B5244S 2.4i oil

[AndyV7o]

A2 no longer exists, its only A3 now. It is accompanied by B4 also, thus A3/B4 is the current spec.
It doesnt 'imply not using synth unless it meets spec' it means you can use either fully or semi, so long as they meet ACEA A2 or 3.
Castrols recommendation of 5w40 is correct as it covers a wider operating range, as I explained above.
Oils have moved on, back in,the late 90's 5w40 was still pretty fancy, as was any oil covering a range that wide, hence 10w40 or 10w30 were common. Nowadays 5w40 is almost the new 20w50, inexpensive and suits a whole lot of engines from the previous generation and the generation before that too. Fully synth, despite the old wives tales some people still believe, is simply better than semi, and no piston engine 'needs' semi or 'gets better protection' from it.

So as said, if book says 10w40, you want 10w40, 5w40, 0w40 A3/B4.
If book says 5w30 you want 5w30 or 0w30, usually A5/B5. (Replaced A1/B1)
10w30 has no place in the modern world really, hence it is pretty scarce.

[StatusRed]

I've gone for Shell 10W-40 semi-synthetic, doing the oil change later today!

[TDIvolvo]

People get very excited about engine oil. Basically in summary of the information posted above practically any of the common oil weights will work in this engine in the UK.

My engine is the T5 so different but more or less the same engine with a TC on it but the same principles apply. I remember the night after I bought her I did an oil change and put Q8 5W30 FS into her (original spec was 0W30) mainly as I happened to have about 20 litres of it. It was in there for about 10 months and in that time I had done a lot of reading and learning and communicated with fellow T5 drivers on this site and it was confirmed that yes, 0W30 was spec'ed from new, 5W30 was more common even in dealerships but once the miles went up no one ever used it again and no one who ran a T5 on 0W30 still had a T5! 10W40 was the way to go.

Now I just get decent 10w40, twice now I have bought Mercedes 10W40 fully synth, comes in a 20 litre drum and costs £54 from a Merc dealership. Sometimes I use a SS 10W40 and at the moment I have £25.00 a litre marine motorsport oil in it (I paid £15.00 for 7 litres of it).

These engines "tell you" when they need oil, and the noise difference between a hot 30 and hot 40 is quite noticeable, to the point that after that first 5W30 fill I would never choose to do it again but if I had to, it would work just fine.

I'd probably try a 5W40 - I have that in stock too as my wife's car uses that.

[AndyV7o]

Originally Posted by TDIvolvo

People get very excited about engine oil. Basically in summary of the information posted above practically any of the common oil weights will work in this engine in the UK.

My engine is the T5 so different but more or less the same engine with a TC on it but the same principles apply. I remember the night after I bought her I did an oil change and put Q8 5W30 FS into her (original spec was 0W30) mainly as I happened to have about 20 litres of it. It was in there for about 10 months and in that time I had done a lot of reading and learning and communicated with fellow T5 drivers on this site and it was confirmed that yes, 0W30 was spec'ed from new, 5W30 was more common even in dealerships but once the miles went up no one ever used it again and no one who ran a T5 on 0W30 still had a T5! 10W40 was the way to go.

Now I just get decent 10w40, twice now I have bought Mercedes 10W40 fully synth, comes in a 20 litre drum and costs £54 from a Merc dealership. Sometimes I use a SS 10W40 and at the moment I have £25.00 a litre marine motorsport oil in it (I paid £15.00 for 7 litres of it).

These engines "tell you" when they need oil, and the noise difference between a hot 30 and hot 40 is quite noticeable, to the point that after that first 5W30 fill I would never choose to do it again but if I had to, it would work just fine.

I'd probably try a 5W40 - I have that in stock too as my wife's car uses that.

Yeah 5w40 would be a sensible choice, its widely available and some decent ones can cost less than a 10w40 fully, if you dont need a specific spec, ie just A3/B4 then you can sometimes pick up 20l barrels of Fuchs supersyn 5w40 for about £70

[sdg1970]

I only ever use non-synthetic, Comma 15\40 Multifleet. Changed every 2500 miles or less in the V70. I use it in everything I own from 4 cylinder petrol thru big straight 6 Cummins truck engine.

[TDIvolvo]

Originally Posted by sdg1970

I only ever use non-synthetic, Comma 15\40 Multifleet. Changed every 2500 miles or less in the V70. I use it in everything I own from 4 cylinder petrol thru big straight 6 Cummins truck engine.

Funnily enough I was tempted to get a barrel of agri/multifleet oil, I used to run all my land rovers and some cars on it, even the mower and cement mixer engine.

I would be more tempted to get a 10W40 multifleet or agri oil though - we have quite a few cold days here and the 15W might be a bit heavy on start up.

[sdg1970]

Originally Posted by TDIvolvo

Funnily enough I was tempted to get a barrel of agri/multifleet oil, I used to run all my land rovers and some cars on it, even the mower and cement mixer engine.

I would be more tempted to get a 10W40 multifleet or agri oil though - we have quite a few cold days here and the 15W might be a bit heavy on start up.

I think the last 40 gallon barrel I bought was around 260 quid (ish) - well worth it!