General 1996 Brava 1.9 TD

Currently reading:
General 1996 Brava 1.9 TD

BaronGlorySVK

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
8
Points
4
Hello everyone, so glad to be a part of this forum. I've been driving a petrol car for the last year, but I've decided to buy a Brava 1.9 TD. This is going to be my first ever diesel car and just have a couple of questions.

1. What is the right type of oil I should be putting into my car, semi-synthetic or full? I live in Slovakia where the winters get to about -10c to about -20c.

2. Since Winter is right around the corner and me being a new diesel car driver, should I let my car idle in the winter for a minute for the oil to circulate or should I take off driving and keep the rpm's belore 2500?

If you guys have any other tips for me please let me know.

P.S. My Brava get 5.5L /100km, how can I get it lower possibly 4.XL/ 100km? Thank you guys.
 
Hello everyone, so glad to be a part of this forum. I've been driving a petrol car for the last year, but I've decided to buy a Brava 1.9 TD. This is going to be my first ever diesel car and just have a couple of questions.

1. What is the right type of oil I should be putting into my car, semi-synthetic or full? I live in Slovakia where the winters get to about -10c to about -20c.

2. Since Winter is right around the corner and me being a new diesel car driver, should I let my car idle in the winter for a minute for the oil to circulate or should I take off driving and keep the rpm's belore 2500?

If you guys have any other tips for me please let me know.

P.S. My Brava get 5.5L /100km, how can I get it lower possibly 4.XL/ 100km? Thank you guys.

Hi,
You should use a good brand of 10W40 diesel engine oil with ACEA A3 / B4 rating. Synthetic or semi-synthetic differences are more to do with oil life than cold starting performance. Personally I'd use semi-synthetic oil in n engine of this age and change it every year.
Don't idle the the car to warm it when cold. Modern diesel engines are very efficent and won't warm up at idle. On my 1.9 mJTD the coolant temerature drops when Im stopped in traffic in winter. Just move off and drive normally. Don't restrict your RPM more than normal, but try not to use full throttle until warmed up.
You may find a diesel fuel additive like Millers diesel power ecomax [ame="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Millers-Oils-Diesel-Power-500ml/dp/B002WCAISS"]Millers Oils - Diesel Power Eco Max 500ml: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike[/ame] useful. I add it to every other tank of diesel. Helps clean injectors and improves the Cetaine rating of the fuel.

Robert G8RPI.
 
Last edited:
Hey buddy, thanks for the info, my cousin has a TDI VW Golf and he told me all diesels need full synthetic oil, but I was just making sure.
 
Hi, remember your car is 20 years old so the engine (TD) is quite different from the latest diesel engines that need very specific modern fully-synthetic oils. It is also different from the later JTD diesels fitted to Fiats in the early 2000s, so you shouldn't expect the best fuel economy figures.

I agree that semi-synthetic 10W/40 is the correct oil, if you wanted thinner for winter then you could go to 5W/40 which would probably be fully synth. But your engine will be nice and loose by now so 10W/40 should circulate fine in winter I'd say.

Modern branded oils don't seem to make a distinction between diesel or petrol engines which seems strange to me... but in the UK if you buy cheaper "trade" oils there is usually a diesel variant which contains extra detergents.

I hope you enjoy your Brava...
 
Hi, remember your car is 20 years old so the engine (TD) is quite different from the latest diesel engines that need very specific modern fully-synthetic oils. It is also different from the later JTD diesels fitted to Fiats in the early 2000s, so you shouldn't expect the best fuel economy figures.

I agree that semi-synthetic 10W/40 is the correct oil, if you wanted thinner for winter then you could go to 5W/40 which would probably be fully synth. But your engine will be nice and loose by now so 10W/40 should circulate fine in winter I'd say.

Modern branded oils don't seem to make a distinction between diesel or petrol engines which seems strange to me... but in the UK if you buy cheaper "trade" oils there is usually a diesel variant which contains extra detergents.

I hope you enjoy your Brava...

Thanks so much for all the info, it's my first diesel and always thought they needed 5w40 fully synth and made for turbo diesels, I will continue using what the owner has been using which is 10w40. Even though it's a 96 it drives like a modern car.
 
Back
Top