UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

asabove, mine's due for a service and was wondering whats the best make/formula. what do vw use? any advice? thanks.

VW use Quantum Synta Silver 10W40, which is just a good quality semi synthetic 10W40 oil. In mine, I use Fuchs Titan XTR 10w40 which is very good oil. The engine runs so smooth with it

Other brands such as shell helix, castrol magnatec, etcetc can be used aswell as they are all very good oils.

is it likely that VW and Audi privatley owned speciailists will use the same oil as the main VW garages then? or am i asking an impossible question haha

Most use Quantum as its cheap to them through VW trade to be totally honest - every one that I know uses it. Comes in a damned ugly bottle tho, the Titan XTR just looks shiiney

ah cool,

mines due for a the 40k service, getting the belts and pump done too along with the gearbox oil, the guy i go to's a VW specialist so may be using this, will check with him before hand though

i was told by vw to use 5/30 fully syth in the gti so thats what goes in £23 a litre.

On older cars you shouldnt really use fully synthetic - its long life anyhow so lasts up to 20k miles, but if they originally started as semi synth, a change to fully synth can do more damage than it does good.

Synta Silver every 5000 miles for me

Its what I use as well - Castrol Edge 5W30. As long as the oil is regularly changed I'd not think using a Fully Synth oil would be a bad thing, if anything it would be doing the car a favour. I wouldn't really say a Mk5 Polo is an old car, for that you'd be talking about Mk2 Golf's.
I still intend to change the oil every 12 months because at the moment I'm not doing an incredibly high mileage, but if it keeps the engine running smooth I'm happy.
I consider it in the same league of thinking as 95Ron vs Super Unleaded's, but then oil is only done every so often and I'd of thought a more worthwhile expense.

ok thanks guys, do you all use standard vw oil filters? and do you replace with each oil change? does anyone know how regularly the oil service warning will flash up once its reset? (eg 5000 miles?) thanks.

nogwuy wrote: does anyone know how regularly the oil service warning will flash up once its reset? (eg 5000 miles?) thanks.

think its 8 or 10k

Plus all cars start out on a Semi-Synth oil to begin with a running in oil, to key in the engine. I remember this had been the case with my Golf GTI and Civic Type R before the Polo and in both case they recommend using a Synthetic Oil from then on. Apparently it was recommended not to change the oil early otherwise it could have a detrimental effect following this of course you could change as and when.
Re Oil Filter I use the Standard VW one and change it every service, they're fairly cheap. I think it's supposed to come up every 12000 miles, but as yet I've not reached that I did mine based on the time since it's last service and got my brother to give me a hand doing a service in August. When the light comes on I'll reset it (but take a note - may change the oil then depending on how long its been).

10k is usually an oil change/INSP service, but it can tick up to 15k depending on how its setup.

I change mine every 5000 miles without a miss with Fuchs oil and a Mann filter as its quicker to buy it all in one place. New sump plug too hehe

Oil filter is always replaced on an oil change - would kinda defeat the object of putting clean oil in.

Just to add: All new VWs come from the Factory filled with Castrol SLX Longlife III as standard now

I was planning on using Castrol Edge but decided for the Synta stuff because it was recommened for the GTI, plus it wasn't £40 a bottle!

Mine only cost about £35 for a 4L Bottle - my brother has a Halfords Trade card. Also Castrol is a VW Recommended oil, it just depends on the dealership. Dane in Chester uses Shell Helix because they get it cheap as, and because they using a piping system which takes it from Underground storage units, but when I initially got the Golf it was serviced by the supplying dealer Inchcape in Oswestry who tried to do a Time and Distance service using Castrol Magnatec which is a Semi-Synth.

Castrol SLX Longlife 3 IS Castrol Edge Sport or Edge depending on the weighting of the Oil, in the case of the Polo 5W30 which works out as Edge.

Agg, thinking about it you're right on the running in oil being the same on the Golf, it was only the Civic where they using a Semi-Synth initially. In both cases they recommended 0W40 Oil if I remember right.