Oil: 506.01 v 507.00 once and for all... I hope!

Before deciding if I was prepared to use VW 507 00 oil in my AXE (2.5 TDi 174 PS) engined VW T5, I thought it would be a good idea to conduct a little light research.  However, my first enquiries revealed that the front people (who deal with customer) in the oil industry are just as confused about oil specs as we, the customers are.  Everyone's answers were different: VW UK, VW Germany, Castrol, Statoil, Neste etc. etc.  So I had to dig further in order to find the truth.  Eventually I discovered the truth:

VW 507 00 spec oil is as good, or better than VW 506 01 in every respect.

The proof follows:

Item 1:  The company who supply the oil companies with the ingredience that they need to concoct oil to manufacturers' spec, Lubrizol, provide this comparison chart.  The two specs, 506 00 and 507 00 are overlaid on the diagram, and it clearly shows that both specs of oil have the same wear resistance (blue is 507 00, brown/yellow is 506.01).





Item 2: I have come across documents published by Volkswagen AG in Germany that set out all the criteria that the oil companies use in order to produce specific oils for VW.

First: Anti-Wear Behaviour (Table 4) for oil 506 01:



Second: Anti-Wear Behaviour (paragraph 6.1 and Table 4) for oil 507 00:




As you can see, the Anti-Wear requirements for VW 506 01 and VW 507 00 are exactly the same.

If anyone has any evidence to the contrary, I would very much like to see it.

Cheers, Rupert



 


Edited by Happy Yellow - 08 Dec 09 at 15:04

I wonder if it is more of a fact that cams and followers are just crap quality - i.e. not properly heat treated? would be interesting to find out who has actually replaced both the cams and followers and at what mileage.

My 08 T5 uses 507.00, in the first 1000 mile it used half a litre and not a drop since now at over 60K miles.

Nice work, Happy Yelllow!

CLONKY wrote:  Only a guess,but i'm sure VW have done it for a reason.

Err... yes I expect so!  But what reason?  A cover-up maybe?  I would like an explanation with proof.

It's actually VW and Castrol who say not to use 507 00 in AXE motors.  Statoil (the Norwegian state oil company) and others say it's fine to use 507 00 in the AXE motor.  And by spec. according to VW's own documentation, it's also OK.




Edited by Happy Yellow - 10 Dec 09 at 12:03

Vdub_heaven wrote: still fecking expensive though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Search around and you can get it for normal money.  I buy in 10 litre cans for about euro 75.  But I've seen it in Austria for euro 20 per litre!  At a UK BMW garage the Castrol stuff is GBP 16 per litre!

Seems like they charge what they like! 

But the filter is cheaper than the old canister-type!

Happy Yellow wrote: Vdub_heaven wrote: still fecking expensive though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Search around and you can get it for normal money.  I buy in 10 litre cans for about euro 75.  But I've seen it in Austria for euro 20 per litre!  At a UK BMW garage the Castrol stuff is GBP 16 per litre! Seems like they charge what they like!  But the filter is cheaper than the old canister-type!

 

If VW 504/507 oil is OK for the Vovo and the bike then yes, otherwise no.

ah! forgot about the wet clutch bit, i remember as soon as i read your post, it was hidden in the recess' of my cranium . My bikes Triumph Sprint 955i 2000 model, i love it

i got loads of old oil here from previous oil changes on bikes an the T5
if i had a centrifugal pump i'd clean it an use it in the volvo
the T5 is on 10k service intervals on long life oil but i change it around 12-15k as its the same oil as the longer "long life interval"