Wowdi

I will be taking my 2000 A6 in for its first service within a few short weeks and was debating over whether to let the dealer change the oil with whatever they use or bring my own oil with me and request that the dealer use that.

My questions to you all are:

1) Should I care what the dealer replaces my oil with assuming that any reputable oil will last 8000 miles in my Audi. Besides, the dealer is on the hook for 3 years/50,000 miles anyway should the engine blow up (I do plan to drive this car for 5-7 years).

2) If I were to purchase oil for my dealer to use, what should I get: Normal oil?, Synthetic oil?, What brand?, Anything else I should know? (obviously I would get Audi-recommended weight oil).

Thanks for you opinions!<p>Charlie
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/CDM_Myaudi3.jpg">
2000 A6 2.8 Frontrak

timcar

1. I am not cynical enough to believe manufactuers recommend viscosities, change intervals, etc. to make your car wear out faster. I may be proved wrong. There is much good reasoning pro and con about if you should care what the dealer uses. I would care.

2. There appear to be many good oils, and fewer bad ones. I am sure there are several good choices. I believe in Mobil 1. There are many reasons why I believe it's the best oil, and I also know the subject can be debated endlessly. I've used it in all my cars for 25 years and have had zero problems. Therefore, I would use Mobil 1 in whatever viscosity the manufacturer recommends.

April has had some concerns that Audi's engines may leak more easily with synthetics. I respect April's knowledge, but worse case, if this proved to be a problem, you could always change it back to petroleum based oil for very little cost. I don't consider this risk outweighs the other advantages of Mobil 1.

timcar

1. I am not cynical enough to believe manufactuers recommend viscosities, change intervals, etc. to make your car wear out faster. I may be proved wrong. There is much good reasoning pro and con about if you should care what the dealer uses. I would care.

2. There appear to be many good oils, and fewer bad ones. I am sure there are several good choices. I believe in Mobil 1. There are many reasons why I believe it's the best oil, and I also know the subject can be debated endlessly. I've used it in all my cars for 25 years and have had zero problems. Therefore, I would use Mobil 1 in whatever viscosity the manufacturer recommends.

April has had some concerns that Audi's engines may leak more easily with synthetics. I respect April's knowledge, but worse case, if this proved to be a problem, you could always change it back to petroleum based oil for very little cost. I don't think that this risk outweighs the other advantages of Mobil 1.

timcar

How'd I do that?

Steve in VA

I'm also a fan of Mobil 1; been using the 15W-50 for years in BMWs and my other Audi (5000Q).The manual seems to specify a 5W-40 as first choice and 5W-30 as second choice. There is no 5W-40 Mobil 1 available, so is the 5W-30 acceptable? An alternative that I'm considering for my 2.7T is the Valvoline 5W-40 Synpower. It's the "right" weight, the original fill oil for BMWs now, and is approved by BMW, Mercedes, VW etc. (See their web site, valvoline.com)

timcar

(A) I'm not an oil expert but (B) If Audi says you can run 5W-30W, I would personally try the Mobil 1 5W-30W, see how the engine sounds and feels with it in, and check carefully for leaks. If the engine seemed happy, I'd consider it a match. Last I'd read of any exhautive testing, Mobil 1's molecular structure was still substantially different and superior to any other synthetic, but I've not researched that information recently.

guyinca

There's a reason why ALL manufacturers of automobiles use mineral oil. And that reason is that it works. Synthetics "work" ok too but will not do anything for you. The difference is mainly that synthetics will not break down as fast as mineral oils. But if you change your oil on time then you won't have any problem. Mineral oils also provide better lubricating properties than synths.

It used to be about 20 years ago that some people started putting in synth oil into their non-cooled turbo engines. The oil going thru the turbo would get super hot and break down quickly. Synth oils took care of that problem of breaking down. With todays liquid coold turbos you don't have to worry about that.

As far as viscosity goes: The reason Audi and ALL other manuf say to use 20-50 oil is because it's a liability thing. That way it doesn't matter what the ambient temp is around your car - the oil will preform. Also the lower temp range of an oil the longer it will last before it breaks down - though again that shouldnt be a prob if you just change your oil.

Well i'm getttin tired of typing. One last note: Marketing marketing marketing. Marketing is about creating new markets. That's the story around synth oils. You don't need em. Save your money and get better lubricity with mineral oils.

DebauchedSloth

...though I'd rather not have a "religious" argument....

For starters, some car manufacturer _do_ factor fill with synth. According to Mobil1 (http://www.mobil1.com/mobil1_racing/about/where/factoryfill/index.html), this includes Porsche and MB.

but that doesn't really address why Synth may be interesting. For me, given that I live in the Northeast and drive a turbocharged car, it's the combination of a very low pour point and a high flash point.

The low pour point reduces wear during cold starts. Perhaps more to the point, it *allows* cold starts when dino oil has turned to sludge.

The high flash point reduces sludge formation. The turbos are generating a *lot* of heat, and it would not surprise me at all if oil temps are regularly >400F at various points in the engine.

A few other bits of reading:

http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/synth_oil.txt

http://vger.rutgers.edu/~ravi/bike/pages/pages/docs/oil.html

FWIW,

//Greg

Chris JB

in my 2.7T for the last 10,000 miles and haven't noticed any difference in how the car sounds or feels, and the temperatures are exactly the same as with the factory oil, even in very hot weather (over 100 degrees).

Chris JB

guyinca

Hey Greg. Mobil One will outperform minerals at the extremes but if you live in -50 temperatures you should move to somplace warmer. Haha. The whole cold weather cranking wear is really only in issue with viscosity. So if you have the right viscosity dino oil you'll be in good shape. Of course if you just dont' want to worry about it and have the peace of mind than I understand the need for a synth.

I think the argument for using synths is a lot like Prolong trying to say you'll get better perfomrmance if you us their Prolong oil in your car. All these arguments are very qualitative. Prolong really does work like they say. It sticks to metal real well and will allow your engine to run longer with the oil drained than any other oil. But if you just keep the drain plug in your oil pan you won't have any problem with any oil you use. That's the falacy of Prolong and other's trying to prove their oil is better than minerals.