A4 1.8T Q (B6)- SLUDGE problem confirmed

[Tony Hoffman]

Tony, thanks for the inside info. Would it be asking an ex-employee too much to know how prevalent the problem is and whether it exists for cars that had their oil changed within 10% of the mileage spec? I'd love to see their computers to find out what percentage of all their customers have all of their oil changes within 10%. I'd venture to guess it is low and that is how they came up with that variance.

I feel the 10% is a cop out. As you state, you must be over the mileage spec before they will do the service. A person that drives a lot and doesn't get into the dealer until a week or two after the service reminder can easily go over 10%. 

I suppose it could also be argued that in my case the sludge problem was caused by a defective oil pump (replaced at 24k miles).

Thanks.
--Art

 

Art, 

I have no idea how many of the cars went over 10%, but I'd suspect not many. The instrument cluster sets you know when the service date is approaching, and most poeple follow what the car tells them. 

How common is this problem? I probably saw three or four 1.8T replacements in the last month I worked there. I'd say quite a problem! Like I said before, we have a serious problem of two natures. The first is lack of educating the customers on propper shutdown. The other is trying to run 10k intervals on conventional motor oils. The reason this is not so much a problem for VW's is twofold. First, VW's engine placement allows a bigger oil pan (.6 qt IIRC). Second, a lot higher percentage of VW 1.8T buyers are enthusiasts than Audi, in general. Just talk to the people having their cars serviced at Audi and compare with VW. You'll see. 

As far as the intervals, I don't think personally it would matter much if you changed the oil at 7500. If you run conventional oil in a turbo and run it hard, then shut it down, you WILL have sludge problems. This could even happen with synthetic, but would be much harder since it doesn't break down as easily. 

I'd agree that the 10% is a cop out for them. However, if Audi puts rules in place, and those rules aren't followed, that's sometimes the price you pay. I'd strongly encourage anyone looking into a 1.8T make sure the service schedule was followed. If not, you can now see what could happen. Having seen what I have, I'd plan on having to change the engine at some point in time, just a matter of when! Then again, I may be over exagerating from what I've seen. I will say, given a choice, I'd take the V6 cars.

VW also has 10k service intervals, just like Audi. The first is at 5k, then every 10k after that. The service dept often recommends 5k oil changes, as does Audi's service dept. The difference is, at Audi they pay for the normal services, not the extra's. When a customer is not prepared to pay for maintenance, they usually won't.

The turbo timer is a good idea. However, it also makes your car a lot easier to steal!! Not a problem here, but I'd worry where they are more popular!

Tony Hoffman


		
---------------------------------
 Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page