synthetic oil bliss

[rplines at pacifier.com]

I've probably heard listers say it a thousand times: "Mobil 1 at every oil change".

 Well I finally listened.
I am the proud owner of an '86 4kq with 196,000 miles.  I've owned the car for around

5 years and during that time, I have replaced the hydraulic lifters not once, but

twice.  Throughout, I have had intermittent lifter noise.  I'm not talking about

a couple of clicks at cold start.  This was more like someone banging on the head

with a ball peen hammer!  The noise would sometimes suddenly begin when the engine

was fully warmed up, but always go away again after several minutes. It was usually

only one lifter at a time and would move from lifter to lifter.  Needless to say,

this was very annoying...  Especially when trying to convince my friends about the
merits of "superior German engineering"
Up until a few weeks ago, I figured using synthetic oil was probably a good idea

for a turbo motor, but not really necessary for a plain old 10V non-turbo motor.

 I owned an older 5k going strong at 230,000 miles before I bought the quattro. 

That motor never got synthetic oil.  Although this is probably more a testament to

the Audi I-5 motor than any difference in the oil.
So I thought, what the heck, I'll put some Mobil 1 in the car and see (or should

I say hear?) what happens.  Well, I don't hear anything.  NOTHING!  Ahhh... Sweet

silence.  It has been four weeks and I have not heard a peep from the lifters, not

even at cold start.  My quattro doesn't sound like an old sewing machine anymore!
 I'm never buying conventional oil again.


-Peter