JerseyJared

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/135822/img_3039.jpg"></center><p>
I have had my '08 Lava Gray S-line for about 7 months and I just broke 10k. The info center on the dashboard says "Service Due!". So I call up my friendly Audi dealership and make an appointment. I get there and the service guy tells me that my car is not due for service. Audi A3's do 5,000 15,000 ..ect. I said well, my car says service due, Im not sure what to tell you. He offered to reset the light but I mentioned that the oil had not been changed. He states that an oil change would be $55. I kindly refused and left to go to the Jiffy Lube to get my $20 oil change.

After arriving at jiffy lube they tell me the car needs synthetic. I said sure. After its all said and done he says that will be 79.00 I couldnt believe it. Upcharge for filter + synthetic = A bite out of the wallet.

So here is my question. Is synthetic oil really nessisary, is there a way to reset the Service Due! message on my dashboard (I'm willing to buy a computer reader), and am I stuck with $55 oil changes for the rest of the life of my Audi? Also is it worth the cost of $550 for the scheduled maintenence package?

Thanks
Jared

Gettysburg

Odds are even that they'll charge you for synthetic but put regular "dino" oil in your car. Local news channels regularly do consumer alert stories about how Jiffy Lube will charge you for services they don't actually perform.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTJjqr0QbIk">Jiffy Lube Scam 1</a>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD6BRE-j-mI&feature=related">Jiffy Lube Scam 2</a>

BAEL

only synthetic oils at this time meet the VW 502 approval. And on a turbo car you should only use a synthetic oil no matter what. One that meets ACEA A3/B4 at least, even if the 502 approval didn't exist. You should probably stick to 5W-40 also, the preferred weight.

Bezor

I would have curious about the indicator lighting between set oil change intervals and if that in and of itself meant something.

April

Our friend took her Miata to Jiffy a couple of time against our advice. Who knows what crap they put into her engine, but this was in the bottom of the pan after we drained it:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/3127/jiggy-lube-change.jpg">

Those are metal flakes. Just imagine what that oil could do to an turbo engine.....

BAEL

is is that Audi perhaps initially (or in Germany or other places) planned to give an oil change at 5K and then at 10K, instead of 5K and then 15K. They did the first two oil changes at 5K and then 10K in 1998-2001, I know, and then got cheap because they wers still giving free maintenance then so they decided to save perhaps millions and millions of dollars at the customers (and maybe the cars expense ultimately...who knows) by skipping the 10K service.

MuRaN0Daddy

you're griping about syn, you take it to Jiffy Lube!?....You'll be back at the dealer paying a whole lot more than 79, 55 wat ever.....I'd take it to the dealer now, and get it redone.

Gettysburg

?!?!?? - I told him "NOT" to take it to Jiffy Lube.

Gettysburg

I took a car to a Jiffy Lube once, about 20 years ago. The idiot performing the service started the engine after the oil fill, then proceeded to check the oil level(via dipstick), with the engine still running.

Luckily I was looking out the window of the waiting room when this happened. He was about to "top-off" the oil level; after only-God-knows how much oil had been sucked up into the engine. I ran out into the service bay lickity-split and asked him WTF he was doing. With an authoritative/now-it-all tone, he said he's just topping-off the oil. I told him I didn't want him topping off the oil and explained that the dipstick reading was meaningless once he started the engine. His response was that this was standard procedure. I dodged a bullet that time and never went back to a Jiffy Lube(or similar establishment) again.

MisterJJ

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