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What oil is recommended for a Vectra 1.8i petrol car (W reg)
Paradoxia0 - 30/8/09 at 06:38 PM

Hi all

sorry for the slightly off topic post, but what oil is recommended for a W reg 1.8i petrol Vectra? It appears 'tother half has managed to run hers dry and is wondering why there is an engine management light on and it is a bit rattly.....

Any help please as I am gonna be forced to pay HellFrauds prices for it

Cheers

Mark

Stott - 30/8/09 at 07:17 PM

I thought it was this stuff: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-X-5LTR-10W-40-VAUXHALL-SEMI-SYNTHETIC-ENGINE-OIL_W0QQitemZ200296372594QQcmdZViewItem

cheap as hell from the stealers too, something like £14 / Gallon IIRC

huskychaser - 30/8/09 at 08:11 PM

Yes its 10W/40 semi syn.

britishtrident - 30/8/09 at 08:25 PM

10w//40 semi fine for that year

But couple of years afterwards they changed to 5w/30 originally the spec was semi-synthetic in the post 2003 Vauxhalls/Opels/Saab engines it is very important to use fully synthetic or the top half of the engine turns into a mess of black tar.

Paradoxia0 - 30/8/09 at 11:40 PM

Cheers all, I had kind of come to that conclusion but nice to get some confirmation! Usually I would speak to motor factrs/dealer but being Bank Holiday and her needing the car first thing that wasn't a possibility and I don't trust HellFrauds!

BritishTrident - you say that the post 2003 engines top ends became a mass of tar - when we got this vectra it idled at 2000rpm and had no get up and go. The inlet was a mass of black crap that took quite a bit of cleaning out so I don't think the black tar is a new issue!

Thanks again

Mark

britishtrident - 31/8/09 at 07:50 AM

quote:


BritishTrident - you say that the post 2003 engines top ends became a mass of tar - when we got this vectra it idled at 2000rpm and had no get up and go. The inlet was a mass of black crap that took quite a bit of cleaning out so I don't think the black tar is a new issue!

Thanks again

Mark

It got a lot worse after 2003
GM made design changes in 2003 that resulted in the oil in the part of the sump nearest the exhaust being exposed to a lot higher temperatures, as a result the oil gets fried.
To make matters worse they extended the service interval.

Synthetic oil can take the temperature but the mineral component in semi-synthetic can't take the heat and breaks down. A lot of Vauxhall and SAAB dealers didn't catch up with the change in oil spec to fully synthetic as a result it is very common even on main dealer serviced cars to find that by 50k miles the valve gear is rattling due to lack of lubrication and on removing the cam cover to investigate the whole top end is covered in a mass of black gunge.