antcap

I used to own an A4 and then got the company car (Ford). When i had my AUdi i did all my oil changes after the the 50k service expired since it was included. If you lease a car which i did for my wife a 2011 Q5, can you do the oil changes yourself and how would you reset the computer and does it matter that i do them on my own vs Audi doing them? Jsut keep my recipts of the filter and oil? Thanks

Reggie

If you have the extended warranty you want to have the dealer do them. But if you want to do changes at a more frequent interval (and I recommend that - at every 5K miles) you can do them yourself. Look in the manual to see how to reset the oil change (use to be in them) if the info is not there then one needs a VAG-COM and someone on your local forum will have one

guyguyke

if you have not Audi Care (and you probably don't have it as you are concerned by oil change), Audi will be strict regarding the warranty terms, and for this reason I would let the car be serviced by a dealer during the hole warranty period. No discussions, a little bit more expensive...
yours receipts show you bought oil, not that you pourred it in the motor...

m1964

Unless you damage the engine internals Audi shoudl not ask how/when/who changed your oil.
I think the receips would do fine in case of repair claim -again, only if there is a problem w/ internal engine components.

I was considering self oil changes using vacuum pump, but reviews say they start leaking after 2-3 oil changes if you use synthetic oil.

ANY service done at a repair shop licensed in your state should be no problem, and if there is a problem it could easily become a court case...

PS

A lot of times person who change oil at the dealer is not a mechanic - I had oil pen drain thread stripped at a Volvo dealer, by one of those "qualified person" who changed the oil on my old Volvo 850.

The G Man

On top of the oil changes, there is a list of require maintenance every 10000 miles. Audi is pretty strict on these maintenance and factory warranty maintenance requirements.

m1964

Most of the time the required maintenance includes "checking fluids level , brakes, locks lubrication", etc.
Every year (I think w/ Audi 15K and 30k miles) maintenace includes pollen filter change.

There is nothing that cannot be done by a decent repair shop (or the owner him/herself), including pollen filter change.

Those are very expensive oil changes, that do not include even a road test of the vehicle, those things (fluid, brake, oil leak checks are done authomatically by every good repair shop when changing the oil.

EricSLine

A while back someone else asked this type of question; same context. You can search for my response to his post regarding the legal wranglings around warranty work. I'd say, while in warranty and in a lease, get the factory service.

jeff968

Hey Reggie, why do you recommend going against the factory recommendations? I think it is great that Audi can make an engine that can go 10K between oil changes. I'm sure their engineers have full tested things to make sure it is correct. My "soon to be replaced" ML320 goes 10K between oil change and after 140K miles, no issues. I think it is better for the environment that vehicles go further between oil changes so I plan to follow the manual. IMHO.
Jeff

Reggie

Well Audi recommended 90K for timing belt changes on the B5 and there were lots of failures at around 60K. So they are not always correct.

I can't comment on why Audi is recommending 10K intervals but I do not believe oils can last as long as 10K between intervals and still have the same protection and lack of sludge buildup. Also with direct injection into the cylinders under high pressue like the Audi cars have now - there is some gas dilution in the oil. I have seen that with my oil analysis by Terry Dyson on my RS.

A quick search can reveal these inputs:

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...filter-sensors

http://www.aa1car.com/library/how_often_change_oil.htm


http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

http://www.nordicgroup.us/oil.htm

So while a lot of these links will support your theory - I error on the conservative side of every 5K or six months

m1964

I believe the interval will depend on type of driving -e.g 30 miles a day in highway driving would be very different then 30 miles of stop-and-go with multiple stops driving in NYC or LA. The first driver needs only 10K interval, and the second one
may need 5K or even less...
my 2c

PS

I wonder if I can use VW dealer for oil changes? There is one less then mile away from my house, and my Audi dealer is 45 min. away...