What's the official word on oil change intervals?

[QuatA4]

All,

What's the official word on the recommended oil change interval for the B8? I keep being told by Audi that officially its 15,000km (~10,000 miles) as per the maintenance schedule but they recommend 7500km (5,000 miles) while I heard people on this forum recommending all the way down to 5,000km (3,000 miles), assuming the engine hasn't consumed it all.

Advice? Audi keeps resetting my reminder back to 15,000km.

[yma4]

I do mine every 5,000 - regardless of the cars I own.

[b6Hate4]

Audi only reccomends 10k mile oil change intervals because for 50,00 miles THEY are paying for them! Notice how all cars used to be 3-5k then as soon as "no maintenece for x amount of miles" came out from car manufactureres the intervals drastically went up?

5k if your smart. 3,500 if your anal. I do 3,500.

[Greg Nelson]

Notice how all cars used to be 3-5k then as soon as "no maintenece for x amount of miles" came out from car manufactureres the intervals drastically went up?

Audi is 'paying for' them only if new buyer purchases AudiCare. Recommended service intervals - including but not limited to oil changes - are clearly stated in owners' manual, whether or not owner has purchased AudiCare.
Back in the day, 3-5K mile oil changes were necessary b/c of oil and engine inefficiency - synthetics and engine designs have changed the equation.
That said, 5K miles oil change certainly won't hurt, though somewhat anal IMO.
Cheers

[name.goes.here]

Audi only reccomends 10k mile oil change intervals because for 50,00 miles THEY are paying for them! Notice how all cars used to be 3-5k then as soon as "no maintenece for x amount of miles" came out from car manufactureres the intervals drastically went up?

5k if your smart. 3,500 if your anal. I do 3,500.

Agree x 100.

No way would I only do the suggested 10k intervals. Oil is the lifeblood of the engine.

[RickFLS4]

Audi only reccomends 10k mile oil change intervals because for 50,00 miles THEY are paying for them! Notice how all cars used to be 3-5k then as soon as "no maintenece for x amount of miles" came out from car manufactureres the intervals drastically went up?

5k if your smart. 3,500 if your anal. I do 3,500.

Synthetic oil probably plays a role in this change, doesn't it? As noted above, Audi doesn't pay for oil changes unless you pay them first for AudiCare.

I go with the recommended 10K intervals. Doing them more frequently certainly won't hurt and the desire to do so will depend on how you run the car, I think.

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[RickFLS4]

Agree x 100.

No way would I only do the suggested 10k intervals. Oil is the lifeblood of the engine.

Guess it's a good thing I extended warranty to 125K miles then...

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[moose_head]

OP is in Canada

Official answer is it's 15,000 km (except: first one at 8,000 which is free even without audicare, then next is 25,000)

See http://www.audi.ca/ca/brand/en/your_.../schedule.html

The dealer recommended 7500km to you, probably to make more money. If Audi had any scientific evidence that more was needed, I'm sure they'd recommend it on the official schedule. The dealer's advice is not Audi's advice. Does depend on how hard you drive though.

[RickFLS4]

^ Right, sorry. I was talking in miles.

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[QuatA4]

Thanks folks!

[AOW162435]

Every 3k here. Unbelievably simple oil change.



Andreas

[name.goes.here]

Guess it's a good thing I extended warranty to 125K miles then...

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Yes, and by the time your warranty is up you will be ready for an Avant/Allroad or some form of a wagon : )

[Okan509]

Audi is 'paying for' them only if new buyer purchases AudiCare. Recommended service intervals - including but not limited to oil changes - are clearly stated in owners' manual, whether or not owner has purchased AudiCare.
Back in the day, 3-5K mile oil changes were necessary b/c of oil and engine inefficiency - synthetics and engine designs have changed the equation.
That said, 5K miles oil change certainly won't hurt, though somewhat anal IMO.
Cheers

only good response. thanks :)

[Greg Nelson]

only good response. thanks :)

Hey buddy!
Us old ones need to 'educate' the young'ns here on occasion.
Done any Shadowline work lately
Cheers

[13allroad]

What's the oil choice that everyone is using, brand and weight???

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[oascom]

5k here. audi care edned 3k ago. i will change oil evry 5k anyway.

[Greg Nelson]

What's the oil choice that everyone is using, brand and weight???

Believe Audi Owner Manual recommends 5W40 Mobil1 - sure many other synthetics are just as capable, if not better these days.
Others here in the past have suggested other weights, not sure what they are.
Cheers

[AWDLover]

What's the oil choice that everyone is using, brand and weight???

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motul 8100 x-cess 5w40

[RickFLS4]

Yes, and by the time your warranty is up you will be ready for an Avant/Allroad or some form of a wagon : )

Ha ha. Maybe. I'll be happy if I still have the option of not plugging in the next vehicle, whatever it is.

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[name.goes.here]

Ha ha. Maybe. I'll be happy if I still have the option of not plugging in the next vehicle, whatever it is.

That makes two of us!

[Jtaoj0]

only good response. thanks :)

+2 if you are changing too often, it is both a waste of money and valuable resources. New motors with better machining and polishing and synthetic will extend the oil change intervals beyond old school 3k mile interval. Rough duty may shorten the interval.

[SDF1]

All,

What's the official word on the recommended oil change interval for the B8? I keep being told by Audi that officially its 15,000km (~10,000 miles) as per the maintenance schedule but they recommend 7500km (5,000 miles) while I heard people on this forum recommending all the way down to 5,000km (3,000 miles), assuming the engine hasn't consumed it all.

Advice? Audi keeps resetting my reminder back to 15,000km.

It depends on how you use your car and the quality of oil you use.
Example, if you do lots of stop and goes and less than 10,000km a year..... Change your oil MUCH more often than recommended because your oil will be contaminated with fuel and the oil won't be doing a good job lubricating anything.
If you drive ALL highway all the time and live in a warm climate and baby the car till it's at optimal operating temperature then yes you can probably go 10,000km maybe even 15,000kms per oil change.

Personally I rarely push the car hard and always wait for it to warm up BUT we have a huge temperature variation plus I do a mix of highway and stop and go. So I do once every 7500km, once on my own and the other at the dealer to maintain my cpo.

[m73m95]

Why not spend $25 and see exactly how your engine is wearing, and get real data about your oil, and what change interval you should be using??

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

I've not done it on the Audi yet, but I've done it on all of my other vehicles. Well worth the money, if only to prevent this kind of "speculation" thread.

[eirebob]

Why not spend $25 and see exactly how your engine is wearing, and get real data about your oil, and what change interval you should be using??

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

I've not done it on the Audi yet, but I've done it on all of my other vehicles. Well worth the money, if only to prevent this kind of "speculation" thread.

I did have a Blackstone analysis done in Dec '12. Car had 37k, and the oil had been in for 5750 miles. The only issue reported was that viscosity levels were very slightly below recommended levels. I was using Castrol 5/40, every 5k, between the dealer Audicare fills of the same.

I share the somewhat anal approach of many others on the board, that 10k falls outside my comfort zone for a turbo four. 5-6k is as long as I can stand.

As Audicare ended last summer, I'm now using Mobil 1 0/40.

[r6_11b8]

i change it every 5k either with motul or mobil 1…those are my favorite brands always ran either one of those on my previous cars and bikes

10k seemed crazy when the dealer first told me that…i was like yeah?? ok……drove off the lot and changed the oil myself lol

[AdrianLee]

I change mine every 5000 mi. Unless I do a track day, then I will change it either before (depending on mileage on current oil change) or after.

[piotrowr]

I change it every 5-7K miles.

[b6Hate4]

Believe Audi Owner Manual recommends 5W40 Mobil1 - sure many other synthetics are just as capable, if not better these days.
Others here in the past have suggested other weights, not sure what they are.
Cheers

Audi reccomends Castrol Syntec 5w-40, or any vw-501 approved oil, which I believe mobil 1 is, however that stuff will never see my engine.

[PKaudi]

If you ask this on AZ forum, answers will be 5000 km to 7500 km interval.
There are reasons why people are on this forum - they are enthusiasts and would do anything to keep the car running well.
Having said that, there is no reason why Audi would recommend 15,000 km intervals if it was going to break something or decrease the life span of a car... there's this thing called Ethics that engineers follow (unlike politicians).

I tend to do it anywhere between 12,000 km to 13,000 km.