I think dealer put in wrong oil - what to do?

Greetings,

I took my 99 Beetle TDI to Metro VW in Philly for a few basic things like and oil change. I looked at my bill and it list the new oil as 10W30. I was planning to drive out down on Thursday, leaving early in the morning.

What should I do? Can I drive the Beetle to D.C. and then get a correct oil for it or delay my trip and get a the dealer to drain and replace?

Thanks for your help

Anybody awake out there?

Well Folks,

I am rolling out! I hope I do not Kill my car on this trip.

I still look forward to your responses.

I doubt you'll kill the car on this one trip. However, call your dealer to remind them that VWOA recommends they use nothing but synthetic in it, and as soon as you return they must change the oil to the proper stuff.

kill your car? i don't think you can kill your motor with wrong oil unless you're putting in 80w-90 gear lube. then you might have trouble starting, and may experience decreased fuel economy

Use the car. You won't harm anything. Refer back to the dealer as soon as convenient, and ensure that they change the oil to the correct type. Confirm in writing to the General Manager of the dealership what has happened, that way he may just do something about ensuring his staff are properly trained in using the correct oil. Keep your copy in case any further Dealer incompetence arises.

TDI-Ego,

A good 10w-30 full synthetic will pump down to -40F, so you are fine in that respect. VW/Audi allow the use of 5w-30/10w-30/5w-40/10w-40 synthetics for year round operation in all temps. However, I doubt that the oil the dealer used even meets the VW 505 spec (few 10w-30's do), much less meets the API/CH-4 specification. There are some petroleum based 10w-30 diesel oils (Delo 400, Rotella, etc), but I don't know if there are any 10w-30, CH-4 rated synthetics. The Petro Canada 0w-30 and the Series 3000, 5w-30 are the only "xw-30", synthetic diesel oils I know of in North America.

If the dealer put in Mobil 1, 10w-30 I would change it out when you get the chance, simply because the oil analysis results with it have been terrible. If they put Castrol Syntec in there I would be less concerned but would still change it @ 5000 miles max.

Folks get a little worked up over this oil situation because they don't understand the intent of VW's lubricant recommendations ....

TS