[s-cars] ticking - should I worry?

[Floyd Noel]

Well, thank you all so much for your help. It helps a lot to be able  
to get so much expertise from all of you, especially when, on days  
like today, I have to work 21+ hours. Spending two more hours on the  
interweb trying to decipher fact from fiction is not much of an  
option, and neither is destroying my engine! At least I don't have to  
be back to work for over five hours, so I can get up early and get my  
oil changed. I really don't think I could have owned an s-car long  
without this list. And of course, owning an s-car is what gets me  
through the day!
R/S
Floyd Noel
Sgt/USMC

On Oct 31, 2007, at 9:34 PM, Tom Green <trgreen at comcast.net> wrote:

> I guess I really did not reenforce your oil choice , Floyd, but I  
> meant to.  That
> selection should be great for commuting, but do stretch out that  
> drive on
> occasion to get the oil hot.
>
> I put about 6K on each of 2 S6 vehicles annually so my changes are  
> seasonal
> rather than mileage driven.  Yours may be also.
>
> And, if you decide to beat it up and down Vail pass with Tom W, you  
> might
> need a higher viscosity regardless of the season, same up to Tahoe or
> Yosemite.
>
>
> As is often said, YMMV, and your oil choice may vary as well.
>
> Tom
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:12:17 -0400
>> From: "Taka Mizutani" <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Subject: ticking- should i worry?
>> To: "Floyd Noel" <floyd.noel at gmail.com>
>
>> Cc: Tom Winter <tom at freeskier.com>,    "s-car-list at audifans.com"
>>    <s-car-list at audifans.com>
>> Message-ID:
>>    <79698a910710311112i3507551ay2ff21fdd35f090ba at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252
>>
>> 15W50 is heavier than 10W30. Advantage to using a lighter oil would  
>> be
>> better flow characteristics in cold weather when the oil is cold-  
>> for winter
>> use, you might want to consider a 5W30, although it is my  
>> experience that
>> the older Audi engines (I-5 especially) were not built to use  
>> lightweight
>> oils- my 200 liked 15W50, even though I consider that to be a  
>> little too
>> heavy for wintertime use, take that with a big grain of salt.
>>
>> Taka
>>
>>
>> On 10/31/07, Floyd Noel <floyd.noel at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, it sure seems to. I'm just trying to decide which weight to  
>>> use,
>>> now. I was thinking of using 10W30, seeing as I usually only drive
>>> about 10 minutes to work (about 3 miles each way) and it is usually
>>> cool (40? to 50? F or so) outside when I do so, and the motor
>>> doesn't warm up much. Is there any advantages to using a lighter
>>> weight like 15W50?
>>> R/S
>>> Floyd Noel
>>> Sgt/USMC
>>>
>>> On Oct 31, 2007, at 10:28 AM, Tom Winter <tom at freeskier.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Floyd, what did I tell ya, oil gets the list excited!
>>>>
>>>> Just for the record, I find that I, like Ron, go through some oil
>>>> between
>>>> changes. My "spirited" driving consists of winding out the avant on
>>>> I-70 in
>>>> Colorado, usually uphill. There's a great hill right by Georgetown
>>>> and it's
>>>> nice and steep, with no cops or speed traps. Same goes for heading
>>>> out of
>>>> Vail eastbound on the west side of Vail Pass. (no speed traps
>>>> eastbound, but
>>>> I pity the fool who speeds down the pass going west). By winding it
>>>> out, I'm
>>>> talking 100mph - 130mph when the roads are empty, early in the  
>>>> AM. I
>>>> usually
>>>> only do this going uphill, due the prolific nature of speed traps  
>>>> on
>>>> 70
>>>> targeting those going downhill too fast (something about people who
>>>> can't go
>>>> fast uphill makes them speed like crazy on the downhills, not sure
>>>> why that
>>>> is?).
>>>>
>>>> The car has about 160k, with a rebuilt head, rs2 exhaust manifold,
>>>> stebro
>>>> exhaust and a MTM stage 1 chip.
>>>>
>>>> Regardless, of the many valid opinions here, I'm sticking to my
>>> 4000-5000
>>>> mile changes. I can drop off my old oil at the town of Vail bus  
>>>> barn
>>>> for
>>>> recycling (2 min away from my home), and it's a fast and easy way  
>>>> to
>>>> keep my
>>>> engine happy.
>>>>
>>>> Tom
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 10/31/07 10:38 AM, "cody at 5000tq.com" <cody at 5000tq.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I wouldn't be even remotely worried about the oil going much  
>>>>> further.
>>>>> What I'd be worried about is all the sh!t floating arround in it
>>>>> thats
>>>>> getting ground through your bearings and stuck in your oil  
>>>>> galleys.
>>>>> An
>>>>> oil filter is NOT as good at it's job as some would have you  
>>>>> believe,
>>>>> not to mention then when it gets clogged up it gets bypassed  
>>>>> anyways.
>>>>> Even just the basic resitance of the filter meadia will slightly  
>>>>> open
>>>>> the bypass valve and let small stuff through in many cases,
>>>>> especially
>>>>> in 10 year old engines where the spring on the bypass isn't  
>>>>> quite as
>>>>> strong as it used to be.
>>>>>
>>>>> -Cody Forbes
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Quoting Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>>> i had an oil analysis done last year, after 7500 miles on mobil 1
>>>>>> 15W-50 synthetic.  based on that analysis, it appears the oil  
>>>>>> could
>>>>>> have gone at least another 5000 miles.  i decided to keep  
>>>>>> changing
>>>>>> at 7500 miles for peace of mind.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>>>> From: Floyd Noel <floyd.noel at gmail.com>
>>>>>> To: Robert Myers <robert at s-cars.org>
>>>>>> Cc: Tom Winter <tom at freeskier.com>; "s-car-list at audifans.com"
>>>>>> <s-car-list at audifans.com>
>>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2007 6:42:57 AM
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [s-cars] Subject:  ticking- should i worry?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sure enough, the oil level is low. What do the experts suggest as
>>>>>> far
>>>>>> as mileage between oil changes? I was thinking 3000 since the s-
>>>>>> car is
>>>>>>
>>>>>> of the higher mileage persuasion.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> R/S
>>>>>> Floyd Noel
>>>>>> Sgt/USMC
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Oct 31, 2007, at 6:21 AM, Robert Myers <robert at s-cars.org>  
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Agreed, Tom.  I would further suggest that the oil level would  
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>> better slightly _above_ the full mark.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Bob
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> At 09:05 AM 10/31/2007, Tom Winter wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On 10/31/07 12:13 AM, "Noel wrote: I started hearing a ticking
>>>>>>>> sound at idle.
>>>>>>>> The engine still seems to run just fine, so I was hoping for  
>>>>>>>> some
>>>>>>>> help.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Check your oil level. A low level can result in ticking.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> And if you are needing to add oil on a regular basis, like  
>>>>>>>> every
>>>>>>>> 1000 - 2000
>>>>>>>> miles, yeah, I'd start to worry about that! And wonder where  
>>>>>>>> all
>>>>>>>> that smoke
>>>>>>>> was coming from, too! ;-)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Good luck.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Tom
>>>>>>>> 95 S6 Avant
>