I suggest that members read this advice from VW UK and also this article on Castrol Longlife oil. Both are in pdf format and need Adobe Reader installed on your PC to read them. [/color]

Denis, as there are two sides to every story, I was merely trying to convey the expert opinion of someone who respectfully disagrees with the views held by VAG and Castrol in the above papers...

As I believe the man to know his stuff and having heard the Swiss advice against using longlife oil in performance engines, I'd like to know the real deal, not just what VAG and Castrol are telling us. Not that I'm doubting what they say but it would be nice to have a balanced view of pros and cons.

having seen what happened to ians long life oil... and the condition of mine at 5k... i would strongly recomment against its use in a tuned engine(that is driven to the capability of the tuning).... it appears to get too hot and break down....

would agree that thinner oil and perhaps a better oil pump would be the answer...

I guess that the Longlife oil we are talking about was formulated for the 1.8T range when engine power outputs ranged from 150 to 225bhp. Incidentally, I seem to recall that the Audi TT 1.8T had a different VW spec Longlife specified. But it also needs to be remembered that Castrol isn't the only manufacturer of Longlife oil. Here is a recent list of other oil companies producing it:

'Standard 503.00, 506.00 and 506.01

(these combination products in such a way specified replace exclusively the oils approved according to the standard 506.01)

Addinol Mega light MV039 SAE OW-30

Agip 7007 SAE 0W-30

Aral SuperTronic LongLife II SAE 0W-30

BP Visco 7000 LongLife II SAE 0W-30

Castrol Longlife 2 Top Up SAE OW-30

Castrol SLX LongLife II SAE 0W-30

Elf Evolution CRV SAE OW-30

Esso Universal LD SAE 0W-30

Fuchs Titan Supersyn SL Longlife Plus SAE 0W-30

Q8 Formula Excel EDX SAE OW-30

Mobil SHC Formula LD SAE 0W-30

Motul Specific 50601 50600 50300 SAE OW-30

Shell Helix Ultra X SAE 0W-30

Texaco Havoline Synthetic 50601 SAE OW-30

Vaps Vapsoil 50601 SAE 0W-30

Veedol Syntron LongLife II SAE 0W-30'

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']

Where do you get it from?

I'm using 5w40 full synth in my old 900 Turbo on 3k intervals.

normally use Either Halfords home brand or Chevron from Costco.

but it is a bit thin considering that the car would initially have used 10w30 Saab branded turbo mineral oil.

Was going to try to locate a ncie semi-synth as I couldn't locate thicker full synth locally.

Mine is needing a good oil change soon, 39k, 40k after weekend right on the end of the oil's lifeas it went in 10k ago and has done a trackday and about 8k good driving since...maybe I should try to squeeze the change in before Saturday....

Jon, Dave, would you suggest 10/60 for every day driving given every day is either 25 miles in town or 400 miles round wales or a trackday?

if you are doing trackdays in a turboed car i would defo got with a good oil,such as Motul or Castrol 10w/60,or Millers