Which oil ?

[gazza222]

Hi, having spent years with diesel t5 buses, could anyone recommend a half decent oil for my 2007 gti running about 250-260 ish bhp, 45,000 on the clock
Thanks 

[andyiseddy02]

I switched to Millers 5w40 just because the car has done a few miles.
The garage rated it so I jumped.

Not many places stock it and it does need half a litre every couple of thousand miles but it is not a big issue to go and get some.

[colesey]

You’re better off using 5/40 on a remapped car and either Millers NT or Mobil 1 would be good premium choices.

[lukemk5gti]

As states

Millers nanodrive 5W-40

Either stock or standard it's ideal

Get from opie oils. If you sign up to their newsletter just wait for one of the 15% off sales and stock up.

[pudding]

Frequency of change is more important than oil brand.   Millers is silly money for what it is and a prime example of marketing overhyping a very small benefit -  mainly on older high friction flat tappet engines - which the TFSI is not 

[lukemk5gti]

Frequency of change is more important than oil brand.   Millers is silly money for what it is and a prime example of marketing overhyping a very small benefit -  mainly on older high friction flat tappet engines - which the TFSI is not 

A valid point but just one to note is that I switches to Millers 5W-40 2 services ago and noticed that I haven't needed to top up the engine with any oil at all really between services.

Don't know if it has a slightly lower water content or less volatile content but either way I'm happy with that as a result.

[Dan_FR]

What oil did you come from Luke, a 5W30?

[lukemk5gti]

What oil did you come from Luke, a 5W30?

I did come from 5W-30 typically castrol edge or Quantum

Moved to 5W-40

The additional 10 on high temp viscosity wouldn't affect burn off though would it?

[fazi123]

What oil did you come from Luke, a 5W30?

I did come from 5W-30 typically castrol edge or Quantum

Moved to 5W-40

The additional 10 on high temp viscosity wouldn't affect burn off though would it?

I think you'd find it definitely would affect burn off. I moved from Mobil 1 5w30 to the recommended Millers nano drive 5w40. After my trip to R-tech they said I could either continue using Millers 5w40 or switch to Quantum 5w40 (Official VW oil). My car was burning literally no oil once I'd made the switch to the 5w40 oil and there was no noticeable difference between the Millers & the Quantum....Except for in my wallet ;)

HTH,
Faz

[Dan_FR]

Its the extra weight of the oil that is helping, plus the Millers is on the thicker end of 40w oils anyway

[pudding]

I experienced the same in my ED30.  Switching from the 0W30 dealer Shell oil to 0W40 Mobil 1 reduced the consumption right down.

It's worth looking at the spec sheets on Opie oils.  Look at the viscosity cst number at 100 degrees.  As Dan said, some 40s are thicker than others at 100 deg.

I like to look at the 0 degree csts as well, for rapid circulation on startup.   This is where Mobil1 excels.   Not relevant to our country, but there are plenty of videos on YouTube doing oil pour tests when frozen to -40C.  Most of them are like toffee at that temp, but the Mobil still pours out just fine.   I haven't seen a Millers pour test yet though......but dry running HPFP tappets from cold doesn't do it's life span any good.   Probably why VW put that black coating on it.

[colesey]

Do you notice any extra engine noise from cold with the Mobil Kev?

[pudding]

Difficult to tell when you have 3 uprated engine mounts 

Nothing out of the ordinary.  With the 5 or 0W30 Shell Helix, I used to get a second or two of 'clack clack clack' from stone cold over winter, which is one of the hydraulic lifters slow to fill up.   0W40 Mobil got rid of that completely. 

Another completely unscientific thing I do is smell the oil and rub some between my fingers.   It's a bit of an 80s legacy thing I can't let go of.   If the oil smells saturated with fuel/carbon blow-by and has lost it's lubricity, time to get it out of the engine, regardless of miles/time!   It's also a good sign of a failed HPFP seal if it reeks of petrol.

[colesey]

Mobil 1 really is an excellent oil. About 25 years ago, I bought a used mk1 gti which had run that oil all of its 80k miles life and everything was golden under the rocker cover.  The following year, I replaced it with a similar mileage mk2 and that car was horribly sludgy from cheap oil. Oil technology has undoubtably come on a long way since then, however I’m pretty hooked on on using premium oils and mine gets fresh Millers NT every 3000 miles.

[pudding]

That is defo a sign of TLC!  In those days Mobil 1 was silly money, as were synthetics from Agip, Shell & Motul.  Proper top shelf stuff when you're a hard up teenager finding your way in the car world.   I remember a gallon of Castrol GTX being about £20 back then, and Mobil 1 was £50....for 4 litres!  I'm glad they stopped with the stupid US gallon sizing over here.

I had a beater of an old MK1 Jetta 1.5 CL in 1990.  It used to drink GTX for fun, so I tried a bottle of Mobil 1 15W50 Motorsport, which was a LOT of money.....back when a gallon of 5 star petrol was £1.89.   I bet no one on here remembers 2 - 5 star leaded fuel?!    The Mobil oil completely stopped the oil consumption. I've been hooked on it ever since 

There are plenty of other good oils around now though, it's a proper buyers market these days