Manager Forum

Good day peeps

Have a condundrum, Have a customer with the VW Jetta, which has an oil consumption problem, VW pretty much say it is normal, she is adding oil
about every 1500-2000 km.

Here is my question - can one switch it to regular 5w30 or is there an additive one can use, or switch to a 10w40 synthetic instead of the 5w30 European ?

Gale

If this is a turbo the only option is synthetic. This is critical because of viscosity needs to keep the turbo from exploding. If it calls for a 0 or 5 viscosity you shouldn't put in anything higher. As we know a 5w-30 simply means basically a 5 weight oil with 30 weight qualities. If it's not a turbo you may be able to mess a bit with the weight. I will use a heavier weight in the summer on some vehicles with a lot of miles. Many vehicles have oil options that can be used for temperature changes but on anything manufactured in the last 10 years you need to keep oil specific. Obviously with this information adding an additive to slow consumption will change the oil weight or viscosity and is a huge no no on VW's with turbo's or any vehicle with a turbo for that matter. When a customer calls or comes in with oil consumption issues we inspect for any leaks and address them with the customer. My rule of thumb is a quart every thousand miles is acceptable. There are issues with valve guides, rings, seals, etc that are real issues but may never develop into anything but a slow oil burn issue. I'll flat out tell customers that the issue is repairable. I also tell them that it may not get any worse and the one quart every thousand miles doesn't seem so critical when I give them the cost of repair verses the cost of a few quarts of oil.

Another point that needs to be addressed is the simple fact that the repair doesn't promise oil consumption issues being all resolved. I've seen where a valve job has quickened the failure of a set of rings. New shoes will not cure the Gout.

"If it calls for a 0 or 5 viscosity you shouldn't put in anything higher. As we know a 5w-30 simply means basically a 5 weight oil with 30 weight qualities."

This couldn't be further from the truth, the way they numbered the oils is really screwed up IMHO, the first number really has no relation to the second number...

Here is the reality of it, lets say you wanted to make the first number in relation to the second number

0w-30= 50/30
5w-30=70/30
10w-30=100/30

just for example, these numbers aren't anything close to exact but just for making the case....

a cold 0w-20 could technically be thicker then a hot 20w-50, for compairson purposes... If you really wanted true numbers of particular oils let me know if it helps you understand.. Many mechanics are out of touch with oil ratings these days.... we should be the experts, not get schooled by well informed customers...

The Car is a Turbo, my customer will just have to get used to checking it constantly and adding -- as they say "such is life"
Thank you for the info, one forgets about oils and they are changing them constantly - Pennsoil have a new synthetic that
they are using natural gas technology for their base oils

Thank you Gale

I just want to add the importance of NO ADDITIVES because I've seen rods torn right off of pistons because a internet driven consumer found a site that told him adding a thick film additive was ok if it wasn't done in quantity. Well the long and short of it was his car was using about 3/4 of a quart of oil every thousand miles so this mush had added 2.25 quarts of STP into his crank case and was completely stunned because he followed the internet instructions to the letter. No matter how I tried to explain that in theory there was more treatment than oil in the engine and it caused such a suction it tore the engine apart.

I have never been one for additives, other then Fuel Injector additive from amsoil - works really well.

I think its more that my customer is disappointed with her VW and wanted a solution and of coarse turned to the World Wide Web, I
told hear to make sure she turns on her B*llSh#t filter before believing any thing she reads.

Gale

Doesn't it just floor you when that happens. Problem with that is when they find some crap that says what they are searching for they believe it. I belong to an organization that is designed to keep me healthy and allows me to help others. When someone I usually don't talk to asks me a question I always ask if they want my opinion or are searching for someone that agrees with what they want to hear. Same thing as the internet searchers.