1st Long life service done

Jax · Sep 28, 2016

Ok... so my local garage I've used for years have just done my first longlife inspection and oil service @ 19000 as indicated necessary by my car.

Gone into the computer today (morning after service) and it says I need an oil service in 9000 miles/364 days

And inspection service at 18700/364

Has that been done right? Is it still set to long life servicing or am I now on standard?

We discussed a long life service initially but doesn't state anything in paperwork.

What do we think? Ta xx

richinsoton · Sep 28, 2016

It looks like they reset the indicator to annual rather than long life oil services to me unfortunately.

Gazwould · Sep 28, 2016

But the LongLife intervals are bad anyway.

AndyT306 · Sep 28, 2016

yeah they've reset it wrong

Jax · Sep 28, 2016

What's the difference service wise... long life against standard? Is there one.... or is it literally just a different time set on the computer?

AndyT306 · Sep 28, 2016

they are supposed to use different oil which can last longer under certain driving conditions, if they haven't used it, then your computer is right

if they have used it, then your computer is wrong

Gazwould · Sep 28, 2016

Dpf low saps and LongLife oil is one and the same 507.00 .

Terminator x · Sep 28, 2016

People seem to suggest annual (or 9k miles) servicing although using the long life oil which is "better".

TX.

KenL · Sep 28, 2016

Definitely wrong I'm afraid.

If they reset it as mine is looking now it should be 730 days and ~18 000 miles for both.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

As TX says^^^
It doesn't matter if they use 'Longlife' oil for fixed servicing....
Your car in the long run will be better off if you service it every twelve months...
If you want to save on the pennies then set it to 'Longlife'

Jax said:
What's the difference service wise... long life against standard? Is there one.... or is it literally just a different time set on the computer?

Long life is set up for keeping fleet costs down.That is the only reason for it.The computer monitors driving conditions and mileage and adjusts accordingly the service intervals..
Fixed servicing is as it says..Service every twelve months... :friends:

KenL · Sep 28, 2016

Gazwould said:
But the LongLife intervals are bad anyway.

Not if the car is having an easy life - it is absolutely fine. The cars leave the factory set up this way.

A3Kent · Sep 28, 2016

KenL said:
Not if the car is having an easy life - it is absolutely fine. The cars leave the factory set up this way.

Agreed. You'd hope that Audi who have spent millions on research and development, would know what they are doing.

If people want to blow money away on pointless servicing then let them get on with it.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

KenL said:
Not if the car is having an easy life - it is absolutely fine. The cars leave the factory set up this way.

Old oil in engines is not a good thing regardless of how easy or hard the engine has been run

Gazwould · Sep 28, 2016

A3Kent said:
Agreed. You'd hope that Audi who have spent millions on research and development, would know what they are doing.

If people want to blow money away on pointless servicing then let them get on with it.

The LongLife intervals are purely for fleet marketing to make the servicing look cheap , whilst better engineered the oil and better than most , it's still is snake oil marketing .

I'm so glad mine only ever had one 19k interval , it's first , now on 175K .

AndyT306 · Sep 28, 2016

as i'm only planning to keep my car 3/4 years, having one longlife and handing it back to Audi seems perfect

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

Gazwould said:
The LongLife intervals are purely for fleet marketing to make the servicing look cheap , whilst better engineered the oil and better than most , it's still is snake oil marketing .

I'm so glad mine only ever had one 19k interval , it's first , now on 175K .

About this time last year I had an engine blow on my A3 8p Quattro.It had full dealer history and was on Long Life schedule.It had just covered 70k when it failed due to oil starvation of the top end...
The cause was due to the oil pick up pipe getting blocked with oil debris(gunk)..
If it had Fixed servicing this would not have happened...

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

AndyT306 said:
as i'm only planning to keep my car 3/4 years, having one longlife and handing it back to Audi seems perfect

Not for the poor sod who buys it ...lol

AndyT306 · Sep 28, 2016

pburv said:
Not for the poor sod who buys it ...lol

not my problem

my brother in law works for VW and he recommends not going down the longlife route unless you really are a motorway user most of the time - he's seen some come in after 19k with reasonable looking oil, and some that look like they've been lubricated with licorice

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

AndyT306 said:
not my problem

my brother in law works for VW and he recommends not going down the longlife route unless you really are a motorway user most of the time - he's seen some come in after 19k with reasonable looking oil, and some that look like they've been lubricated with licorice

Ha Ha ....
I'm a strong believer of 'karma' .....That's why the first thing I did with my new car was change the oil schedule to fixed...
I wouldn't want to pass on the experience of my last car onto anyone else...It wasn't pleasant... :sadlike:

I just wonder what 'karma' threw back at the last owner of my 8p? :scared2:

AndyT306 · Sep 28, 2016

i think my C6 had a fairly hard life before me... but I've always serviced it as Audi have instructed and it's never let me down - they only moved me onto longlife when my mileage went up, and specifically asked what kind of journeys I was doing

i think the people who see it as a cost saving method are the ones that get bitten - having a VW tech in the family i'd be more inclined to get him to change the oil if i think it needed it

richinsoton · Sep 28, 2016

AndyT306 said:
not my problem

my brother in law works for VW and he recommends not going down the longlife route unless you really are a motorway user most of the time - he's seen some come in after 19k with reasonable looking oil, and some that look like they've been lubricated with licorice

I believe that's the whole issue with long life servicing, people choose it mistakenly believing they only need a service every two years which will cost them less in the short term when in fact they're a low mileage user & should be on the 9k / annual servicing routine due to the increased length of time their car spends in the warm up phase / stop start cycle & would benefit from an annual oil change & avoiding the whole engine becoming carboned up issue.
Personally I'm on the longlife schedule as I do in excess of 24k miles annually & have been doing so on previous cars also without any carbon / sludge / oil burning issues as it's appropriate to my usage. If you're low mileage / short journeys annual servicing is the way to go.

S32B · Sep 28, 2016

£30k+ car, £200 oil service each year to keep it running well = Common sense!

It's a bit confusing the service indicator on the mmi, Had mine serviced in March and was expecting another oils service March 2017, yet I've just been outside and it's showing:

Which is mid June!!! But on the miles side the inspection is first!!!

Flying Scotsman · Sep 28, 2016

The point is if you are puttering down to the shops, doing virtually no motorway or extended driving journeys, stop and go city traffic.Then changing your oil/filter at a minimum of 12 months is a necessity. Personally, I do it every 6 months. Why? the majority of my driving is city and 40 minute commutes. Oil is the lifeblood of your engine.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

S32B said:
£30k+ car, £200 oil service each year to keep it running well = Common sense!

It's a bit confusing the service indicator on the mmi, Had mine serviced in March and was expecting another oils service March 2017, yet I've just been outside and it's showing:

View attachment 104862

Which is mid June!!! But on the miles side the inspection is first!!!

There's man maths .........and there's MMI maths...Go figure ...lol

Flying Scotsman · Sep 28, 2016

£30k+ car, £200 oil service each year to keep it running well = Common sense!

Wow, that is expensive...I get just a dealer oil/filter change only for $120.00 Canadian....about 60 quid. Note only oil/filter, no other service work. I do this between annual service dates

h5djr · Sep 28, 2016

I've so far had nine A3 of various models. All have been on Longlife service. All have done between 30 and 40k for the just under 3 years I've owned them and I have never had any engine problems with any of them. I currently do around 14k a year, including at least four 450 mile motorway journeys to Germany or Holland. My current A3 184 TDI is set for Longlife and had it's first service at 19k. It may need the next service at 38k before I trade-in for a new one and it may not.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

h5djr said:
I've so far had nine A3 of various models. All have been on Longlife service. All have done between 30 and 40k for the just under 3 years I've owned them and I have never had any engine problems with any of them. I currently do around 14k a year, including at least four 450 mile motorway journeys to Germany or Holland. My current A3 184 TDI is set for Longlife and had it's first service at 19k. It may need the next service at 38k before I trade-in for a new one and it may not.

You may not have had problems but have the new owners?

S32B · Sep 28, 2016

Just called them up to ask what is what. Some stupid woman on the 'booking in desk' at Cheshire Oaks didn't know what she was on about and hung up on me after I told her she wasn't answering the question I had asked and could I speak to a person that does the servicing side!

So I rang Liverpool Audi service dept:

For the S3: After one year on the road = Oil service.
After 2 years = Inspection, the oil is made to last 19,000 mile on the S models, every 12 months for the RS models. So if you haven't done 19,000 since the oil was last changed we will not change the oil.

I then rang Crewe Audi (Seemed to be more knowledgable):

For the S3: After one year on the road = Oil service.
The mmi will tell you to come in for inspection after 2 years on the road. Once the year 2 inspection is done set it to long life servicing. After that follow the mmi as it monitors how the oil is flowing and calls you in when needed, the oil should last for 19,000 mile, BUT depending on how/where you drive it can ask you to change it sooner, so if you do low miles/town driving then yes it may need another oil change in year 2 and before it has done the 19,000 mile since the last change.

So for me next year will be inspection and oil change, I asked how much roughly that will be = £340.

I only throw in £1000 deposit on the car, I'm virtually even on what the car is worth/what I owe, so I may as well put that £340 towards the £1000 and get another new car before that service is due = Man maths

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

S32B said:
Just called them up to ask what is what. Some stupid woman on the 'booking in desk' at Cheshire Oaks didn't know what she was on about and hung up on me after I told her she wasn't answering the question I had asked and could I speak to a person that does the servicing side!

So I rang Liverpool Audi service dept:

For the S3: After one year on the road = Oil service.
After 2 years = Inspection, the oil is made to last 19,000 mile on the S models, every 12 months for the RS models. So if you haven't done 19,000 since the oil was last changed we will not change the oil.

I then rang Crewe Audi (Seemed to be more knowledgable):

For the S3: After one year on the road = Oil service.
The mmi will tell you to come in for inspection after 2 years on the road. Once the year 2 inspection is done set it to long life servicing. After that follow the mmi as it monitors how the oil is flowing and calls you in when needed, the oil should last for 19,000 mile, BUT depending on how/where you drive it can ask you to change it sooner, so if you do low miles/town driving then yes it may need another oil change in year 2 and before it has done the 19,000 mile since the last change.

So for me next year will be inspection and oil change, I asked how much roughly that will be = £340.

I only throw in £1000 deposit on the car, I'm virtually even on what the car is worth/what I owe, so I may as well put that £340 towards the £1000 and get another new car before that service is due = Man maths

No matter what the 'boffins' say....Man Maths is always correct..
So then ...What car you going for then?

KenL · Sep 28, 2016

pburv said:
About this time last year I had an engine blow on my A3 8p Quattro.It had full dealer history and was on Long Life schedule.It had just covered 70k when it failed due to oil starvation of the top end...
The cause was due to the oil pick up pipe getting blocked with oil debris(gunk)..
If it had Fixed servicing this would not have happened...

I don't think you can say this with complete certainty.

For me, I am renting this car for three years and handing it back.

If Audi (and virtually every other manufacturer) are saying that flexible servicing is OK then that is good enough for me.

I check my oil regularly. If it looks black after 10k miles then I will get it changed.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

KenL said:
I don't think you can say this with complete certainty.

For me, I am renting this car for three years and handing it back.

If Audi (and virtually every other manufacturer) are saying that this is OK then that is good enough for me.

I check my oil regularly. If it looks black after 10k miles then I will get it changed.

I get what your saying mate...The point i'm on about is the damage 'LongLife' service does to engines further down line... i'm speaking from first hand experience of owning such a vehicle and I can assure you the engine failure was down to poor service regime.... Put it this way if I was after a used car and saw two with identical mileage and price but one had 'long life and the other had fixed service schedules then logic says I would go for the one which had more service stamps..

KenL · Sep 28, 2016

If you have absolute proof that long life servicing damages cars then perhaps take this up with the manufacturer.

Personally I do not see that the service regime will be the full cause. Perhaps people driving the cars poorly is partially to blame?

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

KenL said:
If you have absolute proof that long life servicing damages cars then perhaps take this up with the manufacturer.

Personally I do not see that the service regime will be the full cause. Perhaps people driving the cars poorly is partially to blame?

I did and got 90% good will gesture towards a new engine..As for absolute proof well you got me there but the techie who dealt with the engine change said it was likely due to the service life of the oil..

S32B · Sep 28, 2016

pburv said:
No matter what the 'boffins' say....Man Maths is always correct..
So then ...What car you going for then?

I was looking at some more run of the mill/practical cars....but then when you boot the S3 it does make you smile

So the list as of today:

1) Another 3 door S3 (white).
2) The new A5 coupe is still on the list (white and gangster glass).
3) TT S-line quattro (white), but it only comes in lazy-tronic

if I want a manual quattro TT I need to go up to the TTS! Which is odd.
4) The new Q2! (white).

I took a TT (non quattro) for a test when they had mine for the service. I found it skipped around a bit on the front end when you booted it, which I didn't like! obviously quattro would sort that out.

h5djr · Sep 28, 2016

pburv said:
You may not have had problems but have the new owners?

I have only known one of the 'next owners' and I see him once in a while as he runs a local tyre depot. He has never said anything about have any engine problems only to say how well it went for a 150TDI. At that point in did mention that it had been 'chipped' to 175 bhp. Ah! that explains it was his reply - Great car!
When I own my A3s they are always under warranty so if there are only problems they are down to Audi. Not that long ago cars used to require oil changes every 3,000 miles, then every 6,000, then every 12,000, and then once a year if you do less that 10,000. I currently do around 14k a year and 19k for a Longlife is fine with me. Perhaps if I did a lot more miles it would be different.

Gazwould · Sep 28, 2016

pburv said:
I did and got 90% good will gesture towards a new engine..As for absolute proof well you got me there but the techie who dealt with the engine change said it was likely due to the service life of the oil..

Lucky really , guess you didn't tell them Bosco Albert had been driving it .

steeve · Sep 28, 2016

Sadly this is what you get with some independents. They are not able to log the service on the vehicle history or check for updates either. But you pays your money and make your choice.

Flying Scotsman · Sep 28, 2016

I am going to get on my hobby horse on this one

. People today do not check oil levels, tire pressures, radiator coolant levels etc. They depend on nanny warnings for everything, even one, for if you are wandering allover the road.Then they complain when something goes awry and state " well the manufacturer" The manufacturer has a weasel clause.....Extreme service intervals (short journeys, cold weather, etc.) this is for about 75% of users) and then Normal service intervals. It is your car you decide what suits you, but I care about my car and am proud to hand it over in good nick and get a good trade in price.
Yes, I know some lease guys are going to say so what, but then you are not a car guy.

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

S32B said:
I was looking at some more run of the mill/practical cars....but then when you boot the S3 it does make you smile

So the list as of today:

1) Another 3 door S3 (white).
2) The new A5 coupe is still on the list (white and gangster glass).
3) TT S-line quattro (white), but it only comes in lazy-tronic if I want a manual quattro TT I need to go up to the TTS! Which is odd.
4) The new Q2! (white).

I took a TT (non quattro) for a test when they had mine for the service. I found it skipped around a bit on the front end when you booted it, which I didn't like! obviously quattro would sort that out.

I like your train of thought mister....lol
Given your choice it would have to be between the TT and S3...In white of course... :friends:

pburv · Sep 28, 2016

Gazwould said:
Lucky really , guess you didn't tell them Bosco Albert had been driving it .

Luckier than you think mate...It was 3 months outside of warranty....A lot of people slag off Audi Uk and in some cases I can understand but in my case they stood by me all the way with the warranty claim as did my local dealership North Wales Audi....
ps I will never buy a car from Shrewsbury Audi again( I will leave it at that!)

1st Long life service done

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