VR6 Service

[tonytiger 0]

I'm going to get the VR6 I've just bought serviced at my local one-man-band garage (I've always taken my cars there). However, although he uses good quality stuff, it's unlikely to be oem spec - eg. Castrol GTX, possibly Champion plugs, etc. So, having read through countless posts in the forums I've concluded that it may be best if I buy the service items myself from VW.

 

To make sure I've not reached the wrong conclusion I'd appreciate it if someone could comment on my decisions below. The car does have a service history which shows that it was last serviced in March 2001 (that’s not a typo ) but that was only 6k miles ago (so hopefully isn’t a problem). It’s now got 107k on it.

 

Oil - best compromise seems to be Quantum Synta Silver Semi-Synthetic 10W-40 (for winter). Would this still be a good choice even if the car hasn’t been serviced with Synthetic before?

 

Oil Filter, Air Filter, V-Belt – Only use genuine VW items rather than eurocarparts or other general motor factors.

 

Plugs – NGK BKR5EKU only.

 

Coolant – I’m expecting that this won’t need anything doing, but if it does then ideally it should be drained and refilled using G12+.

 

I’m assuming that prices for these basic items won’t be too bad, and not significantly more than eurocarparts – would I be right?

 

Many Thanks,

Tony.

 

P.S. Thanks to all those people who contribute to this forum - it's been really useful while I was looking for my car. Hopefully I'll be able to put something back in to it myself one day.

[vr6storm 0]

 

To make sure I've not reached the wrong conclusion I'd appreciate it if someone could comment on my decisions below. The car does have a service history which shows that it was last serviced in March 2001 (that’s not a typo ) but that was only 6k miles ago (so hopefully isn’t a problem). It’s now got 107k on it.

 

Oil - best compromise seems to be Quantum Synta Silver Semi-Synthetic 10W-40 (for winter). Would this still be a good choice even if the car hasn’t been serviced with Synthetic before?

 

Oil Filter, Air Filter, V-Belt – Only use genuine VW items rather than eurocarparts or other general motor factors.

 

Plugs – NGK BKR5EKU only.

 

Coolant – I’m expecting that this won’t need anything doing, but if it does then ideally it should be drained and refilled using G12+.

 

I’m assuming that prices for these basic items won’t be too bad, and not significantly more than eurocarparts – would I be right?

 

Many Thanks,

Tony.

 

P.S. Thanks to all those people who contribute to this forum - it's been really useful while I was looking for my car. Hopefully I'll be able to put something back in to it myself one day.

 

 

ideally tony they should be serviced once a year even if there has been only 6k miles since it was last serviced

 

as for oil.......synta semi-synthetic isn't fully synthetic(as i'm sure you're well aware of :wink: ) so it would/should be ok to use it if it has never had fully-synthetic oil in before........a lot of people on the forum swear by the stuff......i myself use the synta-gold fully-synthetic just purely for the fact that mine has had it in it since day 1 and its not exactly the dearest of fully-synthetic oils either......though because it is a bit thinner than the synta silver there is a bit more oil consumption

 

as for oil-filters you won't go wrong with VW-dealer supplied ones...though i have heard that it is MANN oil-filters that VW use......at the end of the day its only going to be a very small saving you'd make sourcing them elsewhere

 

air-filters i use a K&N panel filter in mine and have used it since May 02 without any problems(touch wood :wink: )

 

plugs......NGK's seemingly are the only ones able to cope with the heat generated by the VR.....be careful where you get them from as my local dealer was wanting £20 per plug :shock: when i first enquired about them....i eventually bought them from my local halfords for £30 for all 6......though i think the VW dealers do sell them cheaper than that now :?

 

as for coolant........if you are changing from G-11 to G-12 you will also have to make sure that you have TOTALLY flushed out any and all traces of the G-11....as G-11 and G-12 will gell up inside if they mix together......though there is G-12+ which is meant to be ok to mix with the others

 

as for the costs etc best thing to do is join the VWCCGB and then you should be able to get 10% discount on all those items from your local VW-dealer

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think it's only the platinum plugs that cost £20 each but when I went in for mine a couple of months ago, they only had one NGK plug listed for the VR and it certainly wasn't platinum, they were about 4 or £5 each.

 

You'll need your chassis number with the oil filter as there are two listed for the VR6. Just ask him to supply the one that's most commonly used as the other type wasn't in use for long and all the stocks they keep of them have an inch of dust on them!

 

V belt or Serpentine belt in the VR's case last up to 50-60K, so only do that if need be, but the belt costs £25 if you're doing it anyway.

 

Oil - Yep, quantum silver is the one to use.

 

G12+ - I would use that anyway as it makes the VR run slightly cooler and now that winter is just round the corner, might be worth doing a coolant refresh anyway.

 

Kev

[CorradoVR6-Turbo 0]

Hey there Tony

 

You are another addition to the corrado owners in Durham :D

 

Hope to see you about >>> look out for Dark Green Vr

[vr6storm 0]

you also might be wise to get the fuel filter(about £10 for the filter) changed and also have the brake fluid changed(ideally this is a bi-annual thing).....if i were you i would also check the serpentine belt(if its got any cracks change it asap) as although they don't "get changed" til about 60k miles its perhaps a wise move getting this done at the same time so that it don't leave you stranded at the most awkward of times

[tonytiger 0]

Thanks guys - I'll be off to the dealer tomorrow with my shopping list, though I'll have to do without the CCGB discount this time (but will be joining very soon).

 

vr6storm, thanks for the reminder for the fuel filter and the brake fluid - I'm getting the brakes checked anyway but had completely forgotten about the fuel filter.

[stu 0]

It's probably too late for you now, but I got my plugs from sparkplugs.co.uk. About £3.60 each, free p+p and here the next day. Would definitely use them again.