B

BTR

Member
Hi
Sorry if this has been done to death already, but I have a defender 200tdi Ive just bought and want to give it a big service as I don't know when it was last done. Should I use full synthetic oil or go with semi. Is full synthetic likely to cause leaks or will it be or is the no difference? Thanks
 
lynall said:
Mineral 15/40, dont get sucked into the trap that syn anything/everything is better.
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Hmmmm
That's put a cat amongst the pigeons, I was considering 5w40 fully synthetic, definitely wasn't going to go mineral. Anything other than cost against either fully or semi synthetic?
 
J_D said:
What ever oil you use it's important to do regular oil changes. Every 6 months.
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Yep, I've always done that for any vehicle I've owned, and I'd think even more important for an older vehicle to get rid of particles that may wear off old engine surfaces.
 
The 200/300 tdi’s are very durable engines. They are not too fussy about what oil you put in them, as long as it’s done regularly. I stick to 10/40 semi as that’s what I have always used in my 200tdi. But some have promoted Universal Tractor oil. Think about how much work and abuse a tractor engine gets and if it works for that it should work in a Land Rover !!! I’m sure you will get a few opinions on this one ;)
 
BTR said:
Not saying its definitely better, but if there's no reason against semi synthetic, I might go that route incase its better.
Click to expand...
Semi Syn is better for it, the VI of even cheap Semi syn oils is better than fully mineral, so you get better protection and it is less likely to break down under extreme pressure..

There is a thing going around that synthetics damage seals, but that is bullshít.
 
BTR said:
Not saying its definitely better, but if there's no reason against semi synthetic, I might go that route incase its better.
Click to expand...


Many moons ago when full syn diesel oils first came out, we started to run the trucks on it (head office thing) holy shti trucks literally blowing up all over the place/massive step up in the oil consumption between changes.
I even tried my then current 300tdi on the syn gear, as I was young and had fallen into the syn everything is better trap, it drank oil like fuel!
The car and the trucks went back onto mineral oil, and they were never any more issues.

There is a place for posh oils, but a tdi aint one of them.
If you are doing slly long drain intervals then yes you want super syn spec oil, but if changing every 5k then literally any cheap crap will do just fine.
 
lynall said:
Many moons ago when full syn diesel oils first came out, we started to run the trucks on it (head office thing) holy shti trucks literally blowing up all over the place/massive step up in the oil consumption between changes.
I even tried my then current 300tdi on the syn gear, as I was young and had fallen into the syn everything is better trap, it drank oil like fuel!
The car and the trucks went back onto mineral oil, and they were never any more issues.

There is a place for posh oils, but a tdi aint one of them.
If you are doing slly long drain intervals then yes you want super syn spec oil, but if changing every 5k then literally any cheap crap will do just fine.
Click to expand...
Fell into that trap myself at one time. When I had my Ninety, I had the turbo reconditioned by Turbo Technics.
When I was on the phone to the chap there, paying the bill on the phone, I asked him if he had any suggestions for Turbo life, and his comment was to use synthetic oil, as it was now "Industry Standard".
Being a trusting sort of chap, I thought I would give it a go, so I did.

It was terrible, very expensive, leaked more, burned more, and didn't improve the running of the engine.

So I went back to mineral diesel multigrade, and the thing ran fine ever after.
 
meego said:
The 200/300 tdi’s are very durable engines. They are not too fussy about what oil you put in them, as long as it’s done regularly. I stick to 10/40 semi as that’s what I have always used in my 200tdi. But some have promoted Universal Tractor oil. Think about how much work and abuse a tractor engine gets and if it works for that it should work in a Land Rover !!! I’m sure you will get a few opinions on this one ;)
Click to expand...
I wouldn't use UTO in a Land Rover.
In fact, when I had my Fordson, for which UTO is specified, I used engine oil in the engine, and UTO in the gearbox and back axle.
UTO doesn't have much detergent in it, and was made for old tech tractors in the 1950s, it isn't good for modern engines.
 
Turboman said:
I wouldn't use UTO in a Land Rover.
In fact, when I had my Fordson, for which UTO is specified, I used engine oil in the engine, and UTO in the gearbox and back axle.
UTO doesn't have much detergent in it, and was made for old tech tractors in the 1950s, it isn't good for modern engines.
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I read that in a post on here quit a few years ago and thought it made sense. Almost to the point that I was going to go into Brysons Tractors in Lanark and buy a load of it. Glad I didn’t now ;)
 
meego said:
I read that in a post on here quit a few years ago and thought it made sense. Almost to the point that I was going to go into Brysons Tractors in Lanark and buy a load of it. Glad I didn’t now ;)
Click to expand...
UTO is what it says. Universal, which means it is meant for use in engines and gearboxes in some tractors, which were designed to use it.
But they were very low tech and low stressed compared to a modern engine.
And in fact, the engine on an old tractor was not worked hard, compared to the stresses on the engine in a road vehicle.
Tractors tend to spend a lot of time just running a steady rev, on PTO work or field work, not like a road vehicle that is up and down through the gears and having a clutch dumped on them.
And the engines are very low tuned, and designed to do the job with a wide margin of error.

Modern tractors are a bit different, they have higher revving, turbocharged engines, with electronic control and emissions systems.
So they use modern diesel oils, not the old Universal oil.
 
Turboman said:
Fell into that trap myself at one time. When I had my Ninety, I had the turbo reconditioned by Turbo Technics.
When I was on the phone to the chap there, paying the bill on the phone, I asked him if he had any suggestions for Turbo life, and his comment was to use synthetic oil, as it was now "Industry Standard".
Being a trusting sort of chap, I thought I would give it a go, so I did.

It was terrible, very expensive, leaked more, burned more, and didn't improve the running of the engine.

So I went back to mineral diesel multigrade, and the thing ran fine ever after.
Click to expand...


lynall said:
Many moons ago when full syn diesel oils first came out, we started to run the trucks on it (head office thing) holy shti trucks literally blowing up all over the place/massive step up in the oil consumption between changes.
I even tried my then current 300tdi on the syn gear, as I was young and had fallen into the syn everything is better trap, it drank oil like fuel!
The car and the trucks went back onto mineral oil, and they were never any more issues.

There is a place for posh oils, but a tdi aint one of them.
If you are doing slly long drain intervals then yes you want super syn spec oil, but if changing every 5k then literally any cheap crap will do just fine.
Click to expand...

What about OMD90? I found this website,
ftp://avalon.iks-jena.de/mitarb/lutz/standards/dstan/01/005/00001300.pdf
which says,
upload_2021-1-8_17-39-36.png
 
Turboman said:
I would consider that a bit thin for older engines.
But I had never heard of it before you posted it.
So give it a try in yours, and let us know how you get on! :)
Click to expand...

No chance. :D

It’s a “standard” military oil used in their defenders. I have 25l stored away sealed, and 20l stored away open.

Edit: I didn’t read the 10-30 bit. I normally use Halfords semi-synth 10-40, so will stick to that.
 
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