Jim

On Sat, 6 Mar 2004 10:57:06 -0800, "Don Borowski" <donb@runway.net>
wrote:

>I know that opinions on oil changes boarder on religion, but here goes
>anyway.
>
>I have a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T. My daily commute is 170 miles. I want the make
>this car last for a lot of miles. I would like to get 300,000 to 400,000
>miles if I can.
>
>Right now I am changing oil twice as often as specified in the owners manual
>(5000 miles instead of 10000 miles). Would I gain much by changing it 3
>times as often (every 3333 miles)?

I too have a 2001 1.8T ... daily commute is about 70 miles. I wasn't
comfortable with 10k mile oil changes ... I considered using synthetic
for the 10k changes, but decided instead to use regular oil and change
oil/filter every 5k miles (like you're doing). I have it done at the
dealer for $50.

Richard Goulding

I have a 2000 A4 2.8Q which is on Audi Variable Servicing regime. This can
go upto 19,000 miles on the same oil. The oil is apparently "special"
though. What do you all think about AVS.

Richard

"Don Borowski" <donb@runway.net> wrote in message
news:104k7ip7fqop510@corp.supernews.com...
> I know that opinions on oil changes boarder on religion, but here goes
> anyway.
>
> I have a 2001 Audi A4 1.8T. My daily commute is 170 miles. I want the make
> this car last for a lot of miles. I would like to get 300,000 to 400,000
> miles if I can.
>
> Right now I am changing oil twice as often as specified in the owners
manual
> (5000 miles instead of 10000 miles). Would I gain much by changing it 3
> times as often (every 3333 miles)?
>
> Also, the owners manual specifies to use 0W-30 oil, or 5W-30 oil if the
> other cannot be found. On the other hand, my Bentley's repair manual has a
> table of oil weights and temperatures, much like the one in the owner's
> manual for my '93 VW Passat, and my (now gone) '81 diesel Rabbit (Golf).
So
> should I go with the owner's manual or with Bentley's? Was the owner's
> manual recommendation put in there for us stupid 'Merkins?
>
> Don Borowski
>
>

Hairy One Kenobi

"Richard Goulding" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:ydacnfR0Law-xtbdSa8jmw@karoo.co.uk...
> I have a 2000 A4 2.8Q which is on Audi Variable Servicing regime. This can
> go upto 19,000 miles on the same oil. The oil is apparently "special"
> though. What do you all think about AVS.

The basic premise is simple - that engine design has moved on in the last
five decades (approx 50% of the time that "cars" have been around..)

No more running-in ("break-in" for the USAians, I believe). Superior
tolerances. Superior lubrication (in al temperature regimes). Superior
fuels.

OTOH, marketing and tradition still live on ;o)

In general, us in the UK and - I'd suspect - mainland Europe do less miles
but put greater stress (per mile) on vehicles, engines and - often - drivers
than in North America. More corners, less "design everything around cars".

As far as I can see, the oil is in a better/similar condition after 10,000
hard miles in a chipped TT than the (admittedly rather mundane) oil in my
old 34bhp Mini, after a princely 6,000 miles (the recommended service
interval).

Technology has moved on.

Aside from "resonance" effects (e.g. a particular wear pattern from doing
3/4s of the life of a drivetrain at a given speed, within a few rpm), a
/typical/ mostly-highway mileage will tend to reduce wear compared to a more
typical European urban/accelerate-decelerate/urban pattern and, hence, the
frequency of a required oilchange.

19k5 seems to be typical for a TT 1.8T although (given the digital throttle
that seems to be attached to *my* car ;o), can be a lot less. Either way,
there's a two-year interval if the mileage isn't met.

--

Hairy One Kenobi

Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in this opinion do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the highly-opinionated person expressing the opinion
in the first place. So there!

Ian S.

"Graham" <me@privacy.net> wrote in message
news:c2feop$1sk3e4$1@ID-158414.news.uni-berlin.de...
> X-no-archive: yes
>
> "Ian S." <iws51remove@***.net> wrote in message
> news:q5u2c.45733$TT5.20664@lakeread06...
> > these cars seem to have
> > adopted the old and notorious British "external" lubrication system.
>
> Can you explain what you mean by that?

Oil leaks from various and sundry seals and gaskets. Hence the oil from
inside the engine winding up on the engine's external surfaces. My
experience with various British cars from the 60's and 70's was remarkably
similar except my A4 provides not only a visual alert on the garage floor
but a useful olfactory one as well when the leaked oil winds up on a
component of the exhaust system. I've just ordered the parts to hopefully
deal with the leak but based on what I hear over at audiworld, fixing the
leak(s) permanently seems to be a bit of a crap shoot. My 1986 4000 quattro
was far less prone to leaks - I don't recall any in 165,000 miles - as was
my RX7 prior to that. And of course there's the issue of timing belt
replacement which has dropped from 90,000 miles in the owner's manual to
60,000 miles if you believe the horror stories over at Audiworld. And then
there's the control arm issue. I also just fixed my sunroof switch which had
given the sunroof a mind of its own as to when to open and close. None of
these technologies is rocket science and all have around for enough years
for Audi to work out the bugs.

I just got my latest Consumer Reports - the annual auto issue. I've never
expected to see Audi anywhere near the top for reliability but good grief
even those laughing stock Korean makes - Hyundai and Kia - fare better than
Audi in new vehicle and three year old vehicle reliability. I suppose I can
take solace in the sad state of Mercedes reliability over the past few
years. My 98 A4 will be my last Audi for awhile. I've always liked quattro
but that feature is no longer unique to Audi. My RX7 was a great car -
perhaps it's time to check out the new RX8, a real sports car that can
probably hold someone in the back seat as comfortably as my A4 sedan.

Ian