RedZR

Hi Gang,

I am new to the forum after having purchased a 1998 A6 Quattro 2.8 with 44k miles.

The car was a lease return that has been serviced by our local dealer since day one. The original owner reported only a couple of problems with the car over the past 3 years- so it's history is pretty good.

The dealer serviced the car with Castrol 10w-40 oil and held to the Audi recommended maintenance schedule, however I noticed that the inside the oil fill opening the motor does not seem very clean. Plus the dipstick was kinda grimey, even though the oil was just changed.

I think it's either the Castrol oil and/or the extended oil intrervals that have caused this condition.

In my last Audi (a 1991 80) I ran Mobil 1 15-50 for it's 80,000 mile life with 3,000 change intervals and the inside of the motor was spotless..as is my Corvette ZR 1 in which I use Mobil 1 10-30.

I figure that I can begin cleaning the engine's inside if I begin doing 2000 or 3000 mile interval oil changes for the next year or so but I do not know what brand of oil I should use.

I really like Mobil 1 but am not sure if that's overkill in this car.

Could some of you fellows give me some input on this subject? What oil (brand & weight) would you recommend for my 98?

Thanks,
Dan Durbin
Morgantown, WV

Jon C

Mobil 1 is certainly not overkill for any Audi engine, they're quite expensive to repair. OTOH, if you change every 3k, you could go to dino unless you want to minimize cold start up wear, which to me is the main reason to use a synth.

You can leave synth oil safely for at least 5k miles, some would say (as my oil analysis has shown) that 7,500 is fine, too. Whatever makes you comfortable.

Seattle Scott

The Mobil 1 leaks / burns a little faster than the Castrol.

It's been years but I've done four heads job on engines that ran Castrol or Valvoline multigrade dino oil. All looked real nice and clean. Oil was changed every 3000 miles on those engines.

If you want to use a good oil filter I get Mann or Mahle filters at <a href="http://www.autohausaz.com" target="_top">Autohausaza</a> Many like <a href="http://www.bimmerparts.com" target="_top">Bimmer Parts</a> too, personally I'm not going there anymore. I had one good and one so-so experiance with them.

<a href="http://www.germanautoparts.com" target="_top">German auto Parts is good too...</a>especially if you get a quote on a case of ten filters.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/12414/of_side.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/12414/of_top.jpg">

Muhammad

However, I know people that run 0/30 synthetic at 25,000 mile intervals and are pushing 200k without any engine repairs... what I would say is pick an oil and stay with it. If you have any gaskets that like to let oil out, thin synthetic won't help that...