1guitar

I don't understand why you're waiting at all to go to synthetic oil, after 2,000 miles the rings etc. are already seated, don't wait, do it now. As far as the oil weight, go with Mobil 1, 0w-40 would work fine up in the frozen north. If you can get an engine block heater that would serve you and your engine well. I noticed one person said you can mix different weight oils and while that's true, I wouldn't do it unless you have to. Best of luck.
The Grey Ghost

Avant_4ever

I am new to this forum but need info about oil. For the first 76,000 miles of my A4 Avant, manual transmission, I used mineral oil. I moved the had to take the car to a new service shop since I was no longer close enough to continue the relationship with the shop where I previously lived. The service manager at the new shop said "with the turbo, you should be using synthetic." I didn't disagree and that's what they used. Now, I have an oil leak that I never had before. Could the switch to synthetic from the previous oil type be the cause? I asked New Service guy and he denied it as a cause.

uberwgn

Avant, the engine manufacturer defines an oil spec for your car, they do not specify whether petro-based or synthetic base stock. The spec you should have been following is known as VAG 502.00 assuming you're in the USA. Virtually all 502.00 oils are "synthetic".


I'd never run a petro-based oil in these engines. It's the primary reason Audi and VW had such an issue with sludge build up and replacing engines.


Some will say that switching from petro-based oil to synthetic causes leaks. It's also an indication of a weak gasket(s).