Hi. Just got a 2003 A4 3.0 Quattro Sport Avant. Was on a long journey today and low oil light came on. Looked in manual and it was very specific about using VW 503 000 spec oil, however, the garage only had Castrol GTX Magnatec which was VW 505 000. Is there any differrence and can it harm the engine by using 505? In the end i just put a small amount of 505 in to get me home. Should I use 503 from now on? Sorry if this is a really basic question, but this is the first decent car I`ve owned and have no clue about oil types. Cheers, Stu.

 

ya you SHOULD use the vw 503.. But i dont see why using something else would trigger your oil light... You sure there is enough oil in there?? Maybe the more important question you should be asking is "do i have a warranty?"

 

Yeah, the light came on coz the oil level was low, however the only oil I could get my hands on at the time was 505. I only put a small amount of 505 in to get the light off, so hopefully this won't cause any problems. I'll go find some 503 tomorrow and top it up. Why did you ask about a warranty? I got a 1 Yr warranty with the car - is it void if I use the wrong oil or something? Thanks.

 

That shouldn't be a problem, but you have to ask yourself how you allowed the oil level to get so low as to trigger your low oil light.

You should change your oil religiously every 5K miles and check the level between changes if you want your car to last.

 

I got the car 3 days ago from an Audi dealer - I kinda assumed all the fluid levels would be good. The light came on after 150 miles so I guess they hadn't checked the oil!!!

Now have correct oil and will be checking regularly.

Cheers.