going back to my vw roots...

[Jake]

Interesting on the Blackstone report. I'm always curious how long you can really go between oil changes. I'm good about a 3k-4k interval on the Miata, which does not run synthetic oil. I've heard 3,000 is somewhat low for dino oil, and the numbers for synthetic are kinda all over the place (I've heard anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 for synth).

So what are you going to do - how many miles until your next oil change you think?

[ScottyB]

that's actually a really solid first oil run. check out your viscosity - that is really good for that long of an oil change in the dead of summer, once your wear metals go down i bet you could push 6k mile oil changes easily.

definitely no bad signs and you have good sealing going on with no fuel or water dilution (also helped by lots of long trips). the most important thing is to look at the averages for your particular car, not what's relative to other cars. looks good!

[Sijray21]

So what are you going to do - how many miles until your next oil change you think?

the viscosity and flash points are still pretty good. another guy on vwvortex changed his first oil at just under 10k, ran his analysis, and his viscosity numbers were just a hair above mine. i'm going to do another oil change at 10k miles (odometer) and then if the numbers are still good with lower metal wear i'll be performing oil changes at 10k mile intervals. the big difference will be the factory oil vs the Mobile1 oil. if the german castrol performs better than the M1 i may swtich back to OEM castrol.

[.RJ]

I'd stick with the Castrol... my $.02

[Sijray21]

that's actually a really solid first oil run. check out your viscosity - that is really good for that long of an oil change in the dead of summer, once your wear metals go down i bet you could push 6k mile oil changes easily.

definitely no bad signs and you have good sealing going on with no fuel or water dilution (also helped by lots of long trips). the most important thing is to look at the averages for your particular car, not what's relative to other cars. looks good!

that's what i was thinking too. the silicon levels are kinda high, but that's normal from factory oil as i've heard/read. i'm looking to push more than 6k though. i'll likely try 10k intervals after my next 5k oil change if the numbers hold up. i checked the oil level prior to this change and it didn't seem to show any signs of consumption as i would expect.

[Sijray21]

I'd stick with the Castrol... my $.02

any particular reason? or just because it was factory oil? (not arguing, but i'm just wondering)

[Mike]

jray, i'm gonna bum the mdi cable off of felton... or i might just use it out at summit in a couple weeks. you want to get your hands on it? i could just take it and mail it back to him.

[.RJ]

I'd stick with the Castrol... my $.02

any particular reason? or just because it was factory oil? (not arguing, but i'm just wondering)

I did way too much research on this one a while back... geeked out a bit. I used the castrol stuff in my ITR and a few other cars, oil analysis always looked great and barely burned any on track.

[Sijray21]

jray, i'm gonna bum the mdi cable off of felton... or i might just use it out at summit in a couple weeks. you want to get your hands on it? i could just take it and mail it back to him.

i thought you had one? you had an iPod hooked up when i saw your car.

i have one, but i don't use it.

[Sijray21]

I did way too much research on this one a while back... geeked out a bit. I used the castrol stuff in my ITR and a few other cars, oil analysis always looked great and barely burned any on track.

fair enough. i like personal references and i trust your judgement. Any specific Castrol that you tried?

[.RJ]

I tried the german stuff from autozone and the stuff from the VW dealer. It was green and smelled funny... if you want to get really fancy you could use Motul full syn (not the race stuff) too - similar stuff.

[D_Eclipse9916]

The euro castrol is sick. That, Motul, and Rotella (yes really), is all that I can reasonably say I would use for hard use.

But seriously, your car is stock and you dont beat up on it in autox or road racing, why do you need fancy oil?

[.RJ]

why do you need fancy oil?

It keeps the CEL lubed.

[Sijray21]

But seriously, your car is stock and you dont beat up on it in autox or road racing, why do you need fancy oil?

based on whatever price i can get, why not? it's all based on the price i can get and what the numbers are like for the oil analysis. i want the cheapest oil i can get that will provide good wear :wink:

i won't be putting in race-ready oils; there's no need for that.

[Apoc]

Jay, you don't need to worry about good wear... it's going to get stolen before it matters. :twisted:

[Mike]

jray, i'm gonna bum the mdi cable off of felton... or i might just use it out at summit in a couple weeks. you want to get your hands on it? i could just take it and mail it back to him.

i thought you had one? you had an iPod hooked up when i saw your car.

i have one, but i don't use it.

mdi usb cable. needed to update the firmware to some that doesn't suck as much.

[Sijray21]

Jay, you don't need to worry about good wear... it's going to get stolen before it matters. :twisted:

i hate you :evil: ...but sadly, it's probably true :roll:

[ScottyB]

Shell's Rotella brand is a very good oil. here's a used oil analysis of their T6 5W-40 in a 2.0 TSI. very good results.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1937984#Post1937984">http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1937984#Post1937984</a><!-- m -->

it's usually under $20 for a jug at wally world

[Sijray21]

Well...today marks the 6-month mark of my ownership and overall I'm pretty pleased with this car. I've had to bring it into VW for 1 issue; the rear-windshield washer drip. It was more annoying than anything else and i rarely use it anyway, but I had it fixed. There was also a TPMS issue that I resolved with the VCDS. A small nuisance was when I ran over a plastic bag on the highway and I didn't notice it in my mirrors. By the time I was able to pull over to check where the bag was caught I found it on my exhaust pipe and some of it melted on the tip...mildly annoying when I wash the car. I haven't been able to get the last melted plastic off yet. Other than that, I've been simply enjoying it. It's very responsive, quick enough for fun daily driving, small enough to park in tight garages/DC, and very practical. I still enjoy looking at it when I approach it in the parking lot. What I've mostly been pleased with is the interior: the standard cloth heated seats are very nice to have and hold me well, the flat-bottomed steering wheel is very nice to have, the standard touch-screen radio is sweet, and the rear seating fits 3 adults comfortably (2 very comfortably). The stock all-seasons (225/45/17 Continental ContiProContacts) have a lot more lateral grip than I expected, but taking off and stopping leave something to be desired; I'll be replacing them with summer tires when they wear-out. I love the HID-AFS headlamps.

~ 13,100 miles on the odo
~ Added Thule roof rack with Peloton 517 fork-mount bicycle attachments (works very well albeit a bit noisy with the windows/sunroof open)
~ Added euro-spec Golf/GTI aspherical side mirror lenses (VERY helpful and subtle)
~ customized a few settings for lighting and comfort using VCDS
~ The oil changes are so easy to do thanks to the location of the oil filter

The only real downfall that I've noticed is the monthly hit for buying a new car. I don't like having a monthly payment; yes, I'm complaining when I have 1.9% financing. With the truck being the exception, all of the vehicles in my past have been paid-off at the time of ownership or shortly thereafter. I've tossed up the idea of getting something cheaper that i can have paid off, but I really like the idea of having something that I don't have to worry about in-terms of maintenance/reliability. I hope this trend continues, but I'll be keeping up with the forums to see if there are any long-term issues with the mkVI.

the only mods I'm planning for in the future at some point are the Golf R led tails and the euro light switch (enables the parking lights to be run without the head lights and has an option with the Golf R tails for a rear fog light).

[Sijray21]

ok, up from the grave with this one

it's been my DD without another vehicle, so i've needed it to be reliable and it's done its job. mostly preoccupied with bicycles and racing them i haven't really paid much attention to the vw (and have showed little interest in modding it) until i had to make a fix to a failed fuel supply line.

i replaced my fuel filter in early september. It was LONG overdue since they're supposed to be changed every 40k miles and it was around 82k when i made the change. i was hoping this will help with the rough cold start idle, but it had little effect on the driving of the car. a week after i made the fuel filter change the fuel supply line (from the low pressure fuel sender in the tank to the filter) decided it didn't want to stay attached to the fuel filter any longer and dumped about $5 worth of gas in my work garage...wonderful. i fix it with zip ties that my wife delivered to me and drove it home. after ordering the part i figure out a way to replace the line without dropping the fuel tank (a vw tech online said that i had to drop the tank, so i was very relieved that i didn't actually need to). This event got my wrenching thoughts turning again.

Later that month i suspect that the carbon build-up is the cause and with the winter approaching i knew it needed attention. I borrow my mom's spare car to use as i dive into removing the intake manifold and cleaning the intake ports by hand, knowing it wouldn't be a short ordeal and that i would likely need to make trips for parts or tools. i heavily rely on youtube DIYs and forums for advice and tips when i got stuck. what i found appeared so much worse than anything else i've seen on the internet. onto the pics:

ports 1 & 4 were the worst



the port inserts had the gunk caked on them...


couldn't get it in focus, but they looked pretty clean after a few rounds of chemicals and scraping...


two injectors came out with the manifold, 1 was partially pulled, and 1 was left in the head. since i had all four injector seal kits i pulled the other two and cleaned the tips for all of them.





if anyone else with a TSI or FSI needs to do this i highly recommend using the T10133(A/B/C) fuel injector puller/sealer kit to handle the injectors. it really made pulling them and replacing the seals a cake walk. i now own the kit, so if you do need to use it we can work something out for you to borrow it; no point it someone else spending $200 or more on this kit.

After i did the cleaning i still had a MIL on the dash, so i ran the codes and found that my intake manifold needed to be replaced...(P2015 intake flapper module error). Luckily i call the dealership and my VIN is under an extended 125k powertrain warranty. i bring it to a local dealer and it's taken care of at no cost to me.

This whole ordeal has got me thinking about mods again, so i've started the small mods. I bought and installed an APR Stage 1 intake, removed the 2010 noise-pipe, installed a Diesel Geek Sigma 6 Short Shifter, and the Black Forest Industries Schwarz heavy weight shift knob. The throttle response is so much better and the spool time is reduced. The shifting is nice and notchy. i wish i did these mods sooner as it feels so much better to drive now.

More mods to come, but i've got to dump more money into bicycles and the house.

Next on the list for mods:
Unitronic Stage 1+ tune (waiting on a sale)
VWR springs / Koni Struts (likely when an existing strut blows or needs replacing)
HPA motor mount
OEM LED tails (there's a little ricer in all of us)
Euro Light switch