New member, few questions

[mstirlz05]

Hi all

Recently bought a 2001 a3 1.8t (104000) and am thinking of doing an oil change only on it, as the colour seems to be a bit dark.
Whats the recommended oil for these cars?
The other two things are the rear windscreen wiper has stopped working just recently, would this be the motor, or a loose connection? (the fuse is fine), and the subwoofer in the boot compartment is not working. Is this connected to the head unit? The guy I had it off needed to get the serial code off the unit and I was thinking he may have knocked the connection out?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I think they have the smoothest engines ever!

Thanks, mark.

 

[DaveA3]

dunno about the other crap but the recommended oil is quantum fully synthetic 5w 40 (recommended for those with a fair few miles, so your car will be better off with this) or 5w 30.

Id ask the sub question in the audio forum. Will get a better answer in there for sure.

edit: Forgot to say you can get oil from stealers or TPS (the parts specialist) for around £16 for 5 litres

 

[Jason.s]

Unless TPS are giving it away at stupidly cheap prices is £33.94 inc vat

 

[s3schofield]

any good make 5 30 w fully synthetic will do get a magnetic sump plug while your at it too

Seat Leon Magnetic Sump Plug, 1.8T Curpa R | eBay

 

[s3schofield]

this oil is good too

COMMA XTECH 5W30 FULLY SYNTHETIC 5 LITRE MOTOR OIL | eBay

 

[DaveA3]

Unless TPS are giving it away at stupidly cheap prices is £33.94 inc vat

thats what it cost me from tps mate a few others have had the same sucess aswell. is it really double at the stealers?

 

[Jason.s]

It costs US the dealer £19quid from VAG lol. TPS get it cheaper from VW but dont always cut the retail prices to match so sometimes making huge margins on parts.

 

[superkarl]

if youve just bought the car, and likely have no idea of its past oil changes, id do what alot of new owners do and are recomended by people on here,

and that is change the pick up pipe in the sump, available from audi for about £10, and clean out the sump, and do an oil flush with an oil flush chemical. refit and new oil in.

its a wise move seeing as audis have 'long life servicing' which is oil changes every 20k, which is just silly.
you wont believe how clogged the pick up pipe can get, and it could potwentially cause oil starvation and kill your engine.

im surprised no one has mentioned it already!

 

[mstirlz05]

Thanks for the advice. Your much more help than the people on the mx5 forum lol.
Ill consider doing the pipe, but can it be done easy by your average joe?
I think it needs a temp sensor too as the temp needle shows 90 then drops to 70 continuously.
Is this normal?

 

[superkarl]

does the temp drop suddenly then go back up suddenly?
its likely temp sensor yeh, not a big or expensive fix.

the pick up pipe isnt a hugely difficult job, adds another hour or so onto an oil change.

 

[mstirlz05]

Kind of, its all over the place really. Some days when driving to work (mainly motorway) it never rises above 70. I always thought this was because the engine was being fed plenty of cold air at motorway speeds and low revs, but I have heard off many people it should stay at 90. Ill try a sensor, and give the pipe a go. Hopefully my haynes manual will guide me through it