[200q20v] oil-change-oholics

[Bernie Benz]

Brett, my contrarian opinion.

Most fluid changes are REQUIRED only to maintain that warm fuzzy feeling of
an owner's thin wallet.

Exception:  Flushing the brake system every year or two will eliminate
having to overhaul calipers every 5 or 6 years, assuming you start with a
like new, overhauled system.  Oh, windshield washer fluid is important.

IMO, the hydraulic system oil age or condition has nothing to do with
hydraulic system component failure.  The system need only be topped off and
filter cleaned when it must be opened for component overhaul or replacement,
which is more often than any the oil change requirement.

I change engine oil every 10K and filter every 20K only because these
numbers are easy to remember, and I intend to keep my cars for ever, or
until they die.  To my non-mechanical son, I reccommand that he buy 50K
mileage Audis coming off lease, drive tham for another 100K to 150K, and
trade up.  Never touching fluids or filters, nor even opening the hood.

Bernie  

> From: Brett Dikeman <brett at cloud9.net>
> Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2001 01:26:33 -0400
> To: "dkpriebe at home.com" <dkpriebe at home.com>, "200q20v at audifans.com"
> <200q20v at audifans.com>
> Cc: quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: [200q20v] oil-change-oholics
> 
> At 11:08 PM -0700 10/26/01, Dave Priebe wrote:
> 
>> One thing that he did mention right off the bat, was that I had done a good
>> job changing my oil so frequently. Apparently it is quite easy to tell when
>> rebuilding turbos who changes their oil every 3000 miles and who doesn't.
> 
> Oil changes every 3,000 miles with a good synthetic is a little bit
> excessive, considering the factory manual says 7500 miles between oil
> changes(and this was with dino oil.)  5000 miles per change would be
> -more- than safe.  Filters are supposed to be changed every other oil
> change.
> 
> There are plenty of other fluids that don't get changed nearly
> enough.  When was the last time you changed your hydraulic fluid?
> Brake fluid, inc the clutch circuit?  Coolant?
> 
> The Bently's schedule mentions a few things I never really
> remember...for example, checking pressure on the spare, levels in the
> battery, etc...but it doesn't mention hydraulic fluid(I think.)
> 
> I always wonder if half the reason there are so many hydraulic system
> failures is because nobody changes the fluid in the system often
> enough; it's expensive stuff, but OTOH, racks in particular are much,
> much, much more expensive after you get through with labor charges...
> 
> A partial change is very easy...pump the pedal until it goes
> hard(this empties the bomb of fluid, but don't do it if the reservoir
> is at the max line, or you'll overflow it), pull the front hose off
> to drain the reservoir, clean out the container/screen, fill it back
> up.  Partial changes this way aren't the best way, but they're easy,
> and changing some is better than none...
> 
> B
> 
> -- 
> ----
> "They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
> safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/
> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/bdikeman.asc (PGP Public Key)
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