VW dealer says no Jetta oil change until 10,000 miles???

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jharkin said:
glenlloyd said:
If they suggest a change interval of 10k then it has to be a synthetic because dino oil will not run 10k.

Not true. We have a had a lot of Honda products in my family and every car from '03 onward has specified 10k-15k normal (and no less than 5k severe) oil change intervals on conventional oil. Ive used those intervals and put 6 figure mileage on these vehicles with no ill effects or early breakdowns. I don't think Honda is unique in these recommendations....

I think my Toyota MR2 had a 10k interval too. I used to go 10k routinely (easy to remember), and frequently over. It was still going strong at 250k miles.

My wife's new Honda has a computer in it to tell you when to change the oil. It counts down from 100%.
 
Grisu said:
Hare are some "myths" about motor oil in modern cars: http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/top-7-urban-legends-about-motor-oil.html
Coming from Europe the 3000 mile/3 month schedule never made sense to me. We had ~6500 miles or 1 year as a guideline. The only good thing about changing it frequently is your mechanic hopefully takes a look over the engine and alerts you of potential other problems before they get severe. But with modern computerized engines that is not really necessary anymore either.

Well that certainly was a real eye-opener for me, at least!!
Thanks
 
I just bought a new Honda last November and the service guy told me that with my driving (about 20,000 miles/year almost all highway) he doesn't expect the car will tell me it needs its first oil change until 13 or 14k miles.

It is a little weird watching the odo go past 4k miles and not changing the oil though.
 
Running Amsoil, I use to change the oil in my diesel and gas vehicles spring and fall. After talking with three different dealers, all three told me I was wasting my money , not leaving the oil in for a full year. One fella said I would love to sell you more oil, but that's the reality of running the Amsoil. He had a Dodge Diesel like myself, that had 44,000 miles on the same Amsoil oil change, just changing filters once a year and sampling the oil. He said it came back that it was still good to go. So I'm comfortable with once a year. Never any oil related problems. My vehicles all have over 100K still running like new.
 
I drive a Jeep Liberty CRD. Because it's diesel and has a turbo I have to use synthetic oil in it because of coking problems. That said the manual states up to a 12,500 oil change. I've been going 9,300 but after what I'm reading here it's time to do the 12,500 mile oil change from here on out.
 
For what it's worth, I run every 15k with Mobil1 in my Camry. Just rolled over 200k miles. Only downtime was for a flat tire.
 
The oil for those VW's is expensive enough, it better last 10k miles. I have yet to hit 10K in my TDI, so we'll see how it looks when we get there.
I'm still sticking with 3k intervals on my Civic. It's life is tough enough being driven like it's stolen in the city towing a trailer. At 225k miles, the oil change is pretty much the only TLC it receives.
 
I was shopping for a different truck recently. I saw alot of ads from owners saying they were running synthetic oil changed every 3000 miles. All I could think was do you guys really like dumping money out of your engine? Let the oil do it's job.
I guess this is kind of like trying to convince someone that cut in the fall to burn in the winter doesn't work.
Even the newer Harleys have pushed out conventional oil changes out to 5000.
 
I drive a 2010 jetta diesel and have close to 100K on her and have been doing 10K oil changes from day one with no problems. The recommended oil is full synthetic. My previous car was a 2004 jetta diesel which I handed down to my son. It has 245K on the odo, again with 10K oil change intervals and no problems. I think VW knows what they're doing.
 
I had a GMC Syclone, it ran hot and there was a concern with "turbo coking" in the turbo bearings when the truck was shut down hot. The warranty was void if anything other than pure synthetic was used. I didnt drive it a lot and but they specified a severe service schedule so synthetic every 3 K.

It was quite a beast especially in cold weather, zero to 60 in under 5 seconds and no wheel spin.
 
OUR 2011 ford fusion has a light that goes on that tells you when its due. 8000k and light not on yet. Manual says up to 10k for initial oil change.
 
wxman said:
OUR 2011 ford fusion has a light that goes on that tells you when its due. 8000k and light not on yet. Manual says up to 10k for initial oil change.

I wouldn't wait more than 1500 for the initial oil change and break in because that is when you get the most particulate, during the initial break-in period.
 
Kind of surprised no one has mentioned getting their oil tested. It can not only tell you if the oil has life left (not the main purpose), but also if there are problems going on in the engine. I've used Blackstone Labs and have been quite happy with their work.
 
Cat still charged $11 a sample last time I did it, but if you're replacing 4 quarts per change, then oil sampling makes a lot less sense than 5 gallons a pop, or a hydraulic system with dozens of gallons.

I'm not one to trust oil change computers, especially after not resetting my wifes saturn and the thing still hasn't called for a change three years later! Then a week and a half ago I push a lady with the same car out of an intersection, no oil visible on the dipstick but plenty of sludge. She said she was going to call a friend to bring her some oil, ummm maybe a little late for that. I'd be willing to bet that was the fault of the oil change computer, or the leaking cartridge oil filter o-ring (and not checking the oil also of course).
 
I agree that sending in samples for a passenger vehicle can be overkill, but it can be useful if one is trying to determine what the change intervals should be. It can also reveal small problems with the engine before they become a costly breakdown.
 
We have a 2010 GTI (2.0l turbo). VW recommends every 10k, I change it every 5k with a high grade group iv synthetic...we only put on about 8-10k a year, so its not that much.

Keep in mind the engine is direct injection (fuel directly into the cylinder) - cleaner the oil (higher quality), the less chance of buildup/sludge in the engine.
 
i didnt know your even supposed to change the oil in a vw, i thought they were disposable.
 
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