moribundman

You nailed it, what you are saying matches the info I slowly pieced together (As you can see, if you read my other posts in this thread). :-)

PS: The dealer has been selling me the 30k km filter for the last few times.

3Sq

The 503.00 extended-drain oil, having a low HTHS viscosity, is used in engines that have been designed for extended-drains by reducing oil shear (e.g., roller lifters, no gear-to-gear meshing, "gentle" oil pumps, reduced oil temps, etc.), and by maintaining cleaner internals (e.g., tighter, "cleaner" rings, controlled crankcase ventilation, etc.). Also, in some cases, oil passages in these engines have been reduced to save space, neccessitating the use of these thinner oils. This is the reason 503.01 oils should not be substituted with .00 oils

The 503.01 oil, having a >3.5 HTHS viscosity, is used in higher performance, turbo engines (in the TT, S3, S4) requiring extended-drains and high HTHS.

503.01 oil should not be used in 503.00 engines (unless allowed by Audi/VW in specific cases). And 503.00 oil should not be used in 503.01, 502.00, 501.01, 500.00 engines.

Unlike the 502/500, and 501.01/501.00 relationship, 503.01 does not supercede 503.00.

3Sq

moribundman

I think VW/Audi should be more upfront about explaining their different specs. It was kind of difficult for me to piece all that info slowly together.

You really know your oil specs! :-)

3Sq

moribundman,

Audi should be more up front about their oil specs. It took me awhile to figure it out. I researched it about a year ago - German Audi manuals, Russian websites, Ethyl spec handbook, some phone calls, etc.

I guess it's hard to get this info here because AoA's manuals say just to use light viscosity, SL/GF-3 oil with 5k-7.5k mile service intervals. Although this is "wasteful", it should provide the same protection as more robust oil with extended-drain (WIV, 30km, 2 jahre) intervals.

3Sq

moribundman

I've tried to get accurate info on Bob's site and on a German site. By the time you posted the whole shabang in concise form (Good job!), I'd pieced pretty much the same thing together. Where were you a week ago? You could have saved me a lot of headaches. Well, I copied your little essay on VW oil specs, and if the topic comes up again, then I'll have all the answers. ;-)