what to use in a 1985 golf

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a couple months ago i bought a 1985 vw golf w/a 1.6l diesel.the odometer broke at 127k so i do not know the accutal millage. supposedly the original owner used only synthetic oil. there was quart of moble 1 15w50 in the trunk. with 127k plus on the car am i going to have to stick with synthetic or can i run none syn oil. if have to stay with syn do i have to stay with moble 1 and use 15w50 or 5w40 turbo diesel truck or can i use 5w40 rotella?
 
In the 80s I owned two Diesels. An 84 Tempo and a 85 Escort wagon. Both had the 2 LT. Mazda diesel. I used M1 10-30 in both with good results. I sold the Escort to a friend and the total mileage was 300,000 miles when the body finally gave out. The engine was still going strong, however as with most diesels head gaskets needed to be replaced a couple of times. Diesels of this era need a lot of maintenance so stay after it. Valve clearance should be checked about every 20,000 miles and the shims under the cam are the way to adjust clearance.
 
Mobil 1 usually meets some "weak" diesel specs like CF or CG from that era. Both 5w40s probably meet way better specs & would be great.
 
Not sure about the recommended grade, but if it were mine, I'd just be running any 10w-30 or 15w-40 HDEO.

If you insist on a synthetic HDEO, given the year of the car I'd buy the cheapest one you can get, including Supertech from Walmart.
 
Id run the latest 15w-40 or 5w-40 HDEO. All brands are about the same, so youll have to see which your engine does best with...
 
M1 15W-50 isn't really designed for diesel duty. It'll work, but a true HDEO in 15W-40 or 5W-40 will work better....
 
Summer use- buy whichever 15W-40 diesel oil that is on sale. For Winter use, you may want to use a 5W-40 such as Rotella syn for easier starting on those cold mornings. Plugging in a block heater and glow plugs that are working, would do wonders for cold starts, too.
 
listening to what people told me that with millage on the car since supposedly that is all that was used in it i should stick with synthetic. so rotella 5/w40 would be ok. i do not know if it is just me but this engine does sound quieter that my 82 rabbit did. and is there glow plug fuse on these like the rabbits had on the firewall.
 
I know a lot of folks Running Shell Diesel Plus synthetic 5w-30 in these VW engines for years with great results.Heavy weight oils don't seems to perform any better and take a mileage hit.

Amsoil series 3000 5w30 would work well.Rotella T 5w-40 would be my second choice.
 
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