Just thought I would spread the word...

I was talking with a very knowledgable Audi service tech a few days ago about the choice of oil for the 99.5 1.8T, or any 1.8t I assume. He told me, after being at a training location in burlington, MA., Castrol Syntec 5w-40 is the Audi oil of choice. He said this selection of oil is "straight out of the horses mouth" and is the oil that Audi is telling its service locations to use. If you do find it (it took me a few trys before finding it at autozone), it is labeled on the front that it is specially formulated for Bmw, Porsche, and VW.

I know oil has been talked over and over on here, but I thought I would give some food for thought to those, such as myself, who are undecided between oils.

 

I've used it a few times when I couldn't get any Mobil1 5W-40

 

There's a lot on this page, but look under the section "The Complaint"<ul><li><a href="http://www.1st-in-synthetics.com/articles60.htm">http://www.1st-in-synthetics.com/articles60.htm</a</li></ul>

 

AMSoil *dealers* the oil is good though, although a generation or 2 behind some cutting-edge formulas. See the "GC composition" thread in the above link. AMSoil dealer arew so full of ****, the guys on the oil Forum who are AMS dealers even decry them.

 

<center><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/27563/gc_elves.jpg"></center><p>
I would use it in total beaters, if it were free. Magnesium-based additives are the suxor, cheap and actually become abrasive after oxydization. Screw Audis techs, if they knew a ****ing thing they would not have been putting in dino oil for years. They just got a lot of corporate smoke blown up their ***. Ask him or her if they even know what the VW 502 and VW 503.01 specs mean. ftr- VW 502 is from 1998, a sequence ran on an old 4 cylinder VW 2.0. Not substantially different than the generic ACEA A3-spec. (Ask them to compare and contrast those 2 specs!) VW 503.01 is the latest spec, a long-life sequence, 18k miles and cannot get away with crappy Mg additives. (simmilar to MB 229.3) It includes mpg and cold-cranking stipulations as well as sludge, oxydization and TBN retention. There are so many better and newer oils out, it's silly. If you have a 1.8t, try the Mobil 1 5w-30 EP. Mobil 1 5w-40 T&amp;SUV is great for V6 engines and quite good, albeit thick for 1.8t. If you want the REAL Castrol oil for Audi, you want German Syntec 0w-30 (AutoZone) it's factory-fill, exotic PAO including methylcrylates...your tech knows all this though. Belgian/Canadian Syntec is bunk, the lamest oil that can be successfully used. Mobil 1 0w-40 is far and away a better oil. I hope you kept your reciept.

GC, German Castrol, was run through exhaustive and expensive NMR tests to ascertain the composition. Trust me, it's unique and exotic.<ul><li><a href="http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum&amp;f=51&amp;submit=Go">E uropean Oil Forum</a></li></ul>

 

<ul><li><a href="http://www.audiusa.com/common/images/Audi_Approved_Oil_Chart.pdf">http://www.audiusa.com/common/images/Audi_Approved_Oil_Chart.pdf</a</li></ul>

 

It's cheaper here than at Walmart. Shipping is $7.50 flat rate. No sales tax, unless in TX.

If you buy 18 to 24 bottles you can recover shipping cost, by not having to pay sales tax.

I'm not affiliated with them, just passing along a good deal.<ul><li><a href="http://shop.store.yahoo.com/parkplacemotorcars/mob1trismoto.html">Mobil 1 0w-40 for $4.95 here</a></li></ul>

 

we no longer use Castrol (except RS6) and our shop tank is filled with synthetic. We pay like $2.80/qt for it from Agip delivered.

Its this stuff... but ours comes in a truck. <img src="http://www.americanagip.com/shoppingCart/productPhotos/SyntheticPC5W50.gif">


Synthetic PC 5W-40 Meets or exceeds API SL/CF, ACEA A3/B3/B4-98/B4-02, VW 502.00/505.00 and MB 229.1/ 229.3

I think we charge like $4/qt for the Agip during services... which is what audi charged us for the Castrol regardless of how much we ordered. A 1.8T oil change gets 5qts and 1 068 filter for a total of $29 billed out. I think service might actually break even on oil changes now. Before with the castrol I had to discount the oil so they could do $50 oil changes and not lose money.

Synthetic oil for $4/qt at the dealer? what is the world coming to??? If I understand correctly it is superior to the castrol audi sells dealers here in the states.

 

as far as I know, Mobil contesting Castrol's use of the term "synthetic" for hydrocracked oil is true. Question is, is Castrol still using hydrocracked petroleum for Syntec here in the US?

 

however, they don't carry 0w-40, but 5w-40 is close enough for me