Hello! What oil is best for a Mk 4 TDi? The manual is a fair few miles away from where I am right now, so I have no idea what one is recommended. Any help would be appreciated! K
stick a good semi in it, mobile or castrol arent bad it should conform to vags special standards, but im a bit sceptical concerning that.
If it's a PD then the correct Oil is critical - there were alot of problems with these engines early on due to VAG dealers actually using the wrong stuff! Quantum do a PD oil and there is also Castrol SLXII (which I think is now called 'EDGE' but be careful to get the correct one - the packaging is quite confusing!) It also depends on what service regime you are on... (ie longlife requires a longlife oil) I started running my AJM engine on SLX2 but switched early on to the Quantum PD oil as I was getting for about 60 for 20 ltrs so just decided to do more regular changes with that as it's so easy... Doing changed every 5k and was using the extra .75 ltr between changes to top up but since it hit 50k miles it's hardly used any (and this is what VW say should happen)
its not critical at all i know many people who've been putting non vag spec oil in mk4 pd's for years without missing a beat always bear in mind a multi national like Vag's strong point: marketing strategies!
i ran combinations 115pd and 130pd A4s for about 3 - 4 years. i used castrol gtd. it met the api (or whatever they are) ratings but not the VW pd specific oil rating. vw's oil cost a fortune, millers did one that met the pd rating, but that cost even more. i spoke to a few of the dealers, the techs seemed to have no idea about the special rating or whether the oil they used for servicing met the spec. so i ran mine for tens of thousands of miles with non pd specific oil. given the typical audiance for the pd engines, i doubt vw are going to sell a mass produced engine that is uber oil critical because 90%+ of owners out there barely remember to change the oil, let along get the right stuff. so the 'pds blow up if you dont put the pd oil in there' sounds like another load of BS to me
Scuse my stupidity - PD? What type is recommended for this I know Petrol engines take 40/15w or something like that. Whats the score for a desiel like mine? K
pd=pump deuse (its an engine type!) as said, get a good semi in it, prob a 10/40. theres no way vag could ever rely on this specific oil thing once the cars go beyond dealers and are looked after by back st garages, theres little chance of the same stds being upheld. if the engines were dependant on a certain oil, im sure there be a slightly bigger disclaimer somehwere in the sales and aftersales process!
the pd oil? its quite pointless too. as seraph said, a good semi would have been fine. how much did you pay?
0/30W rating, sutible for diesel engines (to suspend the soot pariticals) can't really quote whats good or not, I have personnaly seen PD engines running 'funny' (slight misfire) after a service at 'normal' garage oil change fixed the problem, proper PD oil is expensive, longlife even more
