Oil change time

[scottshere]

Hi all,

Its that time where my service light came on a couple of days ago and today my min oil light came on the dash tonight
I am a tad concerned about the min oil light coming on, is this normal?

Does anyone have a guide for doing the oil change as im not sure how to get the undertray off to get to the sump plug
Which oil would you recomend for a 53 plate 1.9tdi?

Going to be getting cold hands this sunday

 

[marktdisport]

how often do you check your oil will determine if its normal lol...... if you aint checked it from last oil change then its normal if you checked it last sunday then you have a problem.....old diesels will pass so much oil through the turbo oil seals etc but all depends how the turbo/engine is looked after i.e not thrashed from cold left 30 secs after decent runs to cool etc

 

[scottshere]

To be honest, i havent checked the oil for about a month or more. I remember it being about half way (i think) and planned to do an oil change after the cold weather clears. So its just been brought forward. I will have to keep an eye on it after the change as ive not had the car long and this will be the first change ive done.
I am concerned about getting the under tray off as i havent got a clue until i have a look at it. Hopefully i dont need any specific tool or spare clips to replace as they might break easy.

Ive seen Castrol Edge 5W30 for £38 at halfords or £35 at Asda.
I have heard good reviews about Quantum but not really got the time to wait for an online purchase to arrive if my oil low light is on have i.
Will get the oil filter from the main dealer though

 

[les hook]

I got my oil and a filter from Euro Car Parts in Leeds for £34, the undertray came off easily, just twist the fasteners and remove them, make sure you don't loose them as they are hard to get.

 

[spartacus 68]

I'd buy a genuine oil filter from Audi. It's cheap. Also pick up a copper sump washer while you're there. On the subject of oil, then any oil that meets VAG specification will do. I use Castrol Edge 5w30 in my 2.5 TDI V6 and my wife's A2 1.4 TDI and replace every 10k. Costco sometimes do deals. Check out Castrol's site - just type in your car registration. Engine Oil and Lubricants Castrol UK - Engine Oil and Lubricant Products

I tend to avoid engine flush treatments before changing the oil. Removing the plastic engine under-tray is straight forward. It's normally held on with twist locking fasteners. However I've found these vibrate free, so I've replaced mine with nylon zip-ties. There is usually a 10mm plastic nut under the wheel arch. Remove them, then undo the fasteners. The tray will drop down with a little persuasion!

With the engine tray off - the important thing is to get the car up to operating temperature. Take it for a 15 minute drive. Sure you can drop the sump plug while the engine is cold, but if you're paying top dollar for decent oil, then it makes sense to get as much of the old oil out before you refill.

Get the car raised, use axle stands and chock the rear wheels. The oil will be hot, so watch you don't scold yourself. While you leave it to drain - you can replace the oil filter. Use a smear of clean engine oil on the rubber gasket on the filter before tightening.

Replace sump washer and torque sump bolt. Refill oil to correct capacity. It's useful if you know the engine oil capacity - as it saves checking the dipstick every time. Also ensures you don't overfill. Audi will be able to confirm exactly.

 

[AndyMac]

It's 4.5 litres on the 1.9TDi as I've just done mine. But don't put all of it in as there is always residual oil left after draining. I got OEM Mann filter and 5 litres of Fuchs VAG oil for under £30 from GSF
On the TDi always perform regular oil changes 6-10k miles as this will prolong the life of the turbo. Personally I wouldn't spend £40 on longlife oil, as I've seen the state of it after 15k miles!

 

[klix11]

Is the oil filter changed from under the car? Or from top

Reason I ask is because... When I got my service done the chap opened something else beside the sump and alot more oil came out... Im guessing it was the bottom part of the oil filter? Then he put the filter in from the top ?

 

[Springer*]

Serviced my 2003 Audi A4 1.9 TDi (130) Quattro Sport last weekend after the service indicator came on.

Pretty easy really, though as usual some parts are fiddly as Audi typically leave very little room to access some parts in the engine bay.

Ran the car for 10 mins or so to get it up to temperature and then stuck it up on the ramps.

Removed the undertray and the oil sump is right at the front in the centre.

Removed the engine cover on top of the engine by undoing the 4 nuts (10mm socket). The oil filter housing is pretty central and to the right as you look at the car from the front.

Place the oil drain tray under the sump and loosen the plug. It took a 19mm socket. Mine had been tightened too tight by the previous owner but eventually it came loose. Worth knowing that the plug thread is about 1.5cm long and the plug will pop off quite quickly under the pressure of the oil behind it so be ready to catch it when it does.

I'm not sure of the exact capacity of the sump but they are usually about twice the engine capacity, so in my case roughly 4 litres of black old oil came out.

While that was draining I tried to loosen the oil filter housing using a socket with strap. This was quite annoying because there is very little room to move the socket around to get a decent grip on the filter housing. Eventually it loosened though and I slowly unscrewed it and removed the filter.

As expected its pretty oily and so its worth maybe placing a cloth or some kitchen roll around it to catch any drips.

Clean out the filter housing as it does hold quite a bit of the old oil in the bottom.

Pull the old filter off the lid of the housing and clean it up.

Stick the new clean oil filter on the stalk until it clips into place.

Replace the rubber seal on the housing lid just above the screw thread and replace the small rubber seal at the bottom of the stalk too.

Replace the new filter in the housing and screw the lid on until its tight. As ever, don't over tighten it as it could break the housing.

By now the old oil should've completely drained out so clean up the drain hole on the sump, replace the sump plug washer (not absolutely essential if the old on is still in decent condition. Just be sure it doesn't leak that's all) and then refit the sump plug.

There will be an official torque setting for this but I've never used it and just tighten the plug sufficiently to avoid any leaks and not damage the screw thread.

I put in 3.8 litres of Comma "PD-Oil" which is full VW 505.01 spec and is a fully-synthetic 5w 30 oil. Decent stuff.

Allow the oil to settle and then check the dipstick to bring it up to the correct level if required.

Then refit the engine cover and the undertray and you're done.

The whole job took me about an hour (mainly because the daylight went as I was under the car trying to refit the undertray lol!) and the car seems to run a bit smoother and quieter since.

Does anyone know how to reset the service indicator on the dash by the way?

The whole thing cost me about £25 all in (I got the oil at cost through a mate) and an hour of my time. Far cheaper then the £100 or so a garage would've charged.

J

 

[stu_m]

To reset the indicator press and hold the spanner button turn ignition on then press the trip button '00' remembering to keep hold of the spanner button the whole time

Nice write up by the way

 

[scottshere]

Thanks for all the feedback guys, and the write ups on exactly what to look out for. This is going to help lots
I aint too bad with the old spanners, it just helps sooooo much when you know where your going and what miss or not

Tomorrow is my day off, so up the ramps it will go and on with the job....

Thanks again all

 

[AndyMac]

You can get an oil filter removal tool specifically for the B6 for about £10 from GSF. It's basically a huge hex socket that fits on top of the filter housing, so plenty of room to remove it. Well worth the money if you're going to be doing this regularly. Removal & refitting the undertray is the most painful part of the process!

 

[scottshere]

All done, and didnt take too long. Need to get a new undertray though at mine is hammered. Nice big hole in it.
Taking the oil filter off was a bit of a head twister for a few seconds. Im used to them being upside down and metal
A rubber strap around the top and off it came. The one i took out looked slightly different with plastic ends. The new one from Audi hand no plastic and flat ends, unlike the old one. Im guessing it was a none genuine one
Got a new sump nut too, just to be 100%. For £2 its worth it

Think i might have to flush it out on the next oil change as it went pretty dark right away

 

[PhilW]

Forget laying on the floor getting cold, just buy an oil extractor. I can do an oil change in about 10 minutes now, if that.

 

[Mike B]

The oil in a diesel always goes black quickly.Flushing could be good but adds to the fiddle.Sump guards often suffer and I dont think that a new one is cost effective

 

[WelshBoa]

Sorry appreciate an old thread but saves starting a new one. I've always had VWs but have an audi b6 1.9tdi not sure of the engine or whether it's been on a long life service. A local audi Indy has quoted a service using 5w40 oil but doing a search some use that and some as in this thread recommend the 5w30....

 

[Gazwould]

No competition .

507.00 5W30 LongLife is VW's finest oil .

Just use as a normal oil , 1 year / 10K max .

 

[WelshBoa]

Thanks for clearing that up.... Seems strange a "specialist" wouldn't recommend that - guess it comes down to cost?

 

[Mike.M]

I always get Petronas Engine Oil (Syntium 3000 AV 5w40) and have set my car to fixed serving but do oil changes every 6 months as have never liked long life services....too long I my opinion.

 

[Gazwould]

Cost is strange , it can be had from as little as £21 for 5 L from egay UK brand Comline . And VW's own brand Quantum £27 .

I would expect both oils pdf spec sheets to be identical .

The 5W40 Petronas oil above is 505.01 and as the web chart above suggests it isn't as good as 507.00 LongLife .

This is information is also confirmed here.

 

[Gazwould]

People get the blinkered vision that LongLife oil is for just for LongLife silly service intervals of 2 years and 20K and that the Oil Police will arrest them for using it for 1 year 10K .

 

[Mike.M]

I don't get blinkered by longlife oils as use it every 6 month on the wife's fsi golf when I do mine at the same time....just don't see the point of using the same stuff on my PD for the short interval changes I do

 

[Gazwould]

Because its better for the prevention of wear , piston deposits and sludge .

Not to mention better after-treatment compatability and fuel economy .

I can't see the point either


You might as well buy 504.00 /507.00 to service both the fsi and tdi in bulk at a reduced cost and save money .

There you go, 6 reasons .

 

[Mike.M]

Nope......not clicked LOL

 

[Bbflex]

The PD lump is quite fussy with oils due to the nature of its design, as it runs its injectors of the cam the lobes are a lot narrower than the usual cam in most engines this in turn increases wear rate and why 507 oil is recommended, good quality oil and frequent changes is the best way to keep the PD running for moon miles.

I used to do 5k oil changes on mine with quantum long life, as I was running 210bhp the more frequent changes where to aid with the extra stress on the engine, the last 2 cars iv owned have near 8 litres of oil in the sump so have gone to 10k changes again.

Oh I found Mobil 1 was quite good, made the PD engine a bit quieter compared to the quantum longlife, but it was hard to justify the price difference.

 

[Ro55]

So from what ive read,longlife is ok,just change it earlier than than your suppose too?