Just to let you guys know here is a link by amsoil giving graph's of all the different tests they perform between oils. As you'll see not every oil is compared in the test but you'll see the popular names like Mobil, Castrol, etc. If you have Pep Boys where you are at you can buy Royal Purple over the counter if not Amsoil, Redline, Motul (the better synthetic companies) all have web sites you can order from. I personally have used Amsoil for years in my American cars and Japanese cars and go a year without changing the oil. I have a 150,000 on my pontiac and the engine still runs super strong with no leaks or oil burning. I wouldn't reccomend that for the german cars but I can attest that its good stuff. My toyota will start burning oil with 0w-30. I use Amsoil in my Mom's chevy truck and she has 180,000 on hers, but with hers there is a big oil consumption difference between the 30 weight and 40 weight oils. So if your burning oil use the 40 weight. Sometimes the regular oil won't burn up as quickly as synthetic in a car that's burning a lot of oil. In these cases a synthetic blend can be "the best of both worlds." But there is no debate that synthetic oil protects your engine the best.

 

400k on Amsoil in my 99 Ford

 

So, if my car is burning up oil when i run castrol syntec 5w30. should i switch to maybe a royal purple 5w30 or an amsoil 5w30, of go up to a 40 weight. i guess ill give either the amsoil or royal purple (whichever i can get my hands on) and give it a test and see how much oil it eats up cuz it seems to love the castrol, and its kinda annoying

 

No, you should clean out your PCV system or replace it. Someone please explain to me how using a lighter oil is gonna cause you to burn more? You can't besides its lighter than the other oil making it easier to get pushed into the intake through the PCV system, which means you need to service your engine. Its an urban myth that lighter oil burns more oil, it just means something is wrong with your engine.

 

K, ive never cleaned out a PCV system, so how do i do it? haha. All i know is that when i ran 0w30 for the first oil change i made, the 0w30 did burn out, the dip stick was completely dry one day when my oil min light came on on the freeway. then i switched and tried castrol syntec 5w30 and it hasnt dried up yet, although it had required me to put some in every now and then before i recently had cam shaft seals replaced and stuff to stop a slow drip. I am going to look around where i go to school and see about getting either amsoil and royal purple and try that here shortly.

 

Great post!

C) Turbo return lines o-rings (connection point at the upper oil pan under the car)

My 03 2.7T has the problem. Still under warranty but the dealer insists they cannot fix until the oil actually drops.

 

So loosen the bolts until oil is actually leaking then bolt them back up, problem solved.

 

In the case that you let the leaking air bags go on for a long time the compressor will eventually burn out from trying to keep the ride height steady.
Now if you experience a condition that won't raise or lower its most likely a sticking valve block under the rear of the car, its a valve that directs air flow.

I have replaced the air bags in the front and the compressor runs. Couldn't get the suspension to raise. Do I need to clear a code? Took the compressor apart and all the lines were pushing air. There is a yellow line running from the compressor towards the front and I'm not sure what this line is. Any ideas? How do you locate the sticking valve block and solve the sticking problem? Since working on the car, the ABS has been disabled. How do I enable the ABS?

2. Level sensor: Lifting and lowering the suspension sometimes stretches the wire to the level sensor mounted on front lower control arm, if its streched too far it will either break the wire or pop the sensor off the control arm. This will of course cause a fault code and disable the air suspension.

3. 2.7T owners: You unfortunately have the most maintenace hungry engine probably ever made... These engines love their oil and they leak it from all kinds of places. I will list the most common areas in order of how often they leak.
A) Valve covers
B) Cam adjuster seals
C) Turbo return lines o-rings (connection point at the upper oil pan under the car)
D) Rear cam plugs
E) and finally the turbos

6 years and 70k miles and no leaks.

 

thank you for this list of issues. i have a 2003 allroad with 124k miles. i have the air suspension issue. have had the issue for several months. are there any safety concerns if i continue to ignore the problem? is the air suspension at all connected to the air bags inside the car should there be an accident?
i have noticed if i keep the car on the second lowest level, the car does not "fall" to the bottomed out position.
thanks

 

thank you for the list of allroad issues above.
i have a 2003 allroad with 124k miles. i have the air suspension issue. have had the issue for several months. are there any safety concerns if i continue to ignore the problem? is the air suspension at all connected to the air bags inside the car should there be an accident?
i have noticed if i keep the car on the second lowest level, the car does not "fall" to the bottomed out position.
thanks