7500K service - who's getting it done?

[Diesel_vert]

Keep in mind, extended drain intervals have been made possible through the combination of;

1. New or revised engine designs.
2. Use of newer & advanced lubricant technologies.
3. Introduction of low sulphur fuels (95/98 is capped at 50 ppm from 01-01-2008, down from 150 ppm. Except for 91 - no wonder why it's so cheap).

If all three conditions aren't met, then on face value one should reconsider if your car is suitable for extended drain intervals .

Has the oil requirements changed for the MK6 series? Because on the MkVs, Edge Sport 5w30 is 502.00 approved & is fine for 15,000km service intervals.

Not as far as I know, but personally I'd be hesitant to use that oil over a 15k interval, despite VW's blessing, not to mention that not all 502/505 oils are equal.

Since the original post pertains to a new Mk6 Golf, if using the latest 504/507 oils and fills it with 95 or 98 as required, 15k intervals should be fine (considering the oil can potentially last for 30k under ideal conditions).

Of course, to confirm this one should take regular oil samples every 1k to establish a wear trend. But going on evidence from the TDIClub forum, 15k is certainly manageable, at least on Golf TDI's (as FSI/TSI UOA's seem hard to come by).

Remember, horses for courses.

[prise]

My driving style and route to and from work is such that for the last four cars I've owned, I've bettered the official combined fuel consumption by between 10 and 15% so I reckon my useage is at the kinder end of the spectrum (yes I do use full throttle and revs on occasion such as overtaking).

I'm still skeptical as to whether I'll achieve the same feat with the Golf as an average fuel consumption in the 5's would be truly impressive and the other vehicle were 'performance oriented' manuals where driving style has a big influence. I don't exactly fall into the 'harsh' operating conditions category.

If I ever feel like doing an intermediate oil change myself, can anyone point me in the direction of the correct torque setting to use for the drain plug (its a german engineered product so I'm sure they have torque settings for just about every fastener in the vehicle )?

[gregozedobe]

My dealer specifically told me that Skoda(VWA) had directed that no oil change was to be done until 15,000km.

I'll be very impressed if you can get your dealer to commit that to writing and give you a copy.

My dealer told me the same story, with an additional claim that the intial fill was "special running-in oil". But when pressed he admitted that this info came out of a meeting of Oz service people and does NOT appear to have the official support of either VW or Skoda Head Office (ie Germany or Czech Republic). He was unable to say what you are supposed to do if you drive mostly short trips (ie "severe service" which according to the owner's manual requires oil changes every 7,500Km/6 months).

[Diesel_vert]

Just to reiterate, for those who haven't seen this before;

LongLife Regime
To obtain the most benefit from the LongLife service regime, the car should to be generally driven in a style/condition of use listed below:

• Mainly longer distance journeys
• Limited number of cold starts, engine is kept at operating temperature over a longer period of time
• Daily mileage above approx. 40 km
• Constant speed
• Vehicle used regularly

Service Interval - Variable, between 15,000 km/12 months and 30,000 km/24 months

This is the regime Europe follows, with the option to revert to a fixed interval (as below) at the customer's choosing.

Time/Distance Regime
It your car is driven in a style if listed below, it may be more appropriate to opt for the Time and Distance regime:

• Extremely uneconomical driving style ie continual maximum acceleration ie. ‘foot to floor’
• Vehicle fully loaded
• Mainly short journeys
• Frequent cold starts
• Frequent hill climbs
• Frequent towing
• City centre driving

Service Interval - Fixed, at 15,000 km/12 months

Australia already follows this regime for severe conditions, with no option to go on the LongLife regime (well, not easily).

Again, must emphasise that these regimes are based around the use of 504/507 oils. Use any other oil and all bets are off, naturally.

[Transporter]

Variable service interval is actually up to 2years or 30,000km whichever come first. And ECU will decide when is need for the oil change. It could be even 3,000km and 3 months
So, to get an idea how long I can go on the oil I switched to variable interval and let the software decide when to change the oil. Only the reason for the fixed interval in OZ would be our lower quality fuel but my experience with switching to variable service interval is showing that 15,000km oil change is not suitable for my driving and I believe that it would be case for a lot of drivers driving in heavy traffic conditions.

But hey the good thing is that many of us don't keep our rides for more than 5years anyway. Which is the life of the car by German TUV. So they have it spot on actually with the oil change every 15,000km/12months. You will be safe with changing the oil like that, at least for the warranty period and a bit over.

[Diesel_vert]

It has been documented on TDIClub that UOA's based on 506.01 oils have higher indicated iron levels than either 505.01 or 507.00, even though it's supposed to be some sort of 'superoil' with a 1000-hour radionucleide test which could quantify microscopic wear rates in the engine. Of course, that was before TDIClub started doing UOA's for themselves.

I don't exactly know why 506.01 oils indicate higher iron numbers. They speculate it may be due to the lower HTHS (2.9 vs 3.5) and lower viscosity (9.6 vs 12.1), but it doesn't explain why it works well for some and so poorly in others. In any case, it seems that 507.00 provides better and more consistent performance for 15,000 km, and there's even a few UOA's which indicated it could go further. Though I don't know how you would feel about using 507.00 in the R5. My hypothesis would be that it'll be fine, but VW says 'no'.

[Transporter]

Higher iron content could be because of the timing gears are made of iron and there is lot of them in R5 and V10 engines.

[Lima]

FWIW this was the state of my oil pan after I emptied it when changing the oil in our Mk5 at just under 7000km...





...it probably wouldn't have mattered had all those metal shavings stayed in the car for another 8000kms, but when I saw them I was glad that I had changed the oil.

[nau]

eeeewwww thats a lot of junk

[dopey]

In addition to my earlier post,

I was quoted $130 for 5L of oil and $26 for the Oil Filter over the phone, however when I went down to the Spare Parts store this afternoon they sold me the oil and filter for a total of $105. Not bad at all I thought. I think once they verify you are an existing customer the price comes down. Either that, or somebody stuffed up - I wasn't game to ask but very pleased with the reduced cost!

[Corey_R]

Yeah - I've driven into a VW dealership whilst I was on holiday in QLD in my previous MKV Oettinger/APR GTI and asked if I could get an oil top up. The service guys and dealer manager were so interested in looking at the car that they didn't charge me at all! VW can be very accomodating

[MurphyTheElf]

I'm curious of other people's opinions. I will pass 7500km after 5 months of driving the GTI and I need to make a decision about whether I should get it serviced at 7500km.

Here are some factors for getting it done:

Perth has had the hottest summer on record
I often drive short trips (less than 5km)
My girlfriend drives the car
I've tested out launch control a few times

And against:

I don't flog the car cold
I don't drive in peak hour - very little stop start traffic
Most of my trips are of reasonable distance
I haven't modified or taken it to a track
Fluid levels are fine (not sure about condition though)


My gut is saying 'get it done to be safe', but my wallet is saying 'why bother when my driving isn't really extreme'.....

Opinions?

[nau]

My gut is saying 'get it done to be safe', but my wallet is saying 'why bother when my driving isn't really extreme'.....

Opinions?

if u not pushing your car Id say no dont worry about it
I know I wouldnt

on the other hand you GF is driving it .... that might be an issue just kidding

[AdamD]

My gut is saying 'get it done to be safe', but my wallet is saying 'why bother when my driving isn't really extreme'..... Opinions?

Go with your gut feel, I say. What's the expense when compared to the car's value? Mind you, I'm pretty conservative when it comes to servicing - the idea of factory-filled oil remaining in the engine beyond ~2,000km still worries me, irrespective of VW's recommendations. (Not that I'll go against them.)

[Corey_R]

I'm curious of other people's opinions. I will pass 7500km after 5 months of driving the GTI and I need to make a decision about whether I should get it serviced at 7500km.

I often drive short trips (less than 5km)

I'd get it done then. It won't hurt, other than cost you a bit of time and money