Hi guys, After buying my first GTi 16v, I changed the oil. Being inexperienced with these cars, I used Castrol Magnatec, which I've now learnt is s***. The car also seems to be using up a fair bit of this oil, so I'm thinking of draining it and refilling with something better. Now, before I change the oil, I may as well give the ATF trick a go. Just wanted to check a few things though. I add 500ml of ATF (Auto G'box Fluid?) to whatever oil I use. I was going to drain the Magnatec, and reuse this with some ATF as the Magnatec isn't very old. Would this be ok? What ATF is recommended? How long do I run the car for with this in? Right, once I've done that, I plan to change the oil with some decent stuff this time. I've read about a few types that people use. My 16v has done 139K miles, so what would be best? Quantum Syntra? I must admit, I don't quite understand the whole grading system. (ie. 10w 40, 15w 40) Thanks
Why mess about with ATF? The oil you have in hasn’t been in long, it’s like flushing it. Just get it hot and drain the oil for an hour before refilling with new filter. Silver Synta is good but getting expensive
Fair point, but I hear the ATF cleans off the layer of residue that can't be removed with a basic oil change?
drain off 500ml of your oil and add the atf....run it around for 100 or so gentle miles and do a normal oil change
Well from my own experience I'd say it's ****e. I'd rather use the Carlube 50 gallon drum for a tenner stuff than Magna****e. My car was smoking like a good 'un with Castrol, changed for Fuchs and it's now fine.
[/QUOTE]My car was smoking like a good 'un with Castrol, changed for Fuchs and it's now fine.[/QUOTE] Just because it smokes does not mean that the oil is not doing it`s job ....
I have to agree with Phil. I won't be using Magnatec again. My car is drinking it away, and smoking a fair bit. Would you recommend Fushs over Quantum Syntra? I've also read that Millers(?) is a good alternative. Thanks for you help.
The Castrol will be fine - as a flushing oil. The reason you use ATF is because it is high in detergents and dispersants - auto gearboxes can't afford to have the varnish that builds up inside your engine build up on the clutches and bands otherwise they stop working. Use the cheapest stuff - it tends to be cheaper oil, but with more (cheaper) additives. The cheap additives break down quickly, so they need to put more of them in to keep a reasonable level up for the next 30k miles or whatever. So if you only run it in your ENGINE for a couple of hundred, you get the full amount of additives working. The grade 10W40, 20W50 etc. relate to the viscosity (thickness) of the oil when cold or hot. Originally oils were single grade, so you would run an SAE 20 oil in the winter, and an SAE 40 maybe in the summer. Because oil gets thinner when it is hot, and in hotter weather the engine would run hotter and so you had to use an oil that was thicker at normal temps to make sure it was thin enough at running temperature. Then they invented multigrade oils, like 10W40, with the W standing for Winter. They acted as an SAE 10 oil when cold, but an SAE 40 oil when hot - through the addition of viscosity improvers. So they give the best of both worlds - until the oil is old, and the viscosity improvers break down inside the engine, when it degrades more towards a plain SAE 10 oil. I'm bored now, and I'm not going to type any more.
Lol. Thanks very much. Thats made things much clearer for me. So should I be getting a 15W40 for my 16v, or with a mileage of 139K, would a 10W40 be better? I believe the Castrol Magna-s**t that I'm using is 10W40.
quantum silver was 10w-40 semi tho? why not stick to a good 10w-40 semi (fuchs, millers etc), it will be better than 15w in the winter too, which is particularly crucial
Start with 10W40, unless it leaks or burns a lot of it... If it does, switch to 15W40 maybe... Thick oil isn't really good for hydraulic tappets, so use the thinnest one your engine can cope with, as a rule.
so guess who makes Quantum oils? Castrol... I always use Quantum (Silver) in my golf but have recently changed to Castrol on my 1981 635csi. No adverse change noted yet. on another note, I used ATF to great effect to clean up some gummed up rings on the BMW. I was getting pretty bad blow-by and so poured a good slug of ATF into each cylinder through the plug holes and left it there for a week. This is a more extreme version of putting ATF in your oil and I only did it because I could not be bothered to rebuild the engine again. To my suprise it worked a treat and (touch a lot of wood) has not caused me any problems, though I changed the oil after 200 miles as oil pressure was noticeably lower at idle as some ATF obvioulsy found its way into the oil. ...you would not believe amount of smoke when I fired her up to burn the remaining ATF out of the combustion chambers!!
... and who owns Castrol ? BP I assume the views on Magnatec being s...e are that it happens to pass your `rings` and hence burn ... or has anyone had problems with it not lubricating their `bits` ?
ive found out by searching on here that although castrol make quantum, VW provide the specs which castrol have to make it by..
all new vw's come with a sticker which says "vw recommend castrol" & hav done 4 a few yrs now. just something else 4 u 2 consider.
