Long Life Oil or Regular

[Turkster]

Just weighing up what type of oil service im going to ask for next at Audi.

Should i ask for LongLife or just Regular

What are the pro's and con's ?

 

[Nilz]

All the people I speak to always recommend normal as opposed to LL, just dont think it makes sense to leave an oil change for that long.

 

[_G_]

Another way to think about it is if you do a lot of short journeys then there is more wear and tear... so regular oil and regular changes are much more advisable. Regular oil can hold for 1 year/10,000 on some cars. On our turbo's and what not I tend to change it every 6k miles. I've noticed and anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong... that when I was using Long Life oil for lots of stop/start short journeys then the oil a) not only burned off quicker but it also b) degraded quicker so I had to change it at 6k anyway!!! Long life is supposed to hold for 2 years/20,000 miles but you'd be crazy to leave the same oil in the engine for that long and it wouldn't be worth it unless you had some kind of fancy gadgetry that monitored the quality of the oil. IMHO regular oil and regular changes are the way to go to prolong the life of the engine.

 

[Viking]

Another way to think about it is if you do a lot of short journeys then there is more wear and tear... so regular oil and regular changes are much more advisable. Regular oil can hold for 1 year/10,000 on some cars. On our turbo's and what not I tend to change it every 6k miles. I've noticed and anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong... that when I was using Long Life oil for lots of stop/start short journeys then the oil a) not only burned off quicker but it also b) degraded quicker so I had to change it at 6k anyway!!! Long life is supposed to hold for 2 years/20,000 miles but you'd be crazy to leave the same oil in the engine for that long and it wouldn't be worth it unless you had some kind of fancy gadgetry that monitored the quality of the oil. IMHO regular oil and regular changes are the way to go to prolong the life of the engine.

How do you know the oil degraded quicker?

As it happens, the same oil is now used by Audi for both standard service regimes and longlife service regimes. 5w 30 and VW504/507 spec.

 

[Ste_Nova]

in my passat i used long life and changed it every 5k

 

[_G_]

testing... good money paid to a good lab friend but i could write an essay on this! so i say search bobistheoilguy instead.

 

[Rom]

I would never use long life service intervals. I dont care what manufacturers say, why risk your engine over an oil change and filter?

At the very least, you could do an oil and filter change in between the long life services.

People get too caught up by manufacturers specs with regards to oil too. Most decent oils are fine.
As an example, i work for Toyota. For years they only used Mobil 1 Fully Syn 0 40. That was what Toyota GB specced. In everything, even 20 year old starlets would get it!
Then they swapped to 10 40, then 5 30, then Esso oil, now were changing to Shell. Then Prius must have 0 20. This is all from Toyota GB, not my dealer.
So the same engines they said must use a certain oil x years ago, now they say must use another.

I run whatever i have access to. In my CRX and 205 i ran 0 40, E46 was 5 30, and A3 will be 5 30 most likely.

 

[Ste_Nova]

At the very least, you could do an oil and filter change in between the long life services.

thats what i plan to do, fash with extra changes inbetween

 

[jojo]

in my passat i used long life and changed it every 5k

Kind of defeats the point of 'longlife' oil don't you think? lol

On my B5 Passat TDI sitting on 191k miles, I just use PD spec oil, and change it everytime the dash display tell me to. I change the diesel filter regularly and stick a can of Wynn's diesel clean up in it, car runs great.

Full dealer service history doesn't really mean much once your car is over 5 years old or 100k miles. So your car might be worth £500 more than my car, but I bet you I have saved well over £500 in servicing costs and maintenance by going anywhere other than back to the stealers just for the stamp in the service book!

 

[Ian-83]

If your going to stick to longlife intervals or have a DPF filter then use longlife oils only. If your going to change oil every 10k/1Year then go for PD spec oil which is 5w/40 unless you have a DPF then you still need the longlife 5w30 spec oil.

Modern oils are much more advanced than say 5-10 years ago. If you feel the need for changing it at 5/6K then go ahead but IMO it's wasting money. Same with people who say Longlife servicing is stupid, it's not designed for Joe Bloggs who does 10k a year it's been brought about by company car/lease cars whose drivers will exceed 20k possibly or more in a year. They don't want to pay for services every 10k then want to pay as little as possible while they own the car for a 3 year period. Also as they are the biggest customers of VW UK what they say they want tends to be what VW give them to keep the business.

 

[chris1008]

mine was done September last year before I bought it, I've bought the oil to do it, some castrol gtx 10w 40 from asda for a tenner. then their 5w 30 for zetec engine came on offer for £8 so i got 4 of those, I like to change mine every 6 months. I probably do about 10k a year and mostly motorway use.

I personally prefer regular oil changes rather waiting for the car to tell you when the oil has gone naff, Once a year or 12k is adequate but I'd rather do it every 6 months as an interim service then change the lot after 12 months fuel and oil filter too. It's always better to have clean oil inside your engine than having the same oil in there on a long life service.

The engine is still going to leave deposits the same as it would do with ordinary oil, but only you leave it in for longer with the fancy oil, not for me

 

[gkf9]

My car as been on a Audi AVS since I bought it with 55,000 miles on it, it now as 127,000 miles on it, it's been on long life oil all it's life. I average 16,0000 miles per year, ( all motorway miles near enough ) have it serviced everytime it tells me to and as yet no problems what so ever. Drives like new and hardly burns any oil.

This kind of service works out great for my pocket, otherwise I would be broke.

 

[Ste_Nova]

Kind of defeats the point of 'longlife' oil don't you think? lol

On my B5 Passat TDI sitting on 191k miles, I just use PD spec oil, and change it everytime the dash display tell me to. I change the diesel filter regularly and stick a can of Wynn's diesel clean up in it, car runs great.

well the car is running mint for it at 186k miles, up to 60k was 10k dealer services then long life oil every 5k, the long life is only a couple of ££ more than the standard 505.1 so i thought why not lol

 

[jojo]

well the car is running mint for it at 186k miles, up to 60k was 10k dealer services then long life oil every 5k, the long life is only a couple of ££ more than the standard 505.1 so i thought why not lol

The idea of longlife oil is to use in longlife application, that's what I'm getting at! If you are servicing 5k miles, just stick regular stuff in, and save yourself a fiver each time!!

 

[Ste_Nova]

it's £2.78 and every few cans i get a free one

 

[discostu49]

im just getting the just of this long life thread,,,,

i have just bought a 2006 a3 3.2 v6 and has just hit 40,000 miles, it has full audi service history but noticed its had 2 long life oil services and the dsg oil service, car says i have to get it in for another service in 120 days, now moving forward im only going to be doing 4k a year in this car and the majority of these miles will be short runs i take it im best avoiding the long life oil and just ask them to use normal ?

 

[LaiS3]

Hi All, I'm just new to this so apologies if I make a mistake. I have a 2007 s3 that desperately needs engine oil. The handbook says to use VW 503.01, but I can't seem to locate this please can someone assist?

 

[razza1]

As it happens, the same oil is now used by Audi for both standard service regimes and longlife service regimes. 5w 30 and VW504/507 spec.

Exactly as he says!

 

[Turkster]

some interesting views and points, so lets turn this one around a bit, your car gets an oil service every 12months or 12k miles, which ever one comes 1st, would you stick in long life or regular ?

 

[Viking]

Long life. It costs little more anyway, and better is better.

 

[AlexGSi2000]

I believe you have the 2.5TDi? - As im sure you aware its quite common for these engines to suffer from cam-wear when on long-live service intervals.
For this reason, I change my oil every 6,000 miles with fully-synthetic oil of a good brand. (not prepared to take any chances on this engine)

Other members on this forum have also advised upping the grade of oil from 5-30 to 5-40 for better protection.

Oil is cheap when compared to fuel (oil change being almost half the price of a full-tank), considering its so vital I guess it only pays to keep it fresh.

 

[Turkster]

I believe you have the 2.5TDi? - As im sure you aware its quite common for these engines to suffer from cam-wear when on long-live service intervals.
For this reason, I change my oil every 6,000 miles with fully-synthetic oil of a good brand. (not prepared to take any chances on this engine)

Other members on this forum have also advised upping the grade of oil from 5-30 to 5-40 for better protection.

Oil is cheap when compared to fuel (oil change being almost half the price of a full-tank), considering its so vital I guess it only pays to keep it fresh.

yes i do have the 2.5, I have had all 4 cams changed by Audi for new ones, so my views are to look after them the best that i can, so hence im asking about the oils,

 

[Turkster]

why is it that some sites say my car uses 5w30 and others 5w40 ? which one is the best to use ?

 

[Viking]

5w 40 is the older spec VW505.01 oil. New spec is VW504/507, so the sites using the old spec have not moved with the times, or perhaps there's an argument that irrespective of what the specifications are now, when the engine was produced it needed 5w 40 so that's it for life.

5w 30 VW504/507 for me.

 

[AlexGSi2000]

Its all about viscosities.
To put bluntly first number "5" donates its viscosity when cold - the second number "40" donates its viscosity when hot.

Manufactures will specify the oil viscosity when the car is produced with normal driving / economy in mind.
Although if you drive differently or subject the car to different conditions - it may well be beneficial to change the oil viscosity.

Say for example, you work the engine relatively hard - fast country roads / track driving, the "30" oil will not provide as much protection as "40" oil due to its viscosity at higher temperatures - the 30 will end up too thin at certain temperatures that you wouldn't normally get to if you drive normally.

I moved upto a 5-40 oil in my 2.5TDi due to my driving style, due to this cars age, even though the oil may state the old requirements im pretty damned sure its as good as a 5/30 oil where it needs to be due to the modern blend. (its not a PD engine so doesnt specify that it needs to use a certain oil with certain properties)

Im not sure if oilman is on these forums (opieoils) - but he would be able to give you a good answer.

 

[Ste_Nova]

some interesting views and points, so lets turn this one around a bit, your car gets an oil service every 12months or 12k miles, which ever one comes 1st, would you stick in long life or regular ?

or to put it another way, good oil or even better oil for a few ££ extra

 

[Viking]

Oil isn't graded by viscosity alone. A good quality 30 weight oil with good anti shear and anti wear properties will protect better than a 40 weight oil with poor properties at any temperature. A full synth 30w (proper full synth, not a hydrocracked basestock product) will always be a better choice than a semi synth 40 weigh for many reasons.

When choosing an oil, don't look at one factor, look at the whole package.

 

[Illusion-Paul]

I am looking to get some oil for a change and noticed this:

Mobil 1 ESP Formula 5W-30 - Mobil 1 UK

It doesn't say it, but is it longlife ? i was looking to change the servicing intervals to 10k anyway.

Anyone used this oil?

Thanks

 

[Peter Punter]

Oil isn't graded by viscosity alone. A good quality 30 weight oil with good anti shear and anti wear properties will protect better than a 40 weight oil with poor properties at any temperature. A full synth 30w (proper full synth, not a hydrocracked basestock product) will always be a better choice than a semi synth 40 weigh for many reasons.

When choosing an oil, don't look at one factor, look at the whole package.

Spot on Not only will a higher quality oil protect the engine better, in the long run it will give better fuel economy. You should check the API and ACEA rating as well as the grade.

 

[Peter Punter]

Hi All, I'm just new to this so apologies if I make a mistake. I have a 2007 s3 that desperately needs engine oil. The handbook says to use VW 503.01, but I can't seem to locate this please can someone assist?

Hi LaiS3

Bardahl XTC 0w40 has the VW503.01 approval. It's a very high quality, full Saps oil. It is formulated to cope with extreme conditions and improve fuel economy.

Cheers,

Peter.

 

[drmole]

Hi LaiS3

Bardahl XTC 0w40 has the VW503.01 approval. It's a very high quality, full Saps oil. It is formulated to cope with extreme conditions and improve fuel economy.

Cheers,

Peter.

As Peter Said LaiS3 Bardahl offer an oil with the VW503.01 approval you need. if you would like any more infomation your welcome to contact me via pm or on darrenrobertsprd@hotmail.co.uk and i can give you the infomation

Dar :thumbsup: