My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?

The owner handbooks says use a quality semi synthetic 10w-40. He used a quality semi synthetic 5w-30 oil. Thank you.My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?Not gonna hurt unless your live in Baker CA and drive to Barstow in the summer a lot. Should be fine till next change. If you have real winters with below zero temps I would use the 5W-30 during that season anyway.



ASE Cert Auto Tech, 92 GTI16V 2.0L- 20W-50 in summer and 5W-30 in winter(SD)My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?
It'll be fine. It's just a slightly thinner oil, but if it's a decent brand, I wouldn't worry about it.

Also, winter's on it's way, so a thinner oil might well suit the car better.My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?The synthetic should be ok... If this is the first oil change. If not his first I would recommend that he change it again and use a higher synthetic. Also Synthetic is better for the VW 10w-40 Is manly used for alot older cars and it is thick and it is to help stop oil leaks.



when he changes he needs to buy and extra quirt and drain it and then run that other quirt though to clean it out. Other then that everything will be ok
This is fine. If it is a diesel engine, the thinner oil is much better, being that the engine is one of the PD engines?.



Nothing to worry about.My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?It will be just fine. But if both you and he are nervous about it, just go change it again. Won't harm anything either way.My son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?
No. Its actually a slight improvement but will only be noticed when the car has a few thousand miles behind it and is still running smoothly. The numbers refer to the Viscosity (ease at which the oil flows and penetrates vital areas) at 5 and 30 degrees, so this oil would be more free flowing on colder days than a 10 / 40



EDIT. Kenneth. They build the Escort in Belgium and it's an American company.
10w-40 is too think, i dont know why vw recommends this. i used 10w-30, but a 5-30 is just fineMy son has a VW Golf and he changed the oil but put the wrong grade in. Will it make any difference. Cheers?
i guess it would still drive
it isnt catistophic but i would change it as soon as possile if you do allot of high speed travel. the thicker oil is used because VW run at higher RPMs than most other american and japenese cars. so if you make frequent highway trips where the engine runs at high rpm s for long periods change the oil if you mostly drive in city traffic you should be fine.
Not really
The oil he used is a thinner oil, it won't make any difference to the engine for now but it's best to replace it so if he recently put it in, tell him to unsrew the nut under the sump to drain the engine oil out and replace it with what it should take - especially important if it's a diesel engine because diesels are more fragile, therefore the engine needs the right thickness in oil.x
its fine...just a little thinner...use right wt next time...
It should be OK.

Search OIL VISCOSITY
It's lighter. It could be worse. He could have put in some other fluid that would have gotten him about ten miles before the engine died.



I've heard that oil thins out anyway when it gets hot. However, I would feel better replacing the oil with the proper weight.
No you will be OK just next time go back to what it says in the manual , That is just a heaver weight grade won't hurt a thing , hope this helps.
It`ll make a difference in how long the engine lasts . There`s probably no harm done , but he should change the oil again with the proper grade asap ..............
I use 5-30 in my VW. Since winter is on its way and the engine will be running cooler due to lower ambient air temperatures it will be fine. I have always been recommended to usa a thinner formula in the winter, it allows for easier start up on cold mornings.



If you are really concerned about it, just switch back to the 10-40 on the next oil change.
Drain it off and use the correct grade of oil. It could knacker the engine, it's not viscose enough. Hope this helps.
no. it will still sound like a bag of nails no matter what he does to it. get rid of the heap and get yourself a good old british ford escort. brrrm brrrm . ive got a 1.6 escort finesse. and its never let me down since ive had. go on go british. bye .