Yes it is! A plastic plug with an O-ring to seal it.
Why Audi didn’t put a dipstick in it is beyond my comprehension since the tube is already there.
The manufacturers of German luxury marques seem to like loooong options lists.
Did you ever take a look at the options available on Porsches? What starts out as a fairly-expensive car can wind-up being mind-bogglingly expensive if someone is tempted to add a lot of options to a Porsche.
I think it has more to do with locking down every possible source of HC emissions. A loose (not all the way in) dipstick is a potential source. It would also mess with the PCV system.
I agree with @texases to a point. My other cars have O-ring seals on the dipstick to seal the tubes. Not sure why Audi just wouldn’t leave off the tube assembly and the plug. Oh, and the plug has finger grips on it.
Oh yeah! Metallic paint is a higher cost option, big brake or carbon brake options. Yeah, base price $95K, real price $135K. It is a good business if you can get folks to pony up the cash! Porsche has always had the Sonderwünsch, or special-wish appointments for clients desiring custom features. Small volume, high profit manufacturers can do this!
One of my favorite Porsche options is the ‘leather trimmed air vents’…
1 Like
Audi certainly says change the oil at 10k miles.
What everyone always overlooks is the disclaimer. Direct from AudiUSA below. And ALL cars meet the severe service disclaimer. “Such as…” and “etc” also covers other factors besides the 2 shown.
The intervals shown in this table are based on vehicles operating under normal conditions. In case of severe conditions, such as extremely low temperatures, excessive dust, etc., it is necessary for certain operations to be carried out in between the given intervals. This applies particularly to engine oil changes and the cleaning or replacing of the air cleaner filter element.
The dust bowl sounds like an awful place to live but there must be places in the U.S. without extremely low temperatures and dust storms.
We used to follow the severe service schedule 20 years ago but today’s vehicles are better engineered for common use.
That would take 40 years for the average city resident and would be an unusual goal, it takes much longer to accumulate miles when the traffic lights are 1/4 mile apart. I see 20 year old vehicles with 200,000 plus miles on them but those have little in common with modern vehicles and synthetic oil changes.
I have to respectfuly disagree. Engineering and synthetic oil has nothing to do with it. Engine clearances are the same as in the past and synthetic oil has no advantage over dino oil except for one factor. That is that synthetic stands up to heat better than dino oil. Synthetic gets contaminated just as easily as dino oil.
Note Audi’s words. “Such as…” and “etc”. There’s more to it than dust. There’s driving habits, humidity, state of tune, fuel quaity, etc, etc.
Nevada, have you ever worked for a new car franchise? I have both as a mechanic, service manager, and shop foreman. More than a few times I’ve had to stand at the service counter and listen to someone rant or cry in their beer because their 2 year old, 30k miles car has oil sludge issues or major mechanical problems.
The common denominator in all of those complaints is extended oil change intervals.
We had a Subaru in with 15k miles on it and it had a rod knock. The car owner was told that early oil changes was a thing of the past so he never changed it.
Another had 25k miles and was wiped to the point of not being repairable.
In another forum a lady was upset because her 25k miles from new Nissan had a wiped engine. The cause? Never changing the motor oil.
I’ve related in the past about a dealer I worked for who bought 35 or so Chevy fleet cars. They all had 35-40k miles on them and all were sludged to oblivion. The cause? The company that owned the cars had the oil changed at 10k miles intervals and all of the cars spent their life in city traffic. They all smoked badly.
I was one of the saps who (during slow spells) had to pull one from the back lot and clean the valve train up as much as possible. And yes, it was a royal pain in the neck.
Just my 2 cents.
You have to consider the advancements in high pressure fuel injection, variable valve timing and sealing of the crank case from contaminants as factors in keeping the oil clean.
Drain oil from a 1970’s or '80’s car looks like black paint after 3,000 miles, the drain oil from a late 2000 hybrid looks like root beer after 5,000 miles, big difference in the level of contamination with modern cars.
I have worked for the past 30 years at new car dealers, when I am not performing recalls I have to perform maintenance services. In 1995 my shop foreman lost his job at the Chrysler dealer that I was working at and had to take a job as the service manager at the nearby Subaru dealer, they have a very low sales volume in the desert.
Ok4450, i really appreciate your input on this!!! My previous 4 cars were all purchased brand new so that I would be the one to break the car in and do proper maintenance.
I just purchased a 2015 Audi in November, 2017 with 35k miles. In looking at the maintenance records i see that the oil was changed at 5k, 15k, 25k and 35k. It has 39k now and I asked about changing the oil. The dealership said that according to the car’s sensor i should wait at least 4 more more months or 6k miles (that’s a year since i purchased the car).
I purchased an extended warranty but am happy to pay out of my own pocket and what you have written here just confirms it so thank you very much!!!
I believe you said you work at a dealership. What proportion of the vehicles you service are 3 years or younger vs 4 years or older? The age mix you see may be younger cars compared to what an independent shop sees.
I will ask this question of Nevada. Audi and every other car manufacturer has a severe service recommendation.
You state that the severe service recommendation is irrelevant for the past 20 years due to engineering.
So my question.
Why is your opinion at odds with every car manufacturer on the planet?
For the OP. The pic below is my hand and shows the oil debris from a 90k miles Ford engine that belonged to an elderly couple who mostly puttered around town and changed the oil once a year.
That’s what city driving combined with dust/humidity and sparse oil changes will get you.
To edit, i should add that before the engine was torn down the compression was 50 to 120 on all cylinders and every single oil ring in it was frozen in the ring lands due to coked motor oil… Normal compression 190 on all cylinders.
Age and mileage is all over the place. Half of the cars that I work on are airbag recalls 2001 to 2010.
Last week a 1998 with 225,000 miles for an oil change, I dislike those old vehicle because I have to document all problems with the cars like oil leaks, bald or dry rotted tires, burned out light bulbs etc.
Monday a 2007 with 175,000, a 1992 with 125,000, today a 2016 for spark plugs 60,000, 2009 with a botched diagnoses by a “good independent” for warranty work with 105,000.
Did I say that? I believe that we should let go of maintenance schedules of the past.
This is the maintenance information of a common Toyota from nine years ago;
In addition to standard maintenance items, vehicles that are driven under special operating conditions require further maintenance service. These special operating conditions, which put added demands on a vehicle, include:
• Driving off-road, on dirt roads or
on dusty roads
• Towing a trailer, using a car-top
carrier or heavy vehicle loading
• Repeated trips of less than five
miles in temperatures below
32° F or 0°C
• Extensive idling and/or lowcspeed
driving for long distances,
such as police, taxi or door-to door
delivery use
If you drive primarily under any of the conditions noted above, you should replace the engine oil and oil filter every six months or 5,000 miles. Some of these special operating conditions require other maintenance items; these items are indicated in each maintenance chart.
Note: If you drive only occasionally under any of the special operating conditions noted, it is not necessary to change the oil every six months or 5,000 miles or to perform the additional services listed in the charts. This added maintenance is required only if you drive primarily under any of the special operating conditions.
The images of a sludged engine that you often show are of an old Ford push-rod engine that has an oil change schedule of 3 months or 3,000 miles, there is no reason a modern engine with a one year/ 10,000 miles service interval should follow the maintenance schedule of a vehicle from the previous century.
I post that pic of the old Ford engine for illustration purposes as it is the only pic I’ve ever taken. i’m not in the habit of photo documenting every car I work on. Push rod yes. Fuel injected, yes.
If extended oil changes are not an issue then explain the plethora of complaints not only on this forum but all over car help sites, YouTube, complaint forums, etc. That’s just the ones that are publicly viewable. The actual number is going to be much, much higher. Remember Toyota’s settlement of a class action on oil sludge?
Or the lady on this forum a few years ago with a Traverse whose engine scattered at 41k miles. She changed the oil every 10k miles per the OLM. This lead to oil consumption, running the engine low on oil, and that was the end of that. Note that GM issued a bulletin about reprogramming the OLM to advise a lower mileage interval for oil changes.
There’s a YouTube video of a 2007 Nissan Armada suffering sludge; and it’s only one of many.
I vaguely remember a poster earlier mentioning owning a 2014 Audi and adhering to 10k miles oil changes per the maintenance guide. Should have kept reading because on the bottom it says the same thing as a 2015 including the operative words such as and etc.
The intervals shown in this table are based on vehicles operating under normal conditions. In case of severe conditions, such as extremely low temperatures, excessive dust, etc., it is necessary for certain operations to be carried out in between the given intervals. This applies particularly to engine oil changes and the cleaning or replacing of the air cleaner filter element.
1 Like
Cartalkanne is a fine example, she had the oil changed at Quality Lube Plus every 12,500 miles for $33 with what she believed was “synthetic blend Citgo oil”, who knows if it meet Dexos standards. She didn’t know how to check the oil level or add oil.
GM revised the oil change monitor on that vehicle to compensate for certain variables like failing to maintain the oil level. If this were a major problem however there should be tens of thousands of failures, cartalk anne’s problem was 7 1/2 years ago, there should be hundreds of examples here if this were a major problem.
1 Like
I live on the East Coast, and have been changing the oil per manufacturer recommendations for a couple of decades. I’ve never had a problem from this practice. We have 187,000 miles on our minivan, and changed oil between 7000 and 7500 miles, about 10% on the OLM. I did the same thing on my old commuter car. When I traded it, the dealer said how well the engine ran given the mileage.
The discussion above reminds me of religion. Either you buy it or don’t, and can find reasons to support either opinion.
1 Like
I firmly believe it is not the extended interval but the fact that so many people do not personally touch their cars anymore. So they do not check the oil level at all in between oil services and that leads to oil issues as the level falls and the remaining oil is worked harder and the death spiral ensues. I have used extended change periods for more than 20 years on all my vehicles and have not a single engine related issue because of it.
1 Like
The lady with the Traverse did not check her motor oil level. True enough. However, the engine was using oil because of the extended intervals. I’ve been into many low miles engines (mix of warranty and customer pay) and the common denominator with oil consumption is coked up wiper rings. Caused by not changing the oil often enough.
I stick with my claim that all car manufacturers recommend a severe service schedule. Some may refer to it as additional, extra, or enhanced, but it’s all the same.
I’m not the only one who has this line of thinking. Here’s what Castrol has to say about it.
http://www.castrolatlanta.com/pages/page/severe-weather-car-service
Here’s what the Filter Manufacturers Council has to say about it.