Oil level question ?

[markcaughey]

I had a lot going on and had not checked my oil for a while. I checked it today and it was just above MIN. This is the lowest I've ever let it go. No lights came on or anything but should I be worried or do I have to check anything ie cam follower I just changed the cam follower 2k miles ago

I no it's probably nothing to worry about but just thought I'd ask.

Also I toped it back up with 5w 30. But I don't know what type of oil was put in the car when it was serviced if it was different is it ok to top up with different oil ?

 

[Cryptic1911]

it's fine, just try to keep an eye on it.. fsi's are known for using oil, so if you don't check it, it would get low enough to not even show on the stick.

As for the weight /brand, that isn't an issue.. you can mix oil with no issues. You should be using 5w40 though, but still a little 5w30 isn't going to kill anything

 

[vegasGTI]

Especially if your using a good synthetic oil the 5w30 is fine

 

[markcaughey]

Thanks guys. I usually do check it often but been so busy lately I forgot.

I will set a reminder in my phone to check once a month.

 

[The Fed]

Better to check it every 2 weeks. Did you just get the car? There's really no other excuse to not know if the oil in your car meets the VW spec or not.

 

[Bunnspeed]

If it was dealership-maintained, it should have been filled with Castrol Syntec or whatever the new version of that is. If it was serviced elsewhere, it could have been filled with cat urine for all you know.

I stick with the Castrol synthetic whenever it's available, and in a pinch I'll grab Mobil 1. There are probably better oils out there, but I try to stick with what's readily available at the parts store and I try to minimize mixing brands if I can help it. I wouldn't go back and forth between synthetic and non-synthetic, however. I've heard doing that can lead to gaskets starting to leak. Whether or not that's true, I trust synthetic to stand up to the extreme heat of a turbocharged car far better than conventional oil.

 

[Cryptic1911]

The whole 502 thing is a farce, their suggested brand can't even maintain enough protection to keep cam followers from wearing through

Mixing is fine, and switching back and forth doesn't make gaskets leak..Truth be told, most "synthetics" aren't even fully synthetic anyways. Some are just hydrocracked petroleum based oils marketed as synthetics because the courts made a ruling that a petro oil just needs to be modified to be considered synthetic. Another thing is that just about any "synthetic" oil that you get can be a blend of group III and group IV PAO /V Ester base oils to come up with the specs that they want. Group IV's are too slippery and run right off of surfaces too quickly, so they mix it with Group V's which are polarized, and are attracted to metal surfaces, etc. It's all in what they want to make it.

 

[Timpanogos Slim]

The whole 502 thing is a farce, their suggested brand can't even maintain enough protection to keep cam followers from wearing through

VW makes the assertion that the cam follower TSB covers engines with the A revision intake cam, and that the B cam resolves the issue.

So it would be interesting to hear if there is much instance of cam follower failure in engines not covered by the TSB.

At any rate, if you are living somewhere that experiences all 4 seasons, mobil1 0w40 FTW.

.elivered by bicycle courier

 

[Bunnspeed]

VW's latest cam followers seem to have been redesigned to wear a lot more slowly. This seems to coincide with their recent 120k cf warranty. Since I have an upgraded hpfp I'm still changing CF's approximately every 10k miles. The last 2 looked nearly new at that point, whereas older CF's used to wear more quickly.

 

[PRND[S]]

I was under the impression that euro-spec cars had a oil level sensor in addition to the oil pressure sensor. There is a bit in VCDS to enable the sensor if installed. I wonder how much the sensor costs, might be worth retrofitting for some extra peace of mind.