I have always had petrol driven cars, but recently bought a diesel. I need to check the basics like oil and water etc., do I need a different type of oil to the one I use in a petrol engine? Thanks
In general no .... .. but it might !!! (some modern diesel engines are pretty picky but the older ones generally aren't)</p> It depends on what car it is ? - what is the make/model/year ? - I work for BP Castrol so we should be able to get a definitive answer !! </p>
RE: It's a VW Passat Estate If I can't find out tonight I'll speak to our Automotive Technical guys here in Swindon tomorrow and they'll let me know.</p> Unless someone else knows in the meantime of course ....!!</p>
Answer !! As with most things you can use a few different products depending on how much you want to spend ! This is not meant to be an advert for Castrol - Shell, Esso, Mobil, Texaco etc all do equivalent grades as do Tesco's and Asda these days !! Basically a 10w/40 oil will be fine for your Passat. There are diesel versions of this oil available which will help the engine cope better with the high soot levels you get in a diesel engine. Castrol's products in this range is Castrol GTX 10w/40 or Castrol GTD 10w/40 (GTD being the diesel version) - £10-£15 per 4.5 litre pack If you want to spend a bit more or if you do lots of short journeys then you can also use something like Castrol Magnatec 10w/40 or Castrol Magnatec GTD 10w/40- £20-£25 per 4.5 litre pack. This type of oil protects from startup and does not have to wait a couple of minutes to 'warm-up' before properly protecting the engine. If you want to treat your car like a god and give it the best money can buy then you could use a fully synthetic oil such as Castrol Edge Turbo Diesel 5w/30. - £30+ per 4.5 litre pack. If you want any more info on Castrol's oils then they have quite a good website at http://www.castrol.com
Thanks for your help it's greatly appreciated. Better go and get it sorted then before picking "trouble" up to go to the Hallamshire Eye Clinic this afternoon.
