First oil change MY08 Golf GTI

[RIS00]

When it comes to oil im pretty paranoid, I rang VW this morning about the 1k service/checkup and booked it in, found out they dont do oil change.

My problem with this is that most engines will come with metal shavings and crap from the factory after being manufactured which should really be removed ASAP.
Im just wondering how many people changed there oil in a brand new VW before the 15,000km service and whether you found anything in the oil, im pretty keen to do mine just for piece of mind.

cheers

[Tim]

i changed my oil myself at 7,500km and there were no metal particals to the naked eye.
Engine was noticeably smoother after the change though.

[hrb93]

I just picked mine up on the weeknd.

I'll do the first change at 2,500Kms then every 5,000kms.

1,000km check up? is that for all Gti's or just a dealer/customer service thing?

[Greg Roles]

Personally, with a GTI, I'd dump it now and put the same spec oil and a new filter back in. Shavings and metal particles there shall be, and I did this even though I have the lower revving diesel.

[DionM]

It can't hurt to do it, but I'm happy to follow the manuf's specs. My Jetta TFSI goes in for it's first service at 12mths/15,000kms next week. It does no heavy towing, no long distance drives, no continual peak hour traffic ... there are no "elevated operating conditions" affecting it, so I'm happy to follow those intervals.

Having said that, it's only got 4000kms on the odometer ...

If it was spending every day in peak hour, or towing a trailer, or doing a lot of highway kms, I might think about doing it earlier ...

[GT 12 WA]

I did the optional 7500km service but I had to request that they change the oil filter as well as the oil. Apparently they normally only change the oil if you go for this service. Makes no sense.

[RIS00]

thanks for your comments guys i think ill do it next weekened after the 1000km check.

I just picked mine up on the weeknd.

I'll do the first change at 2,500Kms then every 5,000kms.

1,000km check up? is that for all Gti's or just a dealer/customer service thing?

I thought you get it with every new car as a standard thing and because i bought mine through a VW corporate thing i get a free 7,500km service hopefully they drop the oil then too

[Steve_GTI]

check this URL for how to do the iol change:

http://www.golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9103

I did my GTI at 2000K and will do it every 5000 as I feel 15000 is a bit too long for a turbo. At approx $80 for the filter and oil it is very cheap insurance if you intend to keep the car for years.

[gregozedobe]

If it was spending every day in peak hour, or towing a trailer, or doing a lot of highway kms, I might think about doing it earlier ...

Just curious as to why you think a lot highway driving would make you need to do oil changes more frequently ?

[NickZ]

A lot of short driving is a criteria for more frequent oil changes. Long drives are good for the oil as the oil gets to properly warm up and do its job in cleaning and lubricating your engine .

The quality of the oil is just as frequent as the oil changes. Make sure it is actually VW approved (and not just compliant), and for the GTI a 5W is the absolute maximum weight I would use.

[datracer99]

It can't hurt to do it, but I'm happy to follow the manuf's specs. My Jetta TFSI goes in for it's first service at 12mths/15,000kms next week. It does no heavy towing, no long distance drives, no continual peak hour traffic ... there are no "elevated operating conditions" affecting it, so I'm happy to follow those intervals.

Having said that, it's only got 4000kms on the odometer ...

If it was spending every day in peak hour, or towing a trailer, or doing a lot of highway kms, I might think about doing it earlier ...

Highway trips don't hurt the oil. Even driving in peak hour every day isn't that much of an issue, though it is harder on the car as a whole than a highway drive. Unless you are running to redline from every red light then the peak hour commute doesn't put that much stress on the engine oil. The things that are hard on the engine are - hard fanging for extended periods (pretty obvious), lots of short trips where the engine and oil don't warm up properly (as noted by NickZ), and lugging big loads.

If you are only doing 4000km per year then an annual change is plenty.
6 monthly services are completely un-necessary - just a revenue raiser for the dealership.

But if you've seen the colour of the oil after 7500km - obviously discoloured, indicating a build-up of particulates in it - then you'll know why changing at 15000km is not a good idea if you want to look after the car and make sure it lasts.
The engine oil lubricates the turbo and turbos get really hot. The oil works harder in a turbo car because of these high temps.

As Steve_GTI said - $80 for an oil change is cheap insurance.
I'll be surprised if you don't notice that the engine feels a bit livelier after an oil change. That alone should tell you that the oil change is a good thing, as the oil has obviously thickened a bit and is not reducing the friction as well as it did when new.

thanks for your comments guys i think ill do it next weekened after the 1000km check.

I thought you get it with every new car as a standard thing and because i bought mine through a VW corporate thing i get a free 7,500km service hopefully they drop the oil then too

They won't change the oil. They will only do the inspection service, as specified at 7500km. If you want the oil changed you'll have to ask for it and pay for it.

[Candyman]

A dirty oil (discoloured) does not necessarily indicate an oil change is needed.

Also, a livelier engine after a change also does not mean the old oil needed changing.

VW who manufactured the car, designed it and it's components to be serviced every 15,000 km under normal operating conditions that most of us adhere to.

Servicing more often is not insurance at all.

[SoVeReIgN]

A dirty oil (discoloured) does not necessarily indicate an oil change is needed.

Also, a livelier engine after a change also does not mean the old oil needed changing.

VW who manufactured the car, designed it and it's components to be serviced every 15,000 km under normal operating conditions that most of us adhere to.

Servicing more often is not insurance at all.

They recommend long service intervals because they want to bring down the perceived cost of running the car. That is all.

[Blitzen]

They recommend long service intervals because they want to bring down the perceived cost of running the car. That is all.

Most car companies are offering longer service intervals because the advent of newer and more reliable oil and engine technologies are comming to hand. My last car(2004 Barina SRI) had 15,000km service intervals, and never had any problems.
You have to understand that when a car like ours is designed, it is designed for the lowest common denominator when it comes to sales, so the person who would maybe skip a service, or dosn't appreciate there car like they should. When designing an engine/gearbox/ entire car, the engineers that designed it factor in these things. The engine is designed to cope with ALOT more than what we might do to it. I dare say that most, if not all people on this site are VW enthusiasts, and lovingly look after their cars, but appreciate that the rest of the world isn't like that, and treat their vehicles like crap.
Discolored oil dosn't mean anything bad, it just means the oil is doing its job. The detergent qualities of the oil are cleaning the engine as it lubricates, and holding the carbon and other materials. Have you ever seen a 2 stroke Diesels oil 2 minutes after running straight after an oil change...Its as black as the oil you just dropped out.
At the end of the day, have faith in your car, and faith in the engineers who designed it. We arn't the lowest common denominator when it comes to car owners, but thats what our car if designed to meet.

[Candyman]

They recommend long service intervals because they want to bring down the perceived cost of running the car. That is all.

Care to back that up with credible info

It would be the dealer attempting this, not the manufacturer and yet many dealers dial in 7,500 and even 1,000 km for the first oil change - they are indeed trying to extract dollars out of you