2000 Golf TDI oil change intervals

DieselArcticCat

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Location
Ontario, Canada
TDI
2000TDI Golf
Hello
I am a new on this forum and would like to say it is a great source of info. Been reading for weeks now on different topics and it has been great. Oil and lubrication topics seems to be the higest when it comes to different opinions and preferances.
I have been looking into what people use for oils and the change intervals.
I personally in my 2000 TDi golf use Castrol Syntec 5w40 (502,505.00) that I get dirctly from VW dealer for about $8.50 canadian per liter. This is cheaper than Wall Mart up here in canada. I change it every 6000Km(4000mi).
I am the second owner of the car and the first owner was using this oil from the day 1 in this car so I kept with the same oil. I chenge it very offten because with the oil and filtel it costs me about $55 canadian/change.
When I spoke to one of the vw specialized shop mechanics he told me to stick with the 6-7K km per oil change and I should be very safe, When i spoke with second vw mechanic he told me to go with 10K km (6 1/4K mi) oil changes. On these forums I see that most of the people go with 10k miles (16 000km) oil intervals.
To summerize:
I have found that people change their oil anywhere from 3000 to 25000mile intervals. I will keep on doing my oil changes at 6k km because it is not expensive and my TDI keeps on runing mint. IT is probably overkill but keeps me happy.
I also use 8oz of PS aditive per tank in winter and about 6oz in summer to keep the injectors clean and lubed as well to give it some cetane boost.
Do not see much difference with the additve.

Anybody else on here that has low oil change interval and which oil do you use?

Cheers
 

TDICADDGUY

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 4, 2007
Location
Blaine, MN
TDI
2012 BMW X5 35D
By shortening the OCI you are INCREASING wear on your engine and wasting money.

10k miles or 16k km.
 

Joe_Meehan

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Location
Ohio USA
TDI
NB TDI, 2002.5, Silver
I stick to what VW recommends for both interval and oil. If you follow this you likely will never wear out the engine. Shorting the interval is OK but really there is little to gain. Very few VW engines die due to engine wear unless the owner fails to follow the recommendations.

Note: If you have modified the engine or have some very unusual situation, this may not apply.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
TDICADDGUY said:
By shortening the OCI you are INCREASING wear on your engine and wasting money.

10k miles or 16k km.
+1.<<
 

Joe_Meehan

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Location
Ohio USA
TDI
NB TDI, 2002.5, Silver
Does anyone have some real world facts which compare OEM recommended oil changes vs. mofre frequent oil changes on stock engines?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Joe_Meehan said:
Does anyone have some real world facts which compare OEM recommended oil changes vs. mofre frequent oil changes on stock engines?
While it is always subjective, I think there have been many UOA results showing that slightly used motor oil returns better results than brand new motor oil. This is probably due to the fact that the lubricants are designed to last XXXX number of miles/months/hours, and that they want the stuff to work best in a 'used' state as it will essentially BE used in very short order after a changeout.

The massive PILES of UOA data showing good oil results on 10,000 mile/16,000 km is such that I have no idea why anyone would doubt that interval's validity. :rolleyes:
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
Joe, the guys are correct. The wear curve plots out to look like a sinusoidal curve. Wear goes up, wear decrease with accumulation of miles, wear increases again as oil starts to wear out.
 

DieselArcticCat

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Location
Ontario, Canada
TDI
2000TDI Golf
Let me ask this: If a person buys a new VW diesel and does the oil changes at 1/2 distance/time recommended by manufacturer, will the VW void the warranty?
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
DieselArcticCat said:
Let me ask this: If a person buys a new VW diesel and does the oil changes at 1/2 distance/time recommended by manufacturer, will the VW void the warranty?
LOL....half the dealers already do that, so my answer is no. But rest assured, they will find some other way. :p
 

jettawreck

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 2, 2004
Location
Northern Minnesota-55744
TDI
2001 Jetta and 2003 Jetta
DieselArcticCat said:
Well I am probably throwing out money with doing these low K oil changes but to cause engine damage by doing it.....hm
It may be hard to accept, but there are sooo many guys out there with high mileage engines going 10K (and some longer, even much longer) that no reson to doubt it.
 

Joe_Meehan

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 3, 2005
Location
Ohio USA
TDI
NB TDI, 2002.5, Silver
How many of you have seen a stock VW TDI with a worn out engine, that has had recommended service and oil changes, that could have lived longer if it had more oil changes?
 

POWERSTROKE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 17, 2000
Location
Staten Island (The Dump)
TDI
2002 Golf
I currently own (2) 2002 Golfs. One with 120k and the other with lower mileage at 60k. I also owned a 98 Beetle TDI that I sold with 50k on it. My mother has a 2001 Beetle with 70k. The oil changes were always done at 10k on all of these cars. I will say that none of them have oil consumption issues. My personal car, the one with 120k, starts and runs like the day I bought it. 120k is considered low mileage for a TDI, but for other gas cars this may not be so. If I was able to do 10k changes up to this point with no ill effect, I would say that no damage is being done whatsoever. I would be more concerned doing more frequent changes and have the engine run dry for those first 30 seconds or so, than by using a high quality synthetic and leaving it in the sump for 10k.
BTW: My valve cover was off at 80k and the lobes on the cam looked like brand new.
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
raycyrx said:
So... 10K between oil changes.
What about the filter? Same interval?
Correct, 10K mile oil and filter interval.

The oil filter (and many oils) are actually rated for 20K or 30K miles (due to being a Euro design).
 

k1rod

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2003
Location
Arizona
TDI
Jetta, 2001, Red
On My 01 Jetta TDI, I have been lately using a 12.5K miles OCI. Oil analysis shows Very low wear metals (Iron 39), TBN still at about 4, All the additive package numbers still high, low soot (< 0.3), very little viscosity shift, etc... I think I am going up to 15K miles. Oh and the oil I am using is Mobil Delvac 1.
 

RacerTodd

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Location
Kirkland, WA
TDI
2001 Golf TDI
If you're skeptical of using 10K mile oil changes, do an oil analysis to show yourself that the longer change interval is doing no harm.
Here is my latest UOA. I've done a UOA on each of the 7 oil changes (at the 10K mile interval) I've performed since I've owned the car.
As you can see, wear metals are below normal and almost no insolubles (meaning the filter is still properly filtering).

http://pics.tdiclub.com/showphoto.php?photo=63784&cat=500&ppuser=64150
 

Nucpotato

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Location
Pflugerville, Tx
TDI
96' Passt TDI
When I purchased my TDI in 96', both the dealer and manufacturer recommended oil changes at 7K miles. I currently have 170k and it's still running strong. The only problem I have had with the car is the sulfurless diesel.
I change every 10K miles with a good 10w-30.

78' VW Rabbit Diesel-past
?' VW dasher diesel-past
96' Passat TDI-current
 

Bob_Fout

Oil Wanker
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Location
Indiana
TDI
2003 Jetta - Alaska Green (sold) / 2015 GTI 2.0T
Nucpotato said:
When I purchased my TDI in 96', both the dealer and manufacturer recommended oil changes at 7K miles. I currently have 170k and it's still running strong. The only problem I have had with the car is the sulfurless diesel.
I change every 10K miles with a good 10w-30.

78' VW Rabbit Diesel-past
?' VW dasher diesel-past
96' Passat TDI-current
Yup, at the time [1996], diesel rated conventional oils were still popular (and allowed), and diesel rated synthetics were rare, hence the 7500 mile interval. Later is when they went to 10K mile / synthetic only.

Which 10w30 do you use?
 

JASONP

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 24, 2008
Location
Guelph
TDI
2015 Golf TDI Comfortline 6spd
I recently recoded my cluster to turn on the OCI reminder, is now set fo 12,000km intervals. I got tired of using those stupid stick ons and the marking wearing off.
So far it hasn't set a reminder, nut I agreeeven though you think its cheap, it's not at $45++ an oil change plus any damage done.

Go 10,000k minimum or switch to a gasser
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Joe_Meehan said:
How many of you have seen a stock VW TDI with a worn out engine, that has had recommended service and oil changes, that could have lived longer if it had more oil changes? (emphasis added)
There is no way to answer this question without a level of uncertainty. It therefore becomes opinion and/or political.

But it is true that there are a number of individuals that have experienced good success with the intervals suggested by the factory, and have proof to back it up (i.e. oil analysis reports). Therefore, when you can achieve great results and save time and money at the same time, why would you not do that?
 
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