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This NHTSA document listing the approved Volkwagen oil brands for each spec shows maybe 4 or 5 brand names out of over 60 supposed providers of the VW 508.00 / 509.00 standard that would even be known at all in North America. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...61673-0001.pdf
Castrol EDGE Professional Longlife IV FE SAE 0W-20
Chevron Havoline ProDS VB SAE 0W-20
Mobil 1 ESP x2 SAE 0W-20
Shell Helix Ultra Professional AV-L SAE 0W-20
Valvoline SynPower XL-IV C5 SAE 0W-20
Most of these brands are completely MIA on store shelves.
And of course, now a week late I find this on Amazon.ca, with Prime shipping available too:
Motul's Specific 50800/50900 0w20 in 12x1L and 4x5L packs, for about 50% of the dealer price for Castrol. Assuming you trust the vendor and the product is legitimate, this is a bargain as good as any no-name brand at your local hardware store.
Just did my 3rd oil change on my Audi B9 S5 with a bit over 30k miles.
I used the same 508/509 oil I have used the other times, which is the VW labeled/approved quarts, which happens to be the same as the Castrol Edge aforementioned in this thread.
The quarts looked a bit different today though. Normally they're gray.
As you can see the oil is green in color. It's also light (less viscous) than most oils I have used.
The OEM supplier contract moved from Castrol to Fuchs late 2017 / early 2018. Castrol probably had a 2 year exclusive supply, given they developed the VW508 00 / VW 509 00 Longlife IV oil spec in conjunction with VAG. This is big business - VW, Skoda, Seat, Audi and Porsche all have models using engines requiring 508/509. There have been some high sales volume engines released using the same 508 spec, such as the new 1.5l engine. Small in the US, big everywhere else.
The two primary attributes behind the 508/509 specs are likely:
Lower friction = faster coating/spread, reduces wear with auto start/stop systems
VW include in some of their vehicle manuals for models using 508 or 509 that it may be topped up with VW504. The reverse however does not apply, 508/509 should not be used in other cars.
It's obvious from reading these forums over the last few years, that many dealers have just been using VW504 rather than VW508. Audi UK were topping up their shipped cars (Audi do not transport the cars full) with VW504 before someone told them that the B-cycle engines at the time needed 508. The 2.9l engine in the RS4/RS5 should in theory also be using VW508, but it can potentially be run too hot (pinned on an autobahn for an hour at 5000rpm plus, by example), so they use VW504, suffer a slight penalty in emissions/consumption, and don't seek a high factor for auto start/stop.
One of my S5's (the cab) came from the factory with a VW504 sticker in the engine bay 😂 I wouldn't worry too much about VW504 in an S5 or B9 Ultra - in a hot climate, it's probably better than 508.
The OEM supplier contract moved from Castrol to Fuchs late 2017 / early 2018. Castrol probably had a 2 year exclusive supply, given they developed the VW508 00 / VW 509 00 Longlife IV oil spec in conjunction with VAG. This is big business - VW, Skoda, Seat, Audi and Porsche all have models using engines requiring 508/509. There have been some high sales volume engines released using the same 508 spec, such as the new 1.5l engine. Small in the US, big everywhere else.
The two primary attributes behind the 508/509 specs are likely:
Lower friction = faster coating/spread, reduces wear with auto start/stop systems
VW include in some of their vehicle manuals for models using 508 or 509 that it may be topped up with VW504. The reverse however does not apply, 508/509 should not be used in other cars.
It's obvious from reading these forums over the last few years, that many dealers have just been using VW504 rather than VW508. Audi UK were topping up their shipped cars (Audi do not transport the cars full) with VW504 before someone told them that the B-cycle engines at the time needed 508. The 2.9l engine in the RS4/RS5 should in theory also be using VW508, but it can potentially be run too hot (pinned on an autobahn for an hour at 5000rpm plus, by example), so they use VW504, suffer a slight penalty in emissions/consumption, and don't seek a high factor for auto start/stop.
One of my S5's (the cab) came from the factory with a VW504 sticker in the engine bay 😂 I wouldn't worry too much about VW504 in an S5 or B9 Ultra - in a hot climate, it's probably better than 508.
Thanks for the detailed information. Since I don't use Auto-Start-Stop, I would rather use VW504 (5w30) in my car rather than the 0w20, thinking the mileage penalty would bed negligible. The 0w20 seems too thin to me.
The Castrol EDGE Professional 0W20 Long Life IV is the OE dealer oil and AFAIK the only one with the mystery dye that is useless to anyone except a dealer looking to void a warranty for incorrect oil type usage.
There are several other VW 508/509 oils available. (Some examples)
Mobil 1 ESP x2 0W20
Liqui Moly Top Tec 6200 0W-20
Motul SPECIFIC 508 00 509 00 0W-20
actually this information is incorrect Castrol does not make the Volkswagen Audi oil in the United States it's made by Mobil.
03-04-2020, 04:11 PM
