I thought the PD engines called for VW 506?
I should have known that, each time I post something in this forum, I have to dig up stuff afterwards
So the following comes from the latest repair instructions from VAG (references available upon private request
)
"Improved lubricity multi-grade oils, specification VW 506 00 (long-life oil)
Improved lubricity multi-grade oils, specification VW 500 00 (not a long-life oil)
Multi-grade oils, to specification VW 505 00 (not a long-life oil)
Multi-grade oils, to specification API-CD (not a long-life oil)
Multi-grade oils, to specification VW 501 01 (not a long-life oil)
Notes:
Engines 2001 =>(1 =>)with long-life service or 2000 =>(Y =>)with time or distance dependent service are filled during production with improved lubricity multi grade oils to specification VW 506 00 (long-life oil) except for engines with unit injectors. This oil is designed for extended service intervals. Oils mentioned above not designed for long-life service may also be used.
Diesel engines with unit injector technology are filled with oil conforming to VW standard 505 01 and only this oil may be used when filling or topping-up.
Vehicles => 1999 (=> X), oils conforming to VW specification 506 00 must not be used, as this may cause damage to the engine. "
In a nutshell: the recent non-PD diesel engines come from factory filled with 506.00 compliant oil, which is a longlife oil. PD engines have and should always use 505.01. The latter is not a longlife oil.
Looking at the 506.00, I understand why damage could result: it's based only on ACEA B4 (which is essentially an ACEA B2 with tests on a TDI piston) but they force the HTHS viscosity to 2.9-3.4 instead of 3.5 min for the ACEA specs (which makes sense, as this "longlife" oil will as time goes by become loaded with soot and thicken a lot). Which means a 506.00 grade 30 oil, when not loaded with soot, under high temperature and high engine speeds, may "collapse" in some places, leaving metal to metal friction, in an engine not designed for its use.
As for the 505.00 compared to the ACEA standards: 505.00 is based on CCMC PD-2 (the ancester of ACEA B3). It has in addition valve train wear and seal compatibility tests (which I couldn't find if they're the same as the ACEA tests). However it only requires a max evaporative loss of 15% for the 5/10W-30/40 grades, which is less stringent than the ACEA B3 (13% max). It's my guess (since not all data to compare both norms is truly available) that ACEA B3+B4 is more stringent than 505.00.
I also like to see the MB 229.3, because it has engine sludge, piston cleanliness requirements and cam wear tests (which the ACEA/VW doesn't have except for VW VTW) and another cam wear test (on the M111E). Furthermore, the max bore polishing goes down from 7% in the ACEA tests to 4.5% in the MB. The max viscosity increase @40*C goes down from 90% for the ACEA to 70% for MB.
So, see you at the waterfest, TDIMeister? Hopefully I'll be with Uwe selling systems