A4 2.0tdi 140bhp - which oil?

[bluevortex]

Oil light came on when I arrived back in the UK this week. I couldn't decipher the A4 handbook that accompanies my car as it refers to VW500 oil? What weight oil would be best for my engine?

Blue

[OVI82]

I'm quite sure it should be 5W-30 fully synthetic long life oil.I have allways used Castrol for my oil changes.Mobil1 and quantum are also good.

[bluevortex]

Thanks and it was 5w 30 I used! I was wondering if it's easy to carry out an oil change myself at home? I'm not mechanically minded but thought about buying a Haynes manual and having a go. Do you need any special equipment I.e ramps etc?

My car was serviced 2000 miles ago (before It was purchased) and I find it strange that already showing low oil? I would like to be sure the correct oil is in car etc for my own piece of mind. The car is on long life service but I would want an oil change every 10k anyway. It would be good if I could do this inbetween myself.

Cheers

Blue

[jangles]

I had similar thoughts to you after I bought my A4 last year. I also had the oil warning (the amber one) coming on, always alarmed me! As I learned from other threads in this forum, oil consumption is pretty varied. I use the Mobil 1 brand of 5W-30 fully-synthetic oil, the one my local dealer (Reading Audi) recommended. I'm adding half a litre about every 2,500 miles. That's not far off your experience. I was also thinking about doing an oil change myself every 10K miles. But frankly, topping up the oil the way I'm doing in between long-life services makes that idea seem a bit pointless.

[OVI82]

The oil service is dead easy to do.you'll need a pair of axle stands to support the front end of the car in order to take the underside shield off and the oil drain plug.should also renew the oil filter, making sure you get a new drain plug(bolt) from the delears whilst there for the oil filter.you can allways use the old one but Audi state you should change it with every oil service.The oil capacity is about 3.8 litres although it might go up to 4 litres.halfords do a good deal on Castrol edge 5w-30 at the moment,39£ for 4 litres.I find it very strange that after only 2000 miles your oil light has come on.I hate to say this but the garage that done the service might have not changed the oil.that's why I try and do as much as I can myself.I don't want to give dealers a bad name but on my last service I paid for stuff that were never done.The Hayes manual is a very good investment.you'll find there all the info you need to carry out a full service yourself.I'm no expert myself, just fed up with paying others for work I can do myself.that way atleast I know it's been done.good luck.