil said:

........How could I confirm that I don't have PD, and if I don't have PD, which ones of the 505 00 series should I use? thank you for your time..

 

There is probably a piece of paper with a printout of the build of your car somewhere in the boot/trunk. I cant remember where they put it. maybe in the spare wheel well or around there. Hopefully someone will be along to say exactly where. Well worth taking a copy of it for future reference.

As you're in the Dominican republic I'd say a good quality 15/40w oil should be fine for the ALH motor (5/30 for European winters) especially if you can get one thats VW505 or higher rated. the 50x.01 (PD) oils are designed to withstand the injection pump pressures that can literally break the oil molecules. I put 506.01 in mine for 250k miles and changed it every 10k.

Whats more important with TDI engines is to let them idle after a run for a minute before turning them off, this allows the temperature of the oil cooled turbo to drop enough to prevent cooking the oil.

Edited 13 December, 20187 yr by GreenOcty1