I wish I had a picture

Status
Not open for further replies.
1maniac

1maniac

Joined
Oct 11, 2002
Messages
593
Location
Pittsburgh PA
I forgot to charge my digital camera. I was in the shop today and saw a 2001 Audi A4 Quattro with the 1.8 Turbo 4cylndr being torn down. Timing belt broke at 64k mikles, original belt BTW. Car was run on Castrol GTX 5w30 and there was dark brown and black varnish all over everything inside the engine. Just makes me feel better using synthetic, which I'm suprised Audi doesn't reccomend for that car.

[ April 17, 2003, 01:28 PM: Message edited by: 1maniac ]
 
Yup, it's pretty pathetic. They offer free maintenance for the first 4 years or 50K miles, but they'll fill you car with Castrol dino oil during that interval.
frown.gif
Moreover, starting in 2001, the recommended maintenance interval is 10K miles. Does that explain what you saw?

Personally, I bring my own Mobil 1 with me when I come in for these free maintenance visits. Plus, I change my oil in-between, so that I'm on 5K mile change interval.

Now, the broken timing belt is a whole other issue. According to Audi service manual, the recommended TB and TB tensioner change interval is 120K miles. But I've seen many many many of them brake much much much sooner than that. I'll be changing mine when I hit 60K miles.

[ April 17, 2003, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: Quattro Pete ]
 
I think the sump for the audi 1.8 turbo 4 is only 4 quarts
gr_eek2.gif
I also wonder how long that turbo's gonna last with 4 quarts of dino 5w30 being changed every 10k miles
crushedcar.gif
 
Does anyone here own one of them? What does the owner's manual recommend? If I owned one I'd probably go with a 0w40 or 5w40 oil, or at least one of the thicker 5w30s or 0w30s out there.

Castrol GTX 5w30 turns into 5w20 quickly enough in a normally aspirated engine, I'd hate to see how quickly it thins in this turbo engine!

And that's crazy if Audi put a 4 quart oil pan in that sucker. It should have at least 5 if not 6 quarts. It's too bad most car makers put way too little thought into oil capacities on their cars (or maybe it's planned obsolescence??)

[ April 17, 2003, 01:43 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]
 
quote:
Originally posted by Patman:
Does anyone here own one of them? What does the owner's manual recommend? If I owned one I'd probably go with a 0w40 or 5w40 oil, or at least one of the thicker 5w30s or 0w30s out there.

Castrol GTX 5w30 turns into 5w20 quickly enough in a normally aspirated engine, I'd hate to see how quickly it thins in this turbo engine!

And that's crazy if Audi put a 4 quart oil pan in that sucker. It should have at least 5 if not 6 quarts. It's too bad most car makers put way too little thought into oil capacities on their cars (or maybe it's planned obsolescence??)
Click to expand...
(No wonder why it tore up 5w-30 so much!)

Above 5F = 20w-50/15w-40/15w-50/20w-40

All Temps = 5w-50/10w-50/10w-60

Below 59 = 5w-30/10w-30/5w-40


Reminds me of older cars that would spec out anything from a SAE 30 to a 20w-50.

...For a dino oil, I'd definitely be using at least a 15w-40 oil unless it was really cold. I use 15w-40 Delvac 1300 in a Volvo that specs out 15w-40 on its chart (as well as 5w-30 and 10w-30 if cold...just like this Audi).

...For synthetic, the 5w-40 looks really good (unless you live in a really, really cold climate!)

[ April 17, 2003, 02:00 PM: Message edited by: Justin ]
 
Yes Patman, I answered this post (above) because I own one, just like it. Same model and year.
smile.gif


The oil sump capacity is 3.7 quarts, to be exact. I ran M1 5w-30 in it initially (you can see my used oil analysis after 5K miles of it in the archives, as well as my friend Tristan P's 10K miles analysis of the same oil). Right now, I've put M1 0w-40 in this engine. When it's time to change it at 5K miles, I'll try to have that analyzed as well.


Here are the links to the UOA results:
My 5K analysis
Tristan P's 10K analysis


BTW, the manual for that year recommends 0w-30 oil, but allows 5w-30 if 0w-30 is not available. That said, all Audi dealers in my area pour in 15w-40 in all Audis they service. Yet another reason why I bring my own oil when I come for these "free services".
rolleyes.gif


[ April 17, 2003, 02:07 PM: Message edited by: Quattro Pete ]
 
quote:
Originally posted by Quattro Pete:
BTW, the manual for that year recommends 0w-30 oil, but allows 5w-30 if 0w-30 is not available. That said, all Audi dealers in my area pour in 15w-40 in all Audis they service.
Click to expand...
Is there any 0W-30 available in a dino? Also, if they're gonna put dino in it, I agree with Justin that 15W-40 is probably the best choice for a turbo.

Patman,
Saab turbos all have 4L sumps, but the new '03 9-3SS (with the latest iteration of GM's OLM) just got a bump up to a 6L sump. Of course, this car also requires oils meeting GM's mysterious Long Life oil spec for valid OLM estimates, so I'm sure that increasing the sump had it's own set of economic motivators.
 
You're right; the pre-2002 (B5) Audi A4 1.8t had a 3.4 quart capacity. This was increased to a whopping 4.2 quarte in 2002 with the B6 series A4s. Audi does not specifically recommend synthetic, but does recommend ACEA A3/B3 or API SL oils in 0W30, 5W30, 0W40 viscosities. It comes factory-fill with 0W30, I'm told. My Audi dealer puts in 5W30 dino (Castrol GTX) unless you specify otherwise - and pay for it; I think that's standard fare for Audi dealers. I, too, can't imagine running the GTX for more than 2K miles, and even then you're taking a chance on coking the turbos - especially if your engins has doritos added.
 
Williar,

All the VW/Audi 1.8L turbos call for an ACEA "A3" rated, 0w-30 oil as the primary grade. You will only find those in a synthetic basestock. Furthermore, it is hard to make a 0w-30 or 0w-40 using Group III stocks, so the vast majority of 0w-30 synthetics are PAO/Ester based.
I'd consider anything from a 0w-30 to a 10w-40 synthetic to be acceptable in these engines for year round use. Audi is trying to optimize fuel efficiency like everyone else, so they are trending towards the very light viscosity grades like 0w-30 and 5w-30.

My 2002 Audi TT quattro has a 4.8 qt sump capacity and calls for 10,000 mile/1 year oil changes. I'll probably end up running 3-4 different Amsoil formulations in this motor in order to get oil analysis data, before settling on the Amsoil 0w-30 or 5w-30.

I'm glad to see Audi increasing the sump capacities on the 6/8 cylinder engines. BMW and Mercedes have always done this ....

TooSlick
 
quote:
Originally posted by 1maniac:
I forgot to charge my digital camera. I was in the shop today and saw a 2001 Audi A4 Quattro with the 1.8 Turbo 4cylndr being torn down. Timing belt broke at 64k mikles, original belt BTW. Car was run on Castrol GTX 5w30 and there was dark brown and black varnish all over everything inside the engine. Just makes me feel better using synthetic, which I'm suprised Audi doesn't reccomend for that car.
Click to expand...
The original owner of my car ran Syntec from the first change. When I got it I immediately put in Mobil 1. Next change wnet to Royal Purple. At 2000 miles the pressure dropped sharpley and the dip stick had these strange flakes of crap on it. 4th change Amsoil went in and several years later I see only occasional minute flakes on the stick after installing a dual remote filter. 2 years ago I did some upgrades and when changing the cam, heads and intake I found nonwear areas looking like they and been painted with a brownish varnish. Apparently the Royal Purple and Amsoil were cleanign the film of varnish that was installed by years of Castrol Syntec. Yuck!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top