Engine Oil - What Grade to use?

[everson38]

Hey guys

Bought a Seat Ibiza mk5 1.2 tsi Sc 62 plate today for my sister today. (If anyone can confirm if I have the name / spec of car right as I'm reading there is a 6J version of a mk5 ibiza but not sure how u no).

I want to do the engine oil on the car but in the manual in only lists the spec I. E VW 502 or VW 504. does anyone know if it's a 5w40, 5w30 etc etc as don't want to put wrong grade in.

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[RUM4MO]

Either will be okay and if that car was/had variable/flexible servicing during its life when it was serviced at a main dealer, then 5W-30 VW504 will have been used at oil change time, if it has/had been set for fixed time/miles servicing, ie annually/10K miles, then 5W-40 VW 502 will have been used.
I tend to use 5W-30 to VW504 and service the car annually on all the family VW Group cars.
Note VW502 5W-40 is usually cheaper than VW504 5W-30.

 

[everson38]

Either will be okay and if that car was/had variable/flexible servicing during its life when it was serviced at a main dealer, then 5W-30 VW504 will have been used at oil change time, if it has/had been set for fixed time/miles servicing, ie annually/10K miles, then 5W-40 VW 502 will have been used.
I tend to use 5W-30 to VW504 and service the car annually on all the family VW Group cars.
Note VW502 5W-40 is usually cheaper than VW504 5W-30.

I believe it was on variable servicing but the but were done at a general garage and the price of the oil was quite cheap, leaving me to wonder if some cheapo brand was used. I know in my moms car 1.4 2009 ibiza SC it uses 5w40 and I service that every year but she only does about 4k miles a year. I did once out in 5w30 in my moms car but the following year I noticed that had a drip of oil on the plug. The oil level hadn't drop but it was leaking at an extremely slow rate. Went back to a 5w40 and it's as dry as a bone, so 5w30 always worries me a bit on these cars now as I worry it's A BIT too thin.

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[RUM4MO]

Drain plugs need replaced on cars that have a retained washer, newer cars have a replaceable washer which I always replace at oil change time, I have in the past reused the plug/washer combo once, ie changed it every 2 years.

I would not worry about 5W-30 at all in either of these engines, it might even improve the MPG slightly, it only comes down to cost of the oil.

 

[everson38]

Drain plugs need replaced on cars that have a retained washer, newer cars have a replaceable washer which I always replace at oil change time, I have in the past reused the plug/washer combo once, ie changed it every 2 years.

I would not worry about 5W-30 at all in either of these engines, it might even improve the MPG slightly, it only comes down to cost of the oil.

Yes now that you say that it adds to my previous story. So with my moms 5w30 oil change I also replace the bolt and washer from euro car parts and saw the drip a few months later when doing her brakes but just checking things. So I was in too minds, was it tight enough? Drain bolt issue? Or the oil. But when I went back to 5w40 I also used the original drain bolt as well to be safe and as previous stated dry as a bine now . I will most likely try a 5w30 with a new bolt and washer, or at least take the new washer and use that on old drain.bolt and just see how it gets on via weekly checks.

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[RUM4MO]

You might find that with that version of the 1.2TSI engine, VW Group were still using the old plug/washer combo, ie 2 parts in one, very wasteful as far as re-using as much as possible, but cheaper for dealers who are charging a fixed price for an oil change - no need to remove washer, clean plug and fit new washer, cost wise the newer engines with a plug and a washer, the washer costs maybe the same or more than the plug/plain washer combo.

 

[everson38]

You might find that with that version of the 1.2TSI engine, VW Group were still using the old plug/washer combo, ie 2 parts in one, very wasteful as far as re-using as much as possible, but cheaper for dealers who are charging a fixed price for an oil change - no need to remove washer, clean plug and fit new washer, cost wise the newer engines with a plug and a washer, the washer costs maybe the same or more than the plug/plain washer combo.

Hey Rum.

Just had my oil delivered of castor 5w30 c3. On website euro car parts it's states it's vw502 00 spec but on bottle it is vw50500 and vw505 01. This is incorrect oil spec am I right?

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[RUM4MO]

I'm guessing a bit here as I have not got the definition of all the VW oil specs in front of me, but, my guess is, that 505.00/505.01 covers or adds Stop/Start use to the previous 504.
Normally all VW Group specs are backward compatible and I'd think that that includes 504 > 505, but, one thing to remember is, if you are ever tempted to buy and use 508 spec engine oils, they for the first time, are not considered to be backwards compatible as they are 0W-20 or so and only intended for use with engines that have been WTLP tested while using these oils!

Edit:- sorry I didn't answer you question fully, ie I ignored your 502 reference, really, 502 will always be cheaper and as I said before, a 12month/10K miles oil, 504 allows for its use to be extended to something like 24month/15K miles ie as a variable/longlife service oil.

 

[everson38]

I'm guessing a bit here as I have not got the definition of all the VW oil specs in front of me, but, my guess is, that 505.00/505.01 covers or adds Stop/Start use to the previous 504.
Normally all VW Group specs are backward compatible and I'd think that that includes 504 > 505, but, one thing to remember is, if you are ever tempted to buy and use 508 spec engine oils, they for the first time, are not considered to be backwards compatible as they are 0W-20 or so and only intended for use with engines that have been WTLP tested while using these oils!

Well I have checked the castor website and it covers the gold coloured castrol bottles. Fit recommends a 5w30 Titanium LL oil which is vw504. Just spoke with an opie oils rep and he couldn't find a castrol at vw502 spec. So just to be sage think I'm going to by the more expensive gold 5w30 bottle and go from there to avoid any doubt in my head.

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[RUM4MO]

Does the Castrol site not give you the option to chose "short" servicing as well as "long" servicing, if it did, it would offer you 2 different oils.
I and lots of other people tend to now feel that the image we have is that the Castrol name comes as being the best and maybe even the best value for money, I think these days are well past, I have used Castrol in the past, but nowadays I find that they attempt to fix the selling price more than any other brand and it is the customer that ends up getting short changed.

 

[RUM4MO]

I've just looked on that website and Castrol list the same oils for fixed(short) or variable(long) servicing, which is being a bit naughty!
I'll guarantee that if you submitted that car into a SEAT main dealership and asked for it to be configured for short servicing, it would get refilled with VW spec 502 5W-40 oil, and if you asked them to be configured for long servicing, it would be refilled with VW spec 504 5W-30 oil - obviously the long servicing bill for an oil change would cost more due to the extra cost of the 504 oil over the 502 oil, so why don't Castrol offer 2 different oils, maybe so that they get more cash in?

 

[everson38]

Does the Castrol site not give you the option to chose "short" servicing as well as "long" servicing, if it did, it would offer you 2 different oils.
I and lots of other people tend to now feel that the image we have is that the Castrol name comes as being the best and maybe even the best value for money, I think these days are well past, I have used Castrol in the past, but nowadays I find that they attempt to fix the selling price more than any other brand and it is the customer that ends up getting short changed.

On the site it's lists 3 oils that are suitable. 5w30 LL TITANIUM / 5W40 TITANIUM and 0w40 titanium. It states the 5w30 is "normal change 15000km / 12months and Flexible (max): Change 30000km / 12months". The 5W40 states: normal change 15000km / 12months.

Yes i do use castrol in my vehicles. Seat ibiza, Vauxhall corsa and a grande Punto. This isn't due to me thinking they are best.more to when I frst started working on my cars a few years ago it was an oil brand I heard of and it had th "spec" numbers I needee written on the bottle so when with castrol. What's brand do you use now? Not sure if you saw the youtuber Project Farm do the Oil Olympics where he tests a variety of oils, not sure how scientific it is but AMSOIL seems to be a good brand but is American.

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[RUM4MO]

Currently I use Mobil One ESP 5W-30, now that is really only due to me servicing an Audi S4 and a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI and possibly a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 16V - ie I am using the oil that best meets my needs for the more demanding car, the S4 and buy it in a quantity once a year that gives me a good price from Opie Oils.
If I did not have the S4 to consider as the Polo is still quite new, I might still be sticking with Mobil One ESP 5W-30, or a similar grade of oil from Fuchs is it made sense price wise. Buying "mid range" engine oils and changing it every year will always beat buying "top range" engine oils and only changing every 2 years or so - in my world.

 

[everson38]

Currently I use Mobil One ESP 5W-30, now that is really only due to me servicing an Audi S4 and a 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI and possibly a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza 1.4 16V - ie I am using the oil that best meets my needs for the more demanding car, the S4 and buy it in a quantity once a year that gives me a good price from Opie Oils.
If I did not have the S4 to consider as the Polo is still quite new, I might still be sticking with Mobil One ESP 5W-30, or a similar grade of oil from Fuchs is it made sense price wise. Buying "mid range" engine oils and changing it every year will always beat buying "top range" engine oils and only changing every 2 years or so - in my world.

Yes I've decent things about Mobil one. And in agree, I change my oil every year or every 6,000 miles as I hop to be one of those guys who has a car to 200,000k miles lol.

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[RUM4MO]

Looking at the Castrol website again, but just running through their list of available engine oils, there is a "green pack" 5W-30 oil that is 502/505 compatible but a slightly lower grade of oil to the one that you have been sent which claims to be 505.00/505.01.

So, as always, I think that ECP are just condensing the range of Castrol oils they stock as doing it that way, they will be able to maybe get it at a better unit price and reduce the stocked range. If that is true, then I'd stick with thinking that that oil will not do that engine any harm at all, just a bit OTT for it - so why not just use it when you also take into the equation that VW oil specs, up until the appearance of 508 have always been backward compatible?

 

[RUM4MO]

Yes I've decent things about Mobil one. And in agree, I change my oil every year or every 6,000 miles as I hop to be one of those guys who has a car to 200,000k miles lol.

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When my wife bought a MK3 Ford Fiesta 1.6SI - the one with the Zetec engine, so quite warmly rapid, when I took over servicing it, Ford aftermarket had not quite not round to making available engine oil in their Motorcraft range, and I had found out that Comma had already brought out an oil specifically for that range of engines (Ford Zetec), so from year 2 onwards that car got filled with nothing but Comma Xtec(I think was the name), and the engine innards always looked clean, so that worked for me.

So, if you are thinking about alternative oil suppliers never dismiss Comma - okay like most other aftermarket oil suppliers there can be a grey area in as much as not every version oil is getting tested by every quoted car maker, though it is normally clear enough in the small print as to how to interpret the claims wrt your intended car marque.

 

[everson38]

Looking at the Castrol website again, but just running through their list of available engine oils, there is a "green pack" 5W-30 oil that is 502/505 compatible but a slightly lower grade of oil to the one that you have been sent which claims to be 505.00/505.01.

So, as always, I think that ECP are just condensing the range of Castrol oils they stock as doing it that way, they will be able to maybe get it at a better unit price and reduce the stocked range. If that is true, then I'd stick with thinking that that oil will not do that engine any harm at all, just a bit OTT for it - so why not just use it when you also take into the equation that VW oil specs, up until the appearance of 508 have always been backward compatible?

Yeah not too sure if they are doing that anymore. As I have been on website to and it is their GREEN pack : 5w30 A3/B3 that meets to vw502 spec. But euro car parts don't do it. Neither do opie oiks and then ebay it us way more than the titanium. Not sure what they are doing here would love to be a fly in the board room meetings. But I think I will just spend a little more and get the titanium brand. It's right spec and grade and is the "recommend brand" in the handbook - but for next service I will be trying to find some A3 / B3 if it works out cost effective

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[RUM4MO]

The description on the ECP website for the oil you bought is wrong wrt the VW spec I think, as you said you ordered it as a 502 and it is described as a 502 / 505 but in reality it is, or is now after the rebranded to Stop/Start a 505.00 / 505.01 - all the other marque specs seem to be correct when comparing with the Castrol site. Also ECP do not sell a Castrol 502 option - just like Opie Oils.

 

[everson38]

The description on the ECP website for the oil you bought is wrong wrt the VW spec I think, as you said you ordered it as a 502 and it is described as a 502 / 505 but in reality it is, or is now after the rebranded to Stop/Start a 505.00 / 505.01 - all the other marque specs seem to be correct when comparing with the Castrol site. Also ECP do not sell a Castrol 502 option - just like Opie Oils.

Yeah that's right. I've gone with the 5w30 LL tianium which meets to the vw504 spec and that way at least I know I have followed the owners manual and used that spec.

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[everson38]

The description on the ECP website for the oil you bought is wrong wrt the VW spec I think, as you said you ordered it as a 502 and it is described as a 502 / 505 but in reality it is, or is now after the rebranded to Stop/Start a 505.00 / 505.01 - all the other marque specs seem to be correct when comparing with the Castrol site. Also ECP do not sell a Castrol 502 option - just like Opie Oils.

Hey rum . Just for Point of interest. I've been in the garage and looked at a bottle of green 5w30 c3 from castrol I bought last year. And it states it as a vw502 00 spec. So not sure if that means all 2019 bottles have a new formula that is vw505 or simply new stickers. May give them an email later on and see what's going on lol.

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