rs4-380

This will be pretty brief, as most who will tackle this themselves most likely won't need any assistance, but thought it may be useful for someone who needs a bit of extra confidence before deciding to do it themselves.

1. Jackstand/ramp safety you know the drill.

2. Remove the splash shield by undoing all the screws around the perimeter. The ones up front are torx 20's, the ones on the sides and back are fast-drive types, they have a phillips head but I find it easier to just use a big slotted driver. You do not need to remove the line of torx screws a couple inches behind the front edge, they are for the stiffener for the shield.

3. The oil plug needs a 6mm hex driver/allen wrench. Remove it and drain the oil.


4. While the oil is draining move to the top of the engine. Remove the 3.2 v6 cover at the top of the engine (it just pulls off) The oil filter housing is underneath that cover to the right. Use whatever you've got to unscrew the filter housing cap, it's not on very tight so a big crescent wrench (or probably even a strap wrench) will do the job if you don't have a socket big enough. After about half a turn you will need to lift a plastic protrusion on the housing slightly so that a ridge on the cap will be able to pass under it (it's basically like a child proof medicine cap), you can then unscrew the cap entirely.


5 Pull the old filter out of the cap you just removed. Inside about half way down there is an o-ring that needs to be replaced (and should come with the new filter). The o-ring has a tab on it that you can grab with a pair of needlenose pliers.


6 The other, smaller, seal to be replaced is on the filter housing.


7 When reinstalling the cap (with the new filter on it) you need to push down before the threads will catch as there is a spring plate at the bottom of the housing. Do not overtighten the cap or you risk breaking the threads. The torque specs are right on it.

8 Reinstall the drain plug, do not over torque it, it does not need to be super tight.

9 You can then refill the oil. Capacity is 6.6qts. If you are within your warranty and/or want to use vw502 approved oil commonly available ones are mobil 1 0w40 and castrol syntec 5w40 (both full synthetic).

1atlas

Thanks. Nice write up. The DIY's are a great help. I've done the oil and tried using an extractor from the fill tube. Seems to get pretty much same amount out but still do the old fashioned drain via the plug every other(change oil every5-6k)

Keep the DIY's coming, I'm going to try do brakes and spark plugs in the spring. ;-)
Did the air filter already. Not bad but getting tube back on and the top of air box seated was a bit of a PITA.

rs4vr

Thanks for the write up!

What are most folks using for oil?

Syntec 5w40
M1 0w40
Lubromoly

Currently using Pennzoil Ultra 5w40 in the RS

rs4-380

I usually use castrol products (for no other reason that that is what I have always used) but with the audi's under warranty I'll use whichever of the two (syntec and M1) I can find cheaper at that point.

HaveBullDogWillTravel

Good job! You and I may have been changing our oil at the exact same time...if you were doing it this AM. I Can't think of anything that you left out except that it's important to rub a little oil on the O-rings before re-assembly. I used 0W-40 Mobil 1. Again, good job!

fonseca_Q5

Which splash shield do you need to remove? Is it the front one or the 2nd one?

HaveBullDogWillTravel

It's the one up front. I use a floor jack on one side of the car and jack up about 3 inches...the tire isn't even off the floor. At that point there's plenty of working room underneath.

ELEVENS

Nice write up. Just a reminder that the oil drain and filter replacement order (as done correctly in the DIY) is important. That's because there is a valve in the bottom of the oil filter housing that doesn't release the used oil to the sump until the cover is unscrewed.

So if you drain the oil and replace the drain plug, then move on to changing the filter, you will have dumped another half quart of dirty oil back into the sump. For that reason, I always change the filter first, them move underneath to drain the oil. Or you can change the filter with the drain plug out as in the DIY writeup.

abacon09

rs4-380, you showed two seals needing to be replaced. One comes with the filter. The other smaller one, does that also come with the filter or did you need to get it for the parts department at the dealer?

HaveBullDogWillTravel

It was included with my filter