Ive not long bought an 03 Octavia tdi 110bhp with 102,000 miles? Im going to do an oil change but confused to the type I should be putting in?

I think the car has been on Variable servicing but dont like the idea of putting long life oil in and keeping it in the engine for 30,000 miles.

Can I switch to a 'normal' oil and change it every 10,000 miles without causing any damage to the engine in the long run? (will it be used to running on long life?).

If I can change the oil type, what should I use?

Cheers

Andy

I'm sorry, I can't advise on the oil as I don't own a Tdi. I can say, though, it's fine to switch to fixed servicing and will not cause any problems. I also don't like the idea of oil staying in that long... so I did the same thing. If you reset the service message using the reset button on the dash it will put it into fixed servicing mode I think.

I would use a 5w/30 oil semi synthetic.

Millers do some good oils and they come in 5L not 4L tins at the same price or cheaper than the castrol etc products.

Millers XF-Longlife is a VW 506.1 (0w-30) or VW507 (5w-30) oil and they also do a VW505.1 oil (Ask Devonutopia what it's called as he uses it).

Both are good oils.

I've used Mann and Fram filters for many hundreds of thousands of miles on other cars and never had any problems. Both make OEM filters and IIRC the VAG one is actually a Mann item.

As a side be very careful when doing the sump plug up. You will need a new one of these when changing the oil, but most importantly the sump is very soft and it is very easy to cross thread this and cause problems or over tighten it.

I used some fuks stuff (from opic oils - site sponsor) on my 2001 TDi (110) with 126k on the clock and not had any issues. I am running with variable servicing. we get a 10% discount on pirchase costs as well. If you do longs of long trips, then variable is cheaper I think. I do at least 120 miles a day, and could not be fussed with doing 3 oil changes a year!