Oil bargains?

[Pillock]

Got some time off over Christmas and the Leon is crying out for a service.

Euro are supplying most of the stuff but all their oil is £30+ for 5 litres..... it gets serviced regularly (usually) due to 600+ miles a week so no need for fancy oils, I just want some slippy stuff to replace the black goop with.

 

Anyone seen any bargains around?

 

And also, do glowplugs need replacing every so many miles, or just when starting becomes tricky? Had no problems with it so far.....

[Richard]

Apart from suggesting you check around other local motor factors or look for offers in Halfords/supermarkets I can't really help with the oil.

 

Glow plugs only need changed when starting gets tricky, though if you do change them you won't have to think about it again. Every time I've changed them I've found two duff, which suggests that the first one failing doesn't have much effect.

[Pillock]

To be fair, you can unplug the glowplugs on the Leon and it doesn't affect starting. According to the forumz, this is normal behaviour in over-freezing temperatures. It's got a little worse to start with the current weather, but only sort of a second instead of "instant".

What are they made of, these glowplug things? I've got a spare head on the shed with a full set of plugs in, but they protrude slightly into the combustion chamber - will the knocks they've had on the tip stop them working, or are they some sort of solid material that will still work?

[Richard]

They are exactly the same as the rings you used to get on electric cookers- a wire element kept away from the outer casing by powder. I have a feeling the powder is aluminium oxide but I'm not sure.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Its gunpowder

[DSdriver]

Castrol GTX £10.00 for four litres if you buy online and pick up from your local store. I'm getting a feeling of deja vu here, wasn't this mentioned the other day.

[myglaren]

Try Chandlers Oil

I got mine cheaper there than anywhere else for the branded stuff (Total Quartz 9000)

 

Worth looking in the supermarkets if you are not fussy about branding. Asda and Morrisons frequently have some good offers.

I believe someone said that the ASDA stuff was actually Comma.

 

Glow plugs can vary a lot, best to get the ones specified for the engine. They are not that expensive.

[Father Ted]

To be fair, you can unplug the glowplugs on the Leon and it doesn't affect starting.

 

On modern high pressure common rail diesel engines it wont. The glow plugs are only used in temperatures below about 4 deg C. This is due to the fact that the pressure the diesel is injected at is enough to raise the temperature of the diesel to ignite. Only if the ambient temp is particularly low does it need a bit of extra help.

 

Older diesel engines dont operate at quite the same high pressures and therefore needed a bit of additional help to get the old combustion process going in the morning.

[Pillock]

Cheers all.... Euro popped up with some Quartz stuff so I'll tootle down there on Thursday and pick it up - closed today, and the car is in the garage tomorrow having the wishbone done.

As for the glowplugs.... I found two of them were unplugged so I'll see how it goes with all four hooked up!

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

By the way, I have found a Home Bargains store that stocks oil. As said before, it's Gulf-branded, and a total steal @ 9.99 for 4 litres of 10W-40 semi-synthetic, API SL stuff. Made in NL.

 

Edited to add: it's this one...Less than half the Opie price- not bad at all!

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-60137-gulf- ... e-oil.aspx

[CreepingJesus]

£10 for 4 litres of 10/40 GTX in my local Asda. May be the same elsewhere. I'll have some on Friday when I get paid, may do some more hardcore car maintenanace.

[autohausdolby]

Is it a PD Leon? I imagine at 2001 it's got a separate pump. If it has Castrol 10W40 is good. If it's PD then it must have a fully synthetic 5w30 or 5w40, preferably Castrol or Quantum or the cam will go all Pinto on you*

 

*apologies if that's old news for you

 

Everywhere round us sells Carlube now, it's nasty. We get all our oil direct from VW now as a result.

[Pillock]

£10 for the 5 litres of GTX at Asda, spotted it today then saw CJesus had given me the same heads up. Cheers!

dolby, it's a pre-PD engine so will run on nastier stuff than the later cars, thanks for the advice though. I'd read plenty of horror stories about the FR TDI Leons needing specific oil but they're 150hp PD units, I figured mine will be OK with butter, or anything upwards from there. Going to bang it in tomorrow because it was soggy by the time I got home from Euro and I didn't fancy rolling around on a main road in the wet.

 

What is "going all Pinto", BTW?

[Split_Pin]

Was this a special offer at Asda? I need to do an oil change next month and thats nearly a tenner cheaper than Halfords.

[Lankytim]

It's only for 4 litres, still great value though. I had a massive runaround trying to get mine when I ordered online, turns out it was on the shelf at the same price too!

[Pillock]

Yeah, Tamworth Asda had a whole shelf end full of it. Is it only 4 litres? Bumhats, I assumed five! Going to need another litre then probably as I'm changing the filter too.

[CreepingJesus]

^I did similar. The last time they had that offer on, I blithely assumed that the litre-and-a-bit of recent GTX I had in the cupboard, plus the 4L bottle would be enough. Rong. Volvo B5 engine take 6L. Now I might as well buy two, and keep a bottle and a half for next time.

On the basis that I do roughly 500 miles a week, that'll be 10 weeks or so. Oil should be fine 'til then, shouldn't it? I'm having a moment of self-doubt here!

[Barry Cade]

I noticed 4 litres of Gulf 10w40 in Home Bargains today- £9.99. The place that used to be Woolworths. They had loads in.

[AnthonyG]

Was this a special offer at Asda? I need to do an oil change next month and thats nearly a tenner cheaper than Halfords.

 

Its nationwide I think as I saw it in a Bristol branch today.

[Wilko220]

Not perfect, but this was the most appropriate thread I could find for this info.

Just seen Comma dot4 brake fluid, 500ml bottle, in Wilkinson's for £3.50. Seems very cheap - about half what they charge in halfords, from memory.

[DVee8]

Halfords are doing 4ltrs 5w 40 fully synthetic for a tenner.

[dieselnutjob]

a quick test for glowplugs, do this

disconnect any wires that go to the glowplug

connect head to - on a car battery (if engine is in a car this is already done)

connect a 55W headlight bulb, one terminal to battery +, other terminal to the glowplug terminal

if the bulb lights up then the glowplug is sinking 4 or 5 amps so is probably healthy

basically you are earthing the headlight bulb through the glowplug, if that makes sense

[brickwall]

Reasonable stuff here. I use this place.

 

http://www.smithandallan.com/automotive-oil.aspx

[DodgyBastard]

That carlube stuff is thin as fuck, I had a really bad oil leak on my last engine and used to have to top up a litre every couple of days, the carlube 5w30 and 10w40 were so thin I was losing oil even quicker. My local asda seem to be doing castrol 4l for £12.

[Des]

I bought some £10 GTX from Asda a couple of weeks ago, 15/40 I think it was, but not sure what It's suitable to use on yet, and this is where anyone with older choddery needs to be cautious, if your car is pre-cat then there are some additives it needs which modern oil won't contain.

No problem with these newfangled engines that run without a carb or distributor, but that be Witchcraft and I can't be doing with that.

[dieselnutjob]

I bought some £10 GTX from Asda a couple of weeks ago, 15/40 I think it was, but not sure what It's suitable to use on yet, and this is where anyone with older choddery needs to be cautious, if your car is pre-cat then there are some additives it needs which modern oil won't contain.

No problem with these newfangled engines that run without a carb or distributor, but that be Witchcraft and I can't be doing with that.

 

I heard that castrol classic is just the old GTX that old stuff was meant to have. I had always assumed that newer oils would be better as the science would have moved; but now I'm starting to wonder if that was a wrong assumption

[GJR 11L]

......What is "going all Pinto", BTW?

Oil feed to the camshaft on the Pinto used to clog up, the resulting starvation made a whole generation of Cortinas, Capris and Transits sound like Diesels, only not as tuneful or as pleasant.

 

I've searched youtube for a vid that demonsterates the noise they used to make but nothing found.

[ashmicro]

Just bought a 6 of these for the Jaaaag (enough for 4 changes). The main stealer is only charging a fiver for a proper Jag filter.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Castrol-Magnate ... -uk-c94-21

 

Cheap cheap.

[ashmicro]

......What is "going all Pinto", BTW?

Oil feed to the camshaft on the Pinto used to clog up, the resulting starvation made a whole generation of Cortinas, Capris and Transits sound like Diesels, only not as tuneful or as pleasant.

 

I've searched youtube for a vid that demonsterates the noise they used to make but nothing found.

 

AKA the famous "Pinto Tap" Haven't heard it or of it in years! My Mark 4 Tina 2.0 did it. It never got any worse, and the car went pretty well.

[Pillock]

Aaah that noise!

I used to pride myself as a kid on being able to recognise cars by their engine sounds. Tappy Fords were one of the easy ones