90,000 miles -Synthetic Oil?

[Zsolt]

One of my mechanics who specializes in Audi and Porsche, says the leaks
stopped on his 5kt Avant when he changed to Synthetic.

Go figure.

Cheers,
   Zsolt


Gerard wrote:
> I reckon don't switch to synthetic if there is any sign of a oil leak on
> the car as it is. When I bought my Audi 200 in '97 it had plenty signs
> of oil leaking. You'd basically see a spot here or there when you get to
> it after it has been standing for a while, not too heavy leaking. I
> changed to some ridiculous synthetic oil and I might as well have
> removed the sump and run it like that. The synthetic oil apparently has
> lots of detergent compounds in it and this cleared up alot of the oil
> clogs which were probably masquerading as gaskets. After that I had to
> get the sump gasket and other stuff replaced.
>
> On the brighter side, my 1995 VW Mk1 Golf 1.3 came to me with about
> 60,000 miles on it and at the first service I put in some Shell Helix
> synthetic oil. Fantastic stuff, not a drop of oil anywhere. I have
> exceeded the current service interval by about 1000 miles so the
> sluggishness is starting to show, but it still goes well. Can't say I've
> seen a major improvement in mileage (it still sucks for a 1.3 litre
> engine), but no hassles whatsoever when starting up on winter mornings.
>
> If you've done the services on the normal oil at regular intervals then
> perhaps it'd be fine.
>
> G.
>