Can Motor oil for a Petrol car be used in a Diesel car?

Moanin

Lads here's the situation.I purchased oil for servicing 06 Passat 2.0TDI 5W40 full synthetic but I noticed when I got home it's not specific for diesel.I remember before that I purchased the one for diesel engines.
My question is, is it okay to use this oil in my car?

Thanks

Carstuck

I think the oil for petrol and diesel is different. If you bring back the oil to the shop and ask to exchange it, to be sure.

djimi

I cant say for definate why, but I wouldnt take a chance. Bring it back and theyll change it.

Neilw

Check the owners manual for your car, it will say the oil needs to meet VW 505 01 or something like that. If the oil you have meets that spec it will be fine.
5w40 might be a bit heavy for it, the info you need should be in the owners manual.

Moanin

Moanin wrote: »

Lads here's the situation.I purchased oil for servicing 06 Passat 2.0TDI 5W40 full synthetic but I noticed when I got home it's not specific for diesel.I remember before that I purchased the one for diesel engines.
My question is, is it okay to use this oil in my car?

Thanks

If it's petrol only oil than no, if it's for petrol and diesel and meets the spec than yes. Petrol only oil won't have enough detergent in it. I'd be surprised if they had a petrol / diesel oil suitable for the 2.0 diesel VAG unit though.

bazz26

If it is not the grade of oil for the car as per the Manufacturer's recommendations then I would not use it. I'd rather take the hit and dump the wrong grade oil than take the chance of destroying the injectors, etc.

voxpop

I think that 5w30 Edge is both for diesel and petrol. Conforms to the newest standards for vw 507 (i think). Older standards - ie 505 01 are (i think) for PD engines rather than newer common-rails.

Ghost Train

In petrol (gasoline) engines, the top piston ring can expose the motor oil to temperatures of 320 °F (160 °C). In diesel engines the top ring can expose the oil to temperatures over 600 °F (315 °C). Motor oils with higher viscosity indices thin less at these higher temperatures.

from wiki

voxpop

bazz26 wrote: »

If it is not the grade of oil for the car as per the Manufacturer's recommendations then I would not use it. I'd rather take the hit and dump the wrong grade oil than take the chance of destroying the injectors, etc.

+1

The grade doesnt mean much - it just tells you the thickness at particular temperatures - 5w30 and 0w30 are pretty close at cold temperatures and exactly the same thickness at the hot temperatures.

Moanin

Thanks all.I will bring it back and get the diesel version.I always use 5w 40 full synthetic diesel oil.It's what has been used in this car from day one.

gofaster_s13

We do work in the garage for a fleet of vehicles belonging to a multinational hire co. and the owners will only use 15w40 mineral oil in all the vehicles(ranging from s class Mercs to Daf trucks) with no problems, they use a strict 8000 mile oil change interval accross the fleet.

gofaster_s13

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

We do work in the garage for a fleet of vehicles belonging to a multinational hire co. and the owners will only use 15w40 mineral oil in all the vehicles(ranging from s class Mercs to Daf trucks) with no problems, they use a strict 8000 mile oil change interval accross the fleet.

Is it the owners of the garage or the owners of the fleet insist on throwing that sh1t into cars ? I'd be slow to put it in a pushrod Ka to be honest.

dr.fuzzenstein

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

We do work in the garage for a fleet of vehicles belonging to a multinational hire co. and the owners will only use 15w40 mineral oil in all the vehicles(ranging from s class Mercs to Daf trucks) with no problems, they use a strict 8000 mile oil change interval accross the fleet.

15w40?
Do they still make that?
That stuff was getting thin on the ground in the 90's when most cars went semi-synthetic.
Must be a fleet of Model T's.

maidhc

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

15w40?
Do they still make that?
That stuff was getting thin on the ground in the 90's when most cars went semi-synthetic.
Must be a fleet of Model T's.

It is easy to get. Most plant and machinery lives on the stuff.

As an aside, most petrols and diesels seem to take the same 5w30 semi synth now.

I worked in a factors from 1996 to 2000 ish, it was popular enough but even then 10w40 semi synthetic was becoming popular. We did sell a good few barrels of the 15w40 a month to garages but in 1999, 2000 the majority of the places were tending to use more 10w40.

gofaster_s13

RoverJames wrote: »

Is it the owners of the garage or the owners of the fleet insist on throwing that sh1t into cars ? I'd be slow to put it in a pushrod Ka to be honest.

Fleet owners insist on using it, they don't think its necessary to use the expensive oil and their records seem to prove that.

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

15w40?
Do they still make that?
That stuff was getting thin on the ground in the 90's when most cars went semi-synthetic.
Must be a fleet of Model T's.

Like I said earlier their fleet consists of everything from S class Mercs to Daf trucks and the oldest would be coming up on 5 years old at the end of the year.

mondeo

I would not be using that 15w40 mineral stuff in an s class..be terrified to stick it in it. Unless miss daisy is driving it?

I feel sorry for whoever buys the S class in the future, serviced on 15w40 mineral oil



Anyway, should the garage not advise them of the potential problems with using thicker oil than recommended by the manufacturer to save a few euro at oil change time ?

gofaster_s13

RoverJames wrote: »

I feel sorry for whoever buys the S class in the future, serviced on 15w40 mineral oil


Anyway, should the garage not advise them of the potential problems with using thicker oil than recommended by the manufacturer to save a few euro at oil change time ?

We did advise them and they gave us a disclaimer saying we were told to use 15w40. They maintain that they have never had a failure or a problem thats attributable to using incorrectly specced oil in their fleet which runs to thousands of vehicles worldwide.

The S-class in question has over 200,000k/m and is running like a clock.

voxpop

The yanks are always arguing over this - mineral oil changed every 3-5k or semi/fully synth every 10-15k.

Reading a few bits it seems that both mineral and synth work pretty much the same when up to temp but the synth works much better at start up and when cold plus has better resistance to sheering.

gofaster_s13

voxpop wrote: »

The yanks are always arguing over this - mineral oil changed every 3-5k or semi/fully synth every 10-15k.

Reading a few bits it seems that both mineral and synth work pretty much the same when up to temp but the synth works much better at start up and when cold plus has better resistance to sheering.

Mineral oil was used in everything from trucks to formula one cars up until recently in all climates with no problems, the extra cold start protection afforded by fully synth only becomes a problem after millions of stop/starts. The only obvious exception are the likes of Caterpiller and Isuzu which use the HUEI injector system(Hydraullicaly actuated Electronic controlled Unit Injectors) which use a very high pressure unfiltered oil feed to actuate the injectors.

gofaster_s13

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Mineral oil was used in everything from trucks to formula one cars up until recently in all climates with no problems,

Define recently ? Run a 2000 on ish Golf diesel on it (150 or 130bhp version) and see what happens in 40 or 50 thou miles (which you know anyway)

Moanin

Anyway back to the subject of the original thread.....I brought back the oil and got it replaced for the diesel oil version.Many thanks to all for your input!

gofaster_s13

RoverJames wrote: »

Define recently ? Run a 2000 on ish Golf diesel on it (150 or 130bhp version) and see what happens in 40 or 50 thou miles (which you know anyway)

Have seen new VW's belonging to the same hire co. getting 15w40 on their first services, no issues yet.

gofaster_s13

Just to go back to the original issue, I run 5w30 fully synth diesel engine oil(we have 2000litres of it in the garage so costs me nothing and I'm too mean to buy oil:D) in my track car with absolutly no problems. If I was buying the oil myself I would buy the correct oil however.

Mr.David

voxpop wrote: »

The yanks are always arguing over this - mineral oil changed every 3-5k or semi/fully synth every 10-15k.

Reading a few bits it seems that both mineral and synth work pretty much the same when up to temp but the synth works much better at start up and when cold plus has better resistance to sheering.

Exactly.

And 90% of engine wear occurs before the engine reaches operating temp. So its critical that your oil is of an appropriate viscosity when cold. I tend to use 5W40 during the winter and 10W40 during the summer.

gofaster_s13

Mr.David wrote: »

Exactly.

And 90% of engine wear occurs before the engine reaches operating temp. So its critical that your oil is of an appropriate viscosity when cold. I tend to use 5W40 during the winter and 10W40 during the summer.

Not going to make one bit of difference in the lifetime of an engine.

gofaster_s13

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Just to go back to the original issue, I run 5w30 fully synth diesel engine oil(we have 2000litres of it in the garage so costs me nothing and I'm too mean to buy oil:D) in my track car with absolutly no problems. If I was buying the oil myself I would buy the correct oil however.

No doubt 5w30 fully syn is well within the spec the manufacturer recommends, the extra cleaning detergent won't hurt a track car one bit.

Mr.David

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Not going to make one bit of difference in the lifetime of an engine.

How do you know that?

GTE

Its an odd one. I was in Halfords and they have Mobil 1 0w30 or 40 in the petrol shelf. Then I checked the back of the bottle and it had the VW505 spec for the diesels.

Maybe the shop doesnt know what they are selling. Also there is no specific mention of it being for petrol or diesel on the bottle.

gofaster_s13 wrote: »

Have seen new VW's belonging to the same hire co. getting 15w40 on their first services, no issues yet.

As in mineral or semi synth?

Mr.David

The issue will only come to light over a long time period and high mileage. But ****ty oil will result in a performance degradation and increased engine wear.

Personally I prefer to spend the extra few quid and get a good quality oil.