Oil Change on VW PD diesel engines
 

Hi Guys,

I recently had a big service on my Fabia vRS. After I got the car back I heard an annoying rattle which I asked my old man about. So we popped open the bonnet...only to find a 5 inch allen key left lying in there (well at least it sorted out the rattling :Whatever_). Whilst we had the bonnet open, my old man decided to check the engine oil level as there was some residual oil hanging around the filler cap. He was surprised to see the engine oil was black and questioned whether the garage has actually carried out the oil change.

I had a quick dig around online and I got the impression oil in PD engines can turn back to black quite quickly, can anyone whose had a VW PD engine confirm this is the case?

I don't want to challenege the garage unless I'm sure although I wll be giving them their "tool" back :p

yes oil go,s black almost immediately,change them all the time and once dipped black .

Yes almost instantly

Although it's not good to find tools left under your bonnet it does prove they did do some work on your car LOL. The oil on these seems to go black immediately just to confirm they probably did the job.

I can tell you tomorrow. My Leon CR TDI was getting serviced today and I pick it up tomorrow morning :)

Very soon, but not instantaneously - when I change mine it takes a day or two, maybe tryee to go that dark dark black

Witin minutes lol, My SEAT TDi (AHU - lump) used to be changed regularly by myself, and would be black as soon as the new stuff had circulated.


Compared to a petrol engine which looks lovley and golden on first change, i can understand your concern

Mart

Picked mines up this morning and done about 60 miles and it is pretty much jet black again already.

Anyone know why it goes black so quickly?

Yes, Goes black. Just check that they have used the correct oil for the PD engine.

unburnt carbon i think

Thanx for the replies guys!!

Feel confident they did now from the info you all gave!

Cheers! :thumb:

Yup our Seat's PD engine only done 40,000kms (not miles), had the car since new, and oil changed with 505.01 oil or 507.00 spec oil every 12months.

Its black and relatively thin, not sludgy.

The only time it was clear was when it was brand new...it went black after about six months and stayed like that ever since. The only diesel engine I have ever experienced that never had black oil was our old AWD 7.5 ton tipper....but it did have the oil changed every 3months! :lol1:

The correct spec of oil is far more important on PD engines than the colour, as the incorrect oil will wear out the camshaft and pump injectors (the cam is what actuates the injector pumps, so its a highly stressed part). So personally for peace of mind, I'd be checking what oil is listed on the invoice and see if it conforms to VAG's specifications.

Did my mondeo using ford formula oil (in my taxi)and went from golden colour to black in a day!

In quite thankfull that when I bought my 03 plate Polo TDI, all the manuals were present in the book, including the all important 505 oil suggestions.