Hey everyone,

Ok, so, the dealer wanted around $100 bucks to change the oil on my 4.2. I laughed it off and walked off as it would have been the 1st oil change I'd had someone else do on my cars in 10 years anyhow. So, I went on the search to get what was needed to do it myself.

1st off, I had no idea it would be so difficult to find 5w-40 synthetic. I searched across town and finally found a Checker Auto Parts who carried Rotella synthetic. For 8 quarts, it was $40. I figured I would only have to use a couple quarts of the 2nd 4 qt jug anyhow, and next time I'd only have to buy one 4 qt jug. I ended up wrong there.

It wasn't until I went on the same search for an OIL filter that I learned that a normal oil change requires all 8 quarts. 1st off, the 7 different places I went to, to find the proper weight oil for this car didn't have a filter in stock. They all wanted me to do a special order. I finally found some back woods hole in the wall Napa who finally had one. $29.55!!! And, I've never seen one this big! The guy behind the counter (a good 'ol boy from the country) said "Boy, 'u sure this ain't for a diesel??" I told him, I don't know, YOU pulled the part # for me. After verifying his screen on the computer, we determined it was the right one.

Freakin' $70 to do my OWN oil change. Sweet Peter! What other surprises are in store for me? I haven't even looked underneath to determine what I am getting myself into. My luck, I will have to take the exhaust out to do it or something. I am just glad all the big maintenance items have been done to it before I bought it.

Ok, I feel better now, thanks for 'listening' On a lighter note, it passed Colorado emissions today with flying colors... even with the engine light on (NO idea what's causing that).

I do have a question though- What is the service interval for oil changes on this beast? As it holds EIGHT quarts of oil and has a 6 gallon oil filter- I would suspect is is more than 3000 miles.

Let me know!

Thanks,
George

 

I Lol'd!

Well i wish I could help, but good luck man!

 

Rotella is not on Audi's list as meeting VW 505 01 or VW 502 00 standards. Audis can be very fussy with fluids and I am afraid that you may have just put the wrong oil in your car.

 

^ bummer is that he is right. The oil you buy NEEDS to have VWs 501 or 502 rating thing on it, I use mobil 1, and actually, VW changed the weight to 0w40, so thats what I have been running, 5K intervals in my 2.8, about $50 for the 6 and some change quarts in mine. Now, we have a touareg with the 4.2, we use it for towing, and it only gets about 5k per year, at the most. We were going to do 10k intervals which VW says is ok, but, we are doing it once a year instead. We used I think Valvoline, there was another synthetic that had VWs rating and it was a little cheaper than mobil. We got that same "your outa your mind" look geting our oil and filter. "A VW takes 8 quarts of oil and this fancy filter??!!" The touareg has a cartridge filter instead of the monster. It was like the old days when my dad had his 98 TDI, people would actually yell at us that we were using the wrong pump!

 

Since your in Colorado, check with your local Autozone, get the Castrol Syntec European Blend (it will say this on the front of the bottle). They also stock Bosch filters. The other option is to buy a filter from the dealer or search one of the online Audi parts retailers and buy several filters at once and keep them on hand.

 

shoulda bought the oil and filter from the dealer parts counter..lol. probably would have cost the same

 

Audi has a TSB listing all of the oils that satisfy the VW 505 01 and VW 502 00 standards. Mobil 1 Synthetic is on the list, other well known oils on the approved list include Castrol Syntec, Pennzoil Platinum European Formula Ultra, Quaker State European Engine Ultra, Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic Motor Oil, Motul 8100 X-cess, Motul Specific 505 01 502 00 505 01, Pentosin Pento High Performance, and Elf Excellium NF.

 

Just make sure you dont drain the transmission fluid by mistake

 

I read stories like this and think that I'm not so crazy to purchase old Audi's that require timing belts changes and a bit of TLC.

It dosen't take too many $70 oil filters to make a guy think a newer Audi is the land equivalent of a yacht that is defined as a hole in the water that requiries money to move.

 

I haven't actually done the oil change yet. I wasn't going to waste my time and money if it doesn't need it yet. It only has 4k miles on the last oil change.

Man, this car is rapidly turning into a pain.