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I rushed into Halfords on Saturday and grabbed a 5l can of the Castrol GTX that I always use - in readiness for the planned oil change on the Sunday. Anyway yesterday, on re-filling the engine with the oil I noticed that it seemed a little runnier than I was used to. So I compared the can with the previous one which was kept as it still had a bit in the bottom I could use for 'topping up' purposes and I noticed the old oil was 15/40w & the new oil was 10/40w. The thing is does Castrol do the GTX in different grades or has the 15 changed to 10? And more importantly do you guys think my engine would be ok running on this weight of oil? BTW for those that don't know the car is a 1979 1300cc VW Derby. My main worry is that on the old can it says its 'ideal for conventional engines' - a 1300 Polo engine seems conventional enough for me where as the new can says 'ideal for modern engines' - I wouldn't have said a 27 year old engine was particularly 'modern'
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well it's more likely to leak with the thinner oil, but every VW I've ever owned has been run on 10/40W anyway
If you notice it's got a noisy top end, do another oil and filter change, it's only a few quid, and cheaper than the engine.
Try it, mine have always run better on 10/40W than they have on 15/40w, except my van with the old engine, that liked 20/50W but that was a smokey old thing.
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The lurker formerly known as Cappuccinocruiser.. or wedgedout..
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Dunno about GTX, but a customer said exactly the same thing to me at the weekend. His Bay Window had GTX put in it at the previous oil change and had started weeing it out everywhere. I put Quantum Semi-synthetic (comes in the blue bottle - I buy gallons and gallons from GSF ) in it and oil leaks stopped straight away - it was bizarre! Anyway, to get to my point, get the Quantum stuff, it's great
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Oil Queiry?BenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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I think GTX comes in a few different grades. I reckon you'd be fine on 10w40 unless your engine is really worn.
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gingernik
Part of things
'65 Beetle 1200
Posts: 62
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Apr 24, 2006 10:10:32 GMT
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I changed the oil in my polo this weekend too - 15w40 Castrol GTX. If it helps it seems to be running a lot more smoothly now.
I picked the 15w40 because it said on the Halfords Website (I think) that "conventional engines" usually means pre-1990.
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Apr 24, 2006 10:12:21 GMT
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I think GTX comes in a few different grades. I reckon you'd be fine on 10w40 unless your engine is really worn. Well the cars on 29,000 miles so its still running-in ;D Think i'll stick with it for a bit & see how it goes. It does have an oil leak from either the head gasket (just at the front L/H corner where they all go) Or the cam shaft oil seal at the bearing the pulley end - so I guess the rate at which it 'wee wees' oil will just increase a bit ;D Mind you the self rust-proofing nature of the leak can't all be bad BTW looking on the sites of motorfactors it seems there is a GTX thats 15-40w but its marketed as being oil for high mileage cars & comes in a distinctly different can
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Oil Queiry?BenzBoy
@benzboy
Club Retro Rides Member 7
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Apr 24, 2006 12:24:25 GMT
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29k?! That's nowt! Run it on 3-in-1! ;D ;D ;D I reckon 10w40 would be just fine then Have you seen that oil additive you can get that's supposed to restore rubber oil seals? Dunno if it works but it might be worth a bash if the seals are a bit tired.
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Apr 24, 2006 12:36:09 GMT
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Dunno about GTX, but a customer said exactly the same thing to me at the weekend. His Bay Window had GTX put in it at the previous oil change and had started weeing it out everywhere. I put Quantum Semi-synthetic (comes in the blue bottle - I buy gallons and gallons from GSF ) in it and oil leaks stopped straight away - it was bizarre! Anyway, to get to my point, get the Quantum stuff, it's great I concur, I've used Quantum Blue in almost every car I've ever had and it's always been great! Not expensive either. GSF oil FTW.
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Apr 24, 2006 12:59:19 GMT
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Deffo, cheaper than everywhere else
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Stu
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,913
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Apr 24, 2006 14:55:43 GMT
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I use/have used Quantum Synta silver in all my cars, Mk1 Polo, Mk1 Golf's, Mk2 Golf's 8 and 16v, and the Lupo 16v. Varying mileages from 35k to 145k on those cars and it's always been spot on. Also, always use a genuine VW oil filter, about £3 at GSF, they have a non-return valve in that some others don't. I tend to change the oil at 6k miles/6 months on the older cars and 12k miles on the Lupo and they just keep going with hardly any oil useage in between changes.
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'89 BMW E30 325i Sport, '04 MINI Cooper S, '09 Volvo V70 D5
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Apr 24, 2006 15:06:02 GMT
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Mann filters are OK as well, they make a good proportion of the genuine ones - the only difference is the writing on the canister The valve is essential on the bigger blocked inline 4s to avoid damage to the bearings on starting in cold weather.
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gingernik
Part of things
'65 Beetle 1200
Posts: 62
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Apr 24, 2006 15:33:44 GMT
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I'm worried now, I put just a generic filter on my Polo...am I going to have problems?
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Apr 24, 2006 15:40:38 GMT
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IIRC the smaller blocked engines (basically everything in an early Polo) don't have the relief valve. The problem is the huuuuuuuuuuuuuge amount of oil pressure the big engines make when the oil is cold.
If you are worried swing down your local GSF and cast your eye down the neck of the filters - the valve is visible as a spring in the central hole below the threaded insert.
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