I sympathize with following the expert’s advice, but in my many years I have seen many “experts” proven totally wrong. Pick an expert, medical, engineer, home repair, etc. etc. We can blindly follow advice or use our own common sense or intuition to protect ourselves rather than suffer the results of an expert being wrong. I’m not against experts, they are just not super-human and of course are products of the pressures of their own organizations. Many homes have been rotting away due to expert advice on construction as an example. Wanna be the one whose $400,000 stucco house is condemned now (unless the bank owns it all)?
Agreed, I don’t think a lawsuit is warranted. I do think the maintenance minder on an expensive vehicle should take driving style into account. Hell, GM can do it on a 2005 Buick, apparently (I don’t follow that and change it at 5k regardless, but that’s beside the point). The manufacturer using the blanket 20k or 1 year change interval (if that’s indeed what they do), on a twin turbo performance vehicle makes it partially their fault if there are oil related failures at low mileage, in my opinion. And if you need to let the turbos cool at idle (I’m pretty familiar with this as the majority of our equipment has turbos), that should be stated in the owner’s manual. It may be, for all I know. But…I kinda doubt it.
I hear ya. But we always say “read the owner’s manual”. Now we seem to be saying “you should’ve known better than what the owner’s manual said”. I just don’t know how the average person with no mechanical experience or knowledge is supposed to know better than what the manual states.
2 Likes
Agree I know some trucks have that feature I think it should be standard with all turbo vechiles with turbos with no way to bypass it I have seen more turbos go bad from not letting time to cool down than other problems with them.
1 Like
They have real maintenance computers, “up to 20,000 miles” will be much shorter with city driving.
3 Likes
So you are abusing the car if you use all the power the turbo will give you and don’t idle the car to cool it down, which I will guess is not in the owners manual. I am not in favor of turbocharged auto engines in autos.
I love turbocharged engines in class 8 trucks. They revolutionized trucking. The first time I drove a 1972 212 hp 6 cylinder mack, I was astounded. With a 40,000+ lb load I never dropped below 40 mph the entire length of the PA turnpike and it only had a 5 speed transmission. The 250 hp non turbo Cummins with 10 or 13 speed transmissions would have been lucky to maintain 25 mph on some of those grades. The non turbo engines had to be kept between 1800 and 2100 rpms The turbo Mack ran from 1200 to 2000 rpm with almost the same hp and torque.
But Diesel truck engines are built very strongly and the drivers were all told to cool down the turbo for 5 minutes at the end of a trio. I used the time to catch up on my log book.
I think with turbo cars, you can choose between power, fuel economy and longevity, pick any two.
1 Like
Cars can get expensive, daughters boyfreind bought a used truck a month ago, trouble shifting into 4wd, now in the shop due to odd noise, they are hoping a bad bearing, but would not be surprised at a 4 grand bill. I was not involved in purchase or suggestions, hoping for the best.
1 Like
Off topic but your cool down procedure reminded me of the neighbor kid back in the 60’s. He had a Valiant and when he would get home late at night he would race the engine in the driveway for a couple minutes. He parked right outside my bedroom window. Guess he was trying put an extra charge in the battery but I thought it was kinda dumb. I’m sure it didn’t have a turbo but he was already trained for one.
Most A8 drivers don’t seem to be the “rode hard put up wet” type.
With more than 400 horsepower I can’t imagine Bellgirl engaging in a lot of full throttle driving, this car can move along swiftly with little turbo boost. Brakes and tires for luxury cars cost in the thousands, that kind of driving is expensive, this is not a street racer.
You are talking about road tractors that move 40 tons of weight, a 5000 lb sedan does not generate that type of heat.
2 Likes
When I look up the 2013 Audi maintenance schedule at audiusa.com, I don’t see the 20K OCI interval. I only see every 5K.
1 Like
Read that PDF carefully… it is VERY confusing. Oil change at 5K, then at 15K, then at 25K, then 35K and on. The columns show what needs to be done at each mile interval and oil changes are required for every one.
So 1st change at 5000 and every 10,000 (or 1) year after.
My 2014 Audi is the same but we don’t put the miles on it so it gets changed every year. The car tells us when it is due and it comes up at 12 months.
Do you plan to fix it?
I agree. These extremely long oil change intervals are partially to blame. The whole idea behind them was marketing showing this vehicle was cheaper to own because you didn’t have to do as much maintenance. Probably was for the first 7+ years. But then the long term effects of those long oil change intervals started creeping in.
4 Likes
Thanks Mustangman for spotting that. I missed it.
That 2013 A8 Audi does have the larger oil capacity (7.2 qts).
1 Like
Could be driving style too. Drive 10 miles 2-3 times each day? Hot-cold-hot. Or once a week for 25 miles? Excessive coking? Sludging?
Yep, 40k service says replace turbos. Ha. Before motor dies.
A8, awd, turbo. Must look like reactor under the hood. And folks complain about pulling Subaru motor.
Also, I read that some European brands increased the volume of their oil sumps to extend oil change intervals. Hypothetically, the increased level of additives would extend oil life before breakdown starts.
It’s not unusual for a Euro 6 cyl 3.0 liter engine to have an oil capacity of 8-9 quarts. A Silverado 5.3 liter takes 6. The added volume of oil itself would allow a longer change interval. More oil to lubricate, absorb contaminants, and maintain additive packages (assuming the proper oil is used).
The OP states she had service done at the dealer, so the use of the proper filter shouldn’t be an issue. But there’s no way I would ever use a Fram or store brand filter in a EuroLux engine.
The site I checked only listed the 5/25/45 etc. changes. The com;lete list is confusing. I don’t think one year or 10,000 miles is adequate for a high performance turbo engine but Audi says differently. Hard to fault the owner for following the factory recommendation.If using the full performance of car requires shorter oil changes, the manual should say so and the maintenance light should come on sooner to reflect the amount of time at full throttle.
1 Like
The problem is that people did oil changes once a year, if that often, on their NA economy cars and got away with it. They used whatever oil and filter were on sale, or whatever the local Jiffy Lube provides, and got away with it.
Then, as their career advances, etc, they buy a fancier car and treat it the same as they treated their 1990’s Corolla/Escort/Cavalier/etc. and the car suffers costly mechanical problems. The question, of course, is how much of this is the fault of the owners/previous owners, and how much of this is due to poor design.
It does seem that some of these “high performance” engines have problems with timing chain tensioners, guides, etc, even when maintained by the book using the manufacturer’s recommended type of oil. In a non-performance application, such as the Chrysler 2.7L V-6, it is generally accepted that the engine is a piece of **** and that widespread failures are not the customer’s fault.