Category: Engine

Oil and oil filter change

Oil should be changed every time in all engines 15 000 km or once a year. if you travel a lot over long distances you don't have to strictly follow this rule, if, on the other hand, you drive mainly around the city, change the oil even more often. Intensive winter driving qualifies the oil to be changed after just four months.

Do you change the oil yourself?

It is worth doing only then, when you use cheaper oil, bought in an automotive store, department store or gas station. You need time to change the oil and filter yourself, because you have to lift and prop the car. It is faster and easier to do this at a gas station with an oil suction device. However, this has a significant disadvantage: impurities stuck in the oil pan remain there and changing the oil itself without a filter then makes little sense. Changing the oil in the workshop costs much more, because they use the most expensive brands of oil there. It is true that an oil change at a gas station is associated with the purchase of oil, but you have the option to choose from different brands.

The amount of oil needed to change (with filter)

Engine – Oil quantity (with filter)
Four-cylinder petrol 1,4 – 3,5 liter of oil (with filter)
Four-cylinder petrol 1,6 – 4,5 liter of oil (with filter)
Four-cylinder petrol 1.8 – 4,5 liter of oil (with filter)
Four-cylinder petrol 2.0 – 4.0 liter of oil (with filter)
Four-cylinder petrol 2.3 – 4,0 liter of oil (with filter)
Six-cylinder gasoline engine 2.8 – 5,5 liter of oil (with filter)
Four cylinder 1,9 TDI (90 KM) – 4,5 liter of oil (with filter)
Four cylinder 1,9 TDI (110 KM) – 4,5 liter of oil (with filter)

Oil filters are tailored to the individual engines. When purchasing, demand a filter designed for your engine.

Steps to replace:

1.Warm up the engine so that the contaminants flow out more easily with the oil.

2. Place the car on a level surface or lift and secure the front of the vehicle.

3. Remove the noise suppression cover (steps in the previous article).

4. Place a flat tray under the oil pan, a pan or a cut oil container with sufficient capacity.

5. Use a socket wrench to unscrew the drain plug and drain the oil into a container. attention! The oil is hot.

The drain plug is easier to unscrew with a ring spanner. The plug can only be accessed after the noise-suppression cover has been removed.

6. If the front of the car was raised, leave him, so that all the oil can run off. Make sure that the oil drain pan does not tip over.

7. Unscrew the filter with a special wrench (in gasoline engines it is a band, and in the diesel key VW 3417). If the attempt is unsuccessful, then pierce the filter housing with a screwdriver (watch out for hot oil!) and twist it to unscrew the filter. The used filter and the oil container are waste that requires disposal.

8. Coat the filter sealing ring with grease and hand-tighten the filter.

9. Clean the oil drain plug and screw it into the pan hole, using a new gasket. Do not tighten the cap tightly (40 Nm on gasoline engines, 30 Nm on diesels), in order not to damage the thread in the oil pan bore.

10. Pour in new oil and run the engine for a while. Until the oil pump fills the filter and creates the correct pressure in the system, as long as the oil pressure indicator light is on. Note on turbocharged engines: Until the oil pressure warning light goes out, the engine can only run at idle speed. Rapid depressing the accelerator pedal can severely damage the turbocharger.

11. Check, that oil is not leaking from under the drain plug and filter.

Old oil, oil filter and oil-soiled rags left behind, spilled or thrown into garbage irreversibly destroy the natural environment. The oil should be taken to a point dealing with its utilization or regeneration.

Checking the oil level

You should reach for the dipstick at least every second refueling. During the engine break-in period or in the case of older engines, oil consumption is greater and its condition should be checked each time you visit a gas station. The oil level indicator has an orange handle, which immediately catches the eye.

Next steps:

1. The oil level should be checked at an oil temperature of 60ºC. It will be reached after approx. 10-one minute drive from a cold start. Wait five minutes after the engine has stopped, so that all the oil flows to the oil pan.

2. Pull out the dipstick. Please be careful, because the engine is still hot. Wipe the indicator with a clean cloth or tissue and put it back until it stops.. Wait for a while and pull out the pointer again.

3. Read the oil level on the dipstick. If it is in the area A between the maximum (MAX) and the first incision it means, that you do not need to top up the oil. If the level is between the notches that define area B, you can add some oil. Indication between the minimum (MIN) and the first cut means the need to add oil, but not more than 0,5 liters. The dark color of the oil does not necessarily mean, that it needs to be replaced. The brand oil darkens after a short time and is the result of impurities collected by the oil.

4. The distance between the marks shown in the figure 1 i 2 on the dipstick it corresponds to one liter of oil. If the oil level is close to the MIN mark, then just add it 0,5 liter of oil. Never top up too much!

Excess oil may be sucked in through the crankcase breather valve and contaminate the air filter. Too much oil can damage the cylinder head gasket as well as the catalytic converter, if it gets into the exhaust system through the combustion chamber.

5. Use only a clean funnel for topping up the oil.

Recommended engine oils for Golf and Bora – Volkswagen recommends oils according to its own standards. For gasoline engines, these are VW 500 00, VW 501 01 or VW 502 02. For those built from June 1999 cars with extended service mileage (Longlife Service) these are oils in accordance with the VW standard 503 00.

VW standard oil should be used for diesel engines 50 500, VW 50 000 or VW 50 101 (at the Longlife Service – VW 506 00). Volkswagen only permits the use of other oils in "exceptional cases."”. For gasoline engines 1,4 i 1,6 l monograde or multigrade oils according to the ACEA A2 / A3 standard can be used. Oils according to API-SF or API-SG classification can be used for other gasoline engines, and for diesel engines according to API-CD.

Multigrade oils are based on low-fluidity monograde oils, to which are added after heating the oil, the so-called. viscosity index improvers. In this way, the required lubricating properties of the oil are ensured for both the cold oil, and a hot engine.

About that, which oil is suitable determines its composition and viscosity grade. About: if you need to add oil, you can use a different manufacturer's oil. However, this can lead to a deterioration in the properties of the oil. Each brand of oil has different sets of additives, which may lose their properties when mixed with another oil. For these reasons, mixing synthetic and mineral oil does not make sense.

VW recommendations for oil viscosity.

In Central European conditions, 15W-40 oil can be used all year round.

A: Light oils (synthetic) multigrade according to VW standard 500 00 for gasoline engines; not suitable for engines 1,9 TDI.

B: Multigrade oils according to VW standard 505 00 (all engines) or according to VW standard 501 01 or API SF or SG for gasoline engines; not suitable for engines 1,9 TDI
ATTENTION: Oils designed exclusively for diesel engines should not be mixed with oils intended for gasoline engines, as this may damage the engine.

Oil consumption

If the engine is in good technical condition, it should use so little oil, that there is no need to top it up (or only small amounts are added) between oil change cycles. You will only achieve it then, if you changed the oil regularly and you did not overload the engine with too dynamic driving.

The engine is consuming oil, as it enters the combustion chamber. Leaking engine, damaged valve stem seals, improper positioning of the piston rings, excessive play between valve guides and stems increases oil uptake. But the fact that there is no oil loss whatsoever is by no means a reason to be happy. This shows that the oil has been diluted with fuel or condensation water, which would worsen its lubricating properties. This can especially happen in winter, if you use the car for short trips in the city. In this case, change the oil after 3 000 km or after four months.

Concepts and standards for automotive oils:

Viscosity. A measure of the fluidity of a lubricating oil. In winter, the oil should be fluid enough, that, when a cold engine is started, it reaches all lubrication points immediately. In summer, however, you need a thicker oil, that the lubricating oil film on the walls is not washed out even at high temperatures.

SAE class (Society of Automotive Engineers). Viscosity grade designation (e.g. SAE 15W-40). The lower the first number, the thinner the oil at low temperature (W = winter). Oil marked with the symbol OW maintains its lubricating properties at -30 ° C; marked 5W at -25 ° C, a 15W at -15 ° C. The higher the second number, the better the oil can withstand high temperatures.

THAT (Association of European Automobile Manufacturers). Introduced in 1996 On the year of the year, the European oil classification standard replaced the CCMC standard. There are A1 groups for gasoline engines (oil that helps save fuel), A2 (working under light load) i A3 (for heavy loads). For diesel engines, groups B1 were introduced, respectively, B2 iB3.

CCMC (Common Market Automobile Manufacturers Committee). According to this classification, oils are marked with the letters G. (gasoline engines) i PD (diesel) plus the correct number. The higher it is, the better the quality of the oil.

API (American Petroleum Institute) According to this classification, oils are marked with the letters S (gasoline engines) i C (diesel), plus an extra letter. The further a letter is in the alphabet, the better the quality of the oil.