Denim Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Complete novice so please be gentle Bought a 2002 A4 TDI Sport a couple of weeks ago from an Indie Dealer He did an Oil Change service as part of the deal today I checked the oil dipstick and the oil seemed very thin and black ! Is this how It should be ? Doesn't seem right to me What do you guys think ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danksy Posted July 17, 2005 Report Share Posted July 17, 2005 Sounds a bit dodgy to me! Either his not done it, or he's used the old filter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denim Posted July 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 One person thinks It sounds dodgy Do I assume everybody else thinks It sounds OK ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tobes49 Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 How many miles has the car done? Also how many miles were driven between the oil change and diping the oil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fudge Posted July 18, 2005 Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 Firstly, I would want to know exactly which oil he used; apart from the VAG (Audi/VW/Skoda/Seat) oils sold at £7-£8 per litre very few other oils meet the very tight VW specs needed for the PD (Pump Duse) engines. Moreover, there is a particular spec needed for those cars on variable service intervals (can be as much as 20k miles/2 years)! The VAG turbodiesels have a very long life if properly maintained and very high quality oil is crucial. Did he change the filter? In my experience, even immediately after an oil and filter change the oil still looks fairly black because you cannot drain all the old oil out. The correct oil looks fairly thick - but that is, of course, a subjective view. When was the oil last changed according to the service history and when was it due? Is the car still under the original 3 year warranty? Even if not, if it has a solid VW service history, VW can sometimes be helpful if you hit a major problem. If it was my car and the servicebook/dash indicator said the service was due I would either A: on a low mileage car with a full VW service history get it serviced at a VW dealer or B: if it is a high mileage car without a full service history do the job myself (very easy if a bit messy) but use the correct oil to the spec listed in the handbook and a VAG filter. I am afraid that far to many stealers (particularly indies with no franchise to protect) are solely interested in the profit margin and may have put in some ordinary (ie cheap) oil. Finally, is the filter on the car VAG branded and does it look clean on the outside - might give you a clue if it was changed. Hope this helps. There is an old post somewhere on the site which covered the subject of VAG oil specs in some detail. Can't help you with the exact spec since I sold my GT TDi golf with the PD engine a year ago and my petrol Audi S8 uses a different spec VAG oil (albeit still v expensive) still it looks as though the S8 will run to about 18k between services with my pattern of driving (few short runs). Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denim Posted July 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2005 2002 A4 TDI 130 25,000 miles 10,000 until next service out of warranty When I bought It 2 weeks ago the dealer (Independant) said he would do an oil service as part of the deal he talked about fully synthetic oil etc Yesterday After having done about 600 miles in the 2 weeks since I bought It I thought I'd just check the oil and It just seemed really black and very thin Going to get my local VAG specialist to check It tomorrow Then am seeing the dealer who sold it to me on Thursday as he Is fitting a new tyre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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