David

With every car I've owned, I always change oil approx. every 3K miles. Should we be waiting for 5K service to change the oil. Any thoughts???

BrenTT

If it weren't safe to wait until 5,000 miles to change the oil, then the first recommended service would be at 3,000 miles. The 3,000/3-month rule was pretty much invented by the likes of Jiffy Lube. One way to sell more is to decrease the purchase cycle and hyping the 3,000/3-month rule does just that.

IMHO,
Brent

nader

I took mine in right after 1,000 miles for oil change. The service manager contacted AoA and the factory rep advised against it. He said the original oil is a special blend for break-in and should be left in there for at least 5K miles.

For oil changes afterwards, Audi only pays for 5K intervals, so you would be on your own about half the time. I am used to 3K mile changes specially on the turbocharged cars but will probably go every 5K now.

ColonialTT

For any car sold in both the USA and other parts of the world, manufacturer's recommended oil change intervals are the same. It is the lube shops that started this 3k nonsense (in partnership with the oil companies possibly).

Don

Why would you want to try and second guess Audi - can you think of any logical reason they would recommend 5000 mi. if 3000 mi. were better? They designed the engine, set the warranty, and have a vested interest in making sure that you don't have any problems with it. It is my understanding that break-in oil is designed to allow the rings to bed properly - if they don't, the engine will actually burn more oil (through blowby) and possibly cause a glaze to develop on the cylinder walls that will keep them from ever seating correctly. Just my understanding.

Don

Oops! Read: Don't only if you know something Audi doesn't.

Jim Torongo

This is a subject that I have had an interested in for a long time. The trend in the last 10 years or so has been for auto makers to extend service interals almost as a sellimg point. Audi, in providing full scheduled maintenace service has an incentive to stretch the intervals. They would likly be inundated with service work if they brought us in evry 3000 miles. These extended service periods have beem made possible for the most part from advances in electronics. No longer do we need to change mechanical pionts etc. While oil has improved I am not inclined to run it more than 3000 miles between changes. Oil starts to deteriorate the first time your engine is started, heat, contamination and shear-down all contribute to it's decline. I have had oil tested (Modified air cooled motorcyle engine) and got a report that read someyhing to the efect that "oil viscosity deteriorated to 5 w20 due to shear down" (it's been awhile so I can't quote it verbatim). I admit that you will get a lot more shear down in a motorcycle engine where oil performs double duty in the gear box, but this was a 10 w 40 oil with less than 2000 miles of service. Most engine builders I know or have read about change their oil frequently(read 2000 miles or less). When I read owmers manuals I always end up on the faster ruff duty schedule, how about you? The first oil change is one of particular significance because of the high heat and wear-in that occurs during break in. In motors I have built, the initial oil and filter change occurs at 500 to 600 miles so as to clear the system of metalic particles an to examine whats been trapped in the filter. Then I refill with non synthetic oil, synthetic is too slippery and will inhibit good ring seating (this requires combustion presser so breif applications of heavy throttle are in order). So I say early oil changing is not a bad thing and will not hurt your engine (unless you switch to synthetic too soon- wait 5000 miles). My TT now has 12000 miles and burns NO oil- I mean none, something I cannot say about the other seven engines in my garage. The car also makes good power, and more than it did at 3000 miles. You need to decide what works for you; your TT will not die an early death if you follow Audi's schedule. If you are like me you will be changing your oil half way between visits to Audi and thats not a bad thing. JIM

Barry Lantz

Personal experience only - I'm sure others can give you a more scientific reason pro or con. I agree with the assessment that the 3 Month thing has been pushed on us by Jiffy Lube type places. I just got rid of my 1987 Honda Prelude with nearly 200,000 miles on it. The service manual recommended 7500 mile changes which I tried to stay under (around 5-6K). Never (ever) had a problem. OK it was a Honda and this is an Audi, but you still shouldn't experience any problems by using the recommended 5K rule.

Richard

So why is it 10K miles in UK?????? (NCF)