Oil change - 505.01 or synthetic 5W40?

Damien8 · Feb 18, 2011

Hey guys,

Quick question...

I had a mechanic putting 505.01 in for oil changes, and saying that was the only type of oil I should use.

Now I have a guy saying that I should use synthetic 5W40?

Any opinions on this?

As well, what is the frequency in which I should be doing my oil changes?

Thanks in advance!

dieseldorf · Feb 18, 2011

Damien8 said:
I had a mechanic putting 505.01 in for oil changes, and saying that was the only type of oil I should use.

VAG quality standard 505.01 is appropriate for your vintage. They used to be 5W40 oils, not sure what it is today.

Once past the warranty period, Damien, many have transitioned to one of the super-premium API diesel oils which ARE 5W40.

Welcome aboard!

Damien8 · Feb 18, 2011

dieseldorf said:
VAG quality standard 505.01 is appropriate for your vintage. They used to be 5W40 oils, not sure what it is today.

Once past the warranty period, Damien, many have transitioned to one of the super-premium API diesel oils which ARE 5W40.

Welcome aboard!

I'm a little confused...

Should I be preferably using 505.01, or 5W40 at this point?

The care presently has 42,000 miles on it.

Also, what should be the oil change frequency? 8000 miles?

Lightflyer1 · Feb 18, 2011

You have been here since 2009 and a veteran member and 42k miles on your car and you aren't up to speed on the oil thing yet? Pick a thread there are a million of them already explaining all this.

VeeDubTDI · Feb 18, 2011

UOAs have shown that a 5w40 synthetic diesel engine oil is the best thing that you can use in your engine. I would recommend Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck, Shell Rotella T6, or something made by one of the numerous other oil brands.

UOAs have shown that using "505.01" spec oil does not provide as much protection as some of the better oils listed above.

Damien8 · Feb 18, 2011

VeeDubTDI said:
UOAs have shown that a 5w40 synthetic diesel engine oil is the best thing that you can use in your engine. I would recommend Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck, Shell Rotella T6, or something made by one of the numerous other oil brands.

UOAs have shown that using "505.01" spec oil does not provide as much protection as some of the better oils listed above.

Thanks!

What should I be looking at for frequency? About 10,000 miles per change?

40X40 · Feb 18, 2011

OCI is 10,000 miles as stated (clearly!) in your owners manual.

The oils listed above are very good oils...BUT,
there ARE 505.01 oils that are also 5w-40 synthetics and you can get them from BoraParts.com and IDparts.com, two vendors that support this forum.

Bill

Sella Turcica · Feb 19, 2011

I run 10k miles on pentosin HP2 which is both 505.01 and 5w40. I get it from idparts. Maybe this is what you're looking for. After reading a bajillion oil threads here I decided to change from 5w30 to 5w40, and start using powerservice in the fuel. However, if it doesn't say 505.01 on the label, it has never (and will never) go in my TDI.

GoFaster · Feb 19, 2011

The original poster is in Canada.

You can get Mobil 1 TDT 5w40 or Shell Rotella T6 at either Canadian Tire or Walmart. Not all locations of either store has either or both, though. Cross-border mail-order shipment of something like this is not likely to be worthwhile.

16,000 km (we speak metric here) oil change interval is fine.

Sella Turcica · Feb 20, 2011

Didn't notice you were in Canada. My bad.

vwluca · Feb 20, 2011

I live in Canada on the south shore from Montreal and I personnaly get my oil from my dealer and the price is better than elsewhere.

Castrol TXT => 505.01 => 5W40

Castrol SLX => 505.01 => 5W30

I've always used TXT, change every 10,000Km and now have 220,000Km on the clock.

I'm not telling what to do, I am just sharing my experience.

Luc
Montreal,Canada

roy1 · Feb 20, 2011

Do you folks across the Atlantik get Shell Helix ?

GoFaster · Feb 20, 2011

I've never seen that name.

TDICrazier · Feb 20, 2011

40X40 said:
OCI is 10,000 miles as stated (clearly!) in your owners manual.

Bill

my uoa indicated 10kmi was too long. dealer told me to change oil every 7-8kmi.

aja8888 · Feb 20, 2011

TDICrazier said:
my uoa indicated 10kmi was too long. dealer told me to change oil every 7-8kmi.

Can you post your UOA? I'm sure many of us would like to see it and the reason why 10K is too long.

Thanks.

Tim Birney · Feb 20, 2011

TDICrazier said:
my uoa indicated 10kmi was too long. dealer told me to change oil every 7-8kmi.

Change every October, regardless of Miles/Kilometers driven.
Change every April, regardless of Milees/Kilometers driven.

That is the gospel in the Northern regions of the USA, and certainly in Canada.

cleaver · Feb 20, 2011

Tim Birney said:
Change every October, regardless of Miles/Kilometers driven.
Change every April, regardless of Milees/Kilometers driven.

That is the gospel in the Northern regions of the USA, and certainly in Canada.

Not sure which church you belong to, but that is not the gospel anywhere I know. If I followed your OCI I would be putting on about 45,000km per oil change...........

I typically go 25,000km depending on the weather and my procrastination. I usually have to top up with 1-2 liters throughout the duration.

typically most go with 16,000km OCI.

TDICrazier · Feb 20, 2011

cleaver said:
I typically go 25,000km depending on the weather and my procrastination.
typically most go with 16,000km OCI.

curious, have you ever done uoa? saving bucks on oil may not be wise in long run...
i understand manual saying 10kmi, per dealer, that is in "ideal" driving conditions. in real world, it's recommended in interval of 7-8kmi. oil filter can be changed with every other oil change.

Mach1 · Feb 20, 2011

I only get 15000 miles on my OCI, but then I am not using the recomended 505.01 oil, I use the 506 0-30W, I have used it for a few years now and since 20000 miles..

bruca003 · Feb 20, 2011

I go 10000km OCI. Car has 111k. This is a safe interval.
Above 10000km and your car starts burning a little. Below 10000km you should not have to add any engine oil. I use only dealer castrol 505.01 spec oil and nothing else.

TDICrazier · Feb 21, 2011

aja8888 said:
Can you post your UOA? I'm sure many of us would like to see it and the reason why 10K is too long.

Thanks.

here you go...
http://i55.tinypic.com/21j9n2t.jpg

aja8888 · Feb 21, 2011

TDICrazier said:
here you go...
http://i55.tinypic.com/21j9n2t.jpg

Thanks, just curious, but did you add a TBN test to the UOA? That would show the additive life left in the oil.

The metals are a bit high, but the UOA is not a reliable indicator of engine wear, as shown by my pristine UOA's over 60 K miles and the fact that my camshaft is rapidly starting to wear down the lobes ( with low iron shown in the UOAs). Go figure that!!

Bob_Fout · Feb 21, 2011

TDICrazier said:
here you go...
http://i55.tinypic.com/21j9n2t.jpg

Engine is still breaking in at 30K miles. It's also a PD.

TDICrazier · Feb 21, 2011

My TBN is blank (I didn't add any extra requests on the analysis list).
This UOA was done when I had roughly 40kmi on the car.

Bob_Fout · Feb 21, 2011

TDICrazier said:
My TBN is blank (I didn't add any extra requests on the analysis list).
This UOA was done when I had roughly 40kmi on the car.

Yup, the 30K to 40K mile period. Still breaking in.

TDICrazier · Feb 21, 2011

Gotcha Bob. On the report, it says universal numbers are based on average 8kmi, so I was under impression that most people do 8k. when i showed the report to dealer, they first thought it might be lobes worn, but open-cover inspection didn't find any abnormalities. The tech adviser suggested me 7-8kmi OCI from then on and I did.

cleaver · Feb 23, 2011

TDICrazier said:
curious, have you ever done uoa? saving bucks on oil may not be wise in long run...
i understand manual saying 10kmi, per dealer, that is in "ideal" driving conditions. in real world, it's recommended in interval of 7-8kmi. oil filter can be changed with every other oil change.

My problem is that at 5000-6000km per month, I would be doing an oil change every 2-3 months. I have 535,000km on the car and burn through about 1 liter per 8000km. I assume that the oil is going by the pistons/rings as my intercooler only had 4ml of oil on its first emptying ever. I know I am probably pushing the effectiveness of the oil but 95% of my driving is at highway speed...4km from home to highway, 3km from highway to work and 114km of highway in between.

1998993C2S · Feb 23, 2011

And now back to our normally scheduled programing: (this Pumpe Duse 1.9 motor oil thing is distracting)

Our MY06 1.9 TDI Jetta has faithfully used Pentosin 505.01 5w-40 since new (its 1st OC) and every 8k miles ever since; 8k miles btw oil changes (OCI) the old fashion way - drained from below. Some year along the way the Pentosin oil's name changed to Pentosin HP-2 5w-40 purchased from one of this web site's vendor's.

The new word around the campfire is the recently released and highly rated Mobil 1 TDT (turbo diesel truck) 5w-40 oil is a higher performance oil than the historic VW 505.01 spec. Hey,,, ya put yer money down, spin the wheel and everyones a winner! Step right up!

FWIW, a recent visual of the cam's of my 1.9 TDI whilst in there for the 80K timing belt service indicated the cams where fine. Car runs great...

Oil change - 505.01 or synthetic 5W40?

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