Ken 275

This may be the wrong forum but I would be grateful of a quick response.

A friend of mine has a 1.4 Golf, about two years old. His oil warning light lit up on Wednesday so on Thursday he bought a bottle of the black stuff and topped it up, bang on the level.

The trouble is, he used an oil suitable for diesels whereas his motor is petrol.

The grade he used is 10W40 and he poured in about 700ml of the stuff.

I don't think much harm will come of this but can anyone please confirm and re-assure?

Many Thanks,

Ken

Fuzz

Diesel oil contains more detergent than petrol oil because of the byproducts left behind in the derv combustion process.
that's about all there is in it.

Ken 275

Thanks for the speedy response mate.

Would you agree that an oil change is unwarranted?

K.

Fuzz

It might be slightly more acidic in attacking the byproducts of combustion, wouldn't want it in a high power car but a 1.4 shopping car I doubt would make much difference.

Listen to others advise as well...

Andy

Ken 275

Thanks again.

Anyone else?

BTTP

K.

camk

It will be fine, I ran a Golf GTi on it for 12 months(20K), bought the wrong oil and just used it anyway. no problems.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I shouldn't think it would be a problem. As said above the difference is in the addatives more than lubrication. However I couldn't comment on if it is compatible with the oil that is already in there, with me not being a chemist specialising oil I would not know.

What I would be more concerned about is the light comming on the dash! Was it an oil level light or an oil pressure light?

Most cars only have an oil pressure light, within automotive circles it is commonly called the "engine is dead" light as in many cases, by the time it illuminates the damage has already started. In which case, the type of oil used to top it up wouldn't really matter.

Just make sure he keeps an eye on the levels in the future, engines don't like oil starvation very much. In teh future - If it ever does develop a knock or suffers some sort of bearing failure I would blame the lack of oil pressure moreso than the use of diesel engine oil.

Ken 275

Brill replies Guys.

The advice bit I think is now sorted.

Firstly, the car was serviced by a reputable (oxymoron?) VW dealer within the past four months and it is a relatively new and reliable car. What's caused the oil loss?

When I see the mate I'll ask him to look for oil stains near where he parks the motor.

Personally I always thought that the warning light was a level type thing, but there you go, benefits of Scoobynetting.

Brother-in-Law used to be a techy on the subs. He informed me that if they had the wrong oil in their gennies they would drain the whole lot and replace it with the correct type. But that's MoD practice, maybe more important than just a congestion causer.

Regs,

K.

Jiggerypokery

It's interesting to note that the oil pressure warning light on newage scoobs operates at 2.1 PSI. You read correctly - at that pressure it's probably too late!

Fuzz

nothing new there, as said above if the warning light comes on for real I.e it's not a gauge fault then your engine will be on it's last legs very soon.


all cars I can think of are the same in design 2- 4 psi

Level control is suposed to be by the user by means of the dipstick

Andy

Beastie

iTrader: (2)

In fact oil for diesel cars is more Alakaline than for Petrol cars. This is so that it copes with the by products of combustion which are acidic i.e. sulphuric acid.
With small car engines oil is almost the same as oil for petrol and diesel just the additives are different.
Therefore should not cause a problem in the short term i.e. until next service due.