I have been told -

Halfords are selling their own brand fully synthetic oil on a 2 for 1 price deal this weekend. I bought 2 gallons for

But does it meet specs VW 503 00, 506 00 and 506 01, making it suitable for Longlife servicing and PD engines?

I stick Castrol Rs 10w60 regardless of what VW say should go in

I stick Castrol Rs 10w60 regardless of what VW say should go in

Isn't that the oil specified for the latest BMW M3? And is your car on fixed or variable servicing, Elculo?

my car would be on castrol RS as well if it had any oil in it... but im sure the tub i bought is 0w 40?

as for the long life oil... having spent the easter weekend scraping out the innards of ians 1.8t then im suddenly not a fan... engine flush is a wonderful thing:rolleyes:

fixed,and anway,i dont like variable services,i just dont trust a computer to tell me my oil is ok,so i change every 3k anyway,

its great oil,i always used it in the Scoob,and the Saab,it works well in a turboed car

fixed' date='and anway,i dont like variable services,i just dont trust a computer to tell me my oil is ok,so i change every 3k anyway,

its great oil,i always used it in the Scoob,and the Saab,it works well in a turboed car[/quote']A sensor monitors oil quality - just as happens with modern commercial jet engines and helicopters. What do oil changes cost you every 3000 miles using that oil, and what about invalidating your engine warranty by using an oil which is not approved? :(

PS I understand it is a fantastic oil, and seem to recall that Jon used it when he went to the Ring.

as for the long life oil... having spent the easter weekend scraping out the innards of ians 1.8t then im suddenly not a fan... engine flush is a wonderful thing:rolleyes:

So what has Ian's engine been up to, Paul?

I am on the variable so use castrol slx. with my octys low annual mileage fixed servicing is a pain, the last 12 months has seen my vRS clock up only 3500 miles. On the other hand mr mondeo has managed a nice 18000 miles.

My 4X4 had its first (variable) service at 24 months and 9263 miles. Like Manny, fixed service would not have made sense.

I am not bothered about cost DGW,they way i drive it will pay for itself,and my car is almost 3 years old anyway

i just dont like the idea of waiting 18 months for any fluid change,its old habits i am afraid,i will just change the fluids on a regular schedule regardless of car sensors

So what has Ian's engine been up to' date=' Paul?[/quote']

seems the oil broke down and gummed up the innards starving the top end... working now but the long term effect will have to be monitored.:confused:

i for one will be changing every 6k from now on:thumbup:

as for the warranty implications.. i do track days i dont have a warranty.

seems the oil broke down and gummed up the innards starving the top end... working now but the long term effect will have to be monitored.:confused:

Paul, has Ian been using a VW 503 00 oil exclusively or mixing it with something else? And is that what the dealer actually put in the car?

will post up the full story tomorrow....

I am told that the Halfords stuff is BMW rated so it must be gold plated the best ever!

I used the Motul 10/60, no W. As I knew the engine would be running hot I wanted the 60, the one I used is an endurance racing oil so I didn't thing it would breakdown and it didn't

Elculo, is your real name Dave by any chance?

It is indeed

have you been speaking to Gossy?

More oily debate, as an oil expert told me that 0W-30 is not quite the best choice for a turbo engine, even more so for a chipped turbo engine.

He goes on saying that the bearings in the 1.8T engines have relatively small foundations, with thin oils like the 0W-30 unable to cope with the powers the engines are exposed to, not to mention a chipped engine. Instead he advises a full synthetic 5W-40 or 5W-50.

So is he talking sense?

well,if you listen to everyone on Scoobynet he is

the lord of the ring,the great John Felstead drinks 10w60,and he regards ow oils as devils ****

I never used lower than a 5/50, liked the 10/60 though.

Which of course begs the question - what is VAG on about then?

I don't know a great deal about oil I must admit , but I started using Mobil 1 when I bought a second hand Lancia Delta HF Turbo in 1991 , never had any trouble engine wise with that car .......so continued to use in my following second hand cars , Peugeot 405 MI 16 , VW Vento VR6 , BMW 323i and never had any engine trouble with any of those cars .........may have been lucky or it may in some way have been down to the Mobil 1 .........who knows .....

But an Audi mechanic said to me only a couple of weeks ago that he personally doesn't like the VAG oil they use for variable servicing ..............he said " my pi55 is thicker than that" , but it's not the first time I have heard derogatory comments about this oil .............that's one reason I'm on fixed schedule servicing . But as I said I don't know a great deal about oil , just going on personal experience .

The VAG oil will be perfectly acceptable for everyday driving,no doubt

but for track driving and even hard road use there is nothing wrong with buying the best oil you can afford to look after your engine

turbo engines tend to run hotter than na,so a better oil will protect your engine at higher operating temperatures,because oil thins when hot.

So perhaps the question should be - what are VAG dealers on about when sticking to VAG oils with a chipped engine?

I know this doesn't apply to the UK, of course, but here and in Germany you can get VAG-approved ECU upgrades through the dealer channel, and yet they stick with 0W-30.

Still, these are all fairly conservative programs and my road use can't even be called 'hard' - being a 4x4 driver I drive like a sissy, of course...

More specific input from the independent oil expert...

In Switzerland the expensive VAG spec oils ("ridiculously expensive", in his words) have now been advised against for use in the Audi RS and S models. The reason VAG went to the thin Castrol oils was as a cheap answer to new EU environmental demands. However, the thin 0W30 oils give lubricating problems which are compensated by a huge oil pump to feed twice the amount of oil into the engine.

Incidentally, he says the diesel engines are far more at risk using this philosophy, as high-revving engines are far more capable to build their own lubricating film than the high-torque, low-revving turbo diesels. Using a thin oil will mean a very high oil consumption - up to 1 litre per 3000 miles. Which means 10 litres before the 30k service (watch that Castrol profit grow!). And with the sump containing a maximum of 4 litres the oil has been effectively refreshed 2.5 times anyway...

So you oil burners out there, do you recognize this story? What's your consumption?