Audi longlife service

mickdw

When I was buying a new audi last year I enquired about the service intervals and was directed towards the various documentation relating to the car. It went into all the detail of technical advancement allowing flexible longlife servicing. When car arrived, Service deplays tells me it needs servicing every 10,000 miles. It therefore appears the longlife programme doesnt apply in ireland even though the car is filled with longlife oil from the factory. There are reasons for this I guess like poor roads etc leading to more inspections required. I asked various people at the dealer, without getting any answer, One answer was "Surely you dont want to skimp on servicing after spending a large amount on the car". I dont want to skimp at all, I just want the right info.
So does longlife service apply here and if not why are the dealers charging for longlife oil when there are other oils specifically approved by audi where longlife progam is not being followed? Anybody?

Drummerboy08

We have a good few Audis on fleet - we always get them serviced at 30,000kms or every two years. That info came from Audi themselves.

We've also had a couple of warranty claims, and this interval has never invalidated it.

whiterebel

Yes, I'm similarly confused with a new A6. Salesman told me 30,000km, and that they will even put a litre of the correct oil away in the boot, to top it up when required. Yet signing to say I have read the Audi warranty info, it says 15,000kms, as does the MMI readout. When I challenged the sales guy, he said it depoends on what way you drive it, and how quickly you rack up the miles(KMs)?

R.O.R

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

We have a good few Audis on fleet - we always get them serviced at 30,000kms or every two years. That info came from Audi themselves.

We've also had a couple of warranty claims, and this interval has never invalidated it.

+1 - All our Audi's and VW's are on long life servicing.

mickdw

whiterebel wrote: »

Yes, I'm similarly confused with a new A6. Salesman told me 30,000km, and that they will even put a litre of the correct oil away in the boot, to top it up when required. Yet signing to say I have read the Audi warranty info, it says 15,000kms, as does the MMI readout. When I challenged the sales guy, he said it depoends on what way you drive it, and how quickly you rack up the miles(KMs)?

Yes they wont give a straight answer to this. It doesnt depend on the way you drive it if they have set fixed intervals on the display. From reading the car book it seems certain markets dont use the longlife option but they cannot answer that simple question.
If they set it for longlife, then as far as I know, the interval then becomes flexible. Either way, I should only be paying for longlife oil (at about €100) if im getting the longlife from it.
Sounds like they are scamming extra profit to me.

mickdw

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

We have a good few Audis on fleet - we always get them serviced at 30,000kms or every two years. That info came from Audi themselves.

We've also had a couple of warranty claims, and this interval has never invalidated it.

R.O.R wrote: »

+1 - All our Audi's and VW's are on long life servicing.

Thanks. It seems ye fleet guys are getting the right info as Im sure you would take the business to the most efficient models to run etc. Us private people running a single car are probably being had.

-Chris-

VAG cars in Ireland have longlife service intervals.

Your car should be serviced every 2 years. If it needs servicing earlier it'll tell you on the display. Some of my customers are getting 27,000KMs between services, where others are in the mid-teens before the service light comes on.

The car will judge when the service is needed. Trust the display rather than any stickers placed in the cabin by the garage.

yop

thats interesting, so once the garage, whether it be an Audi or a private garage, resets the service button they cannot set the interval?? This interval is built into the car?

whiterebel

My A6 is counting down from 15,000km as we speak. Do I ignore it then when it gets to zero for the service? What does it take into account for differing service intervals; style of driving, distances driven?

mickdw

Mine pops the service warning on at 15,000 km too. Not at all dependant on driving style. My service display is laid out showing mileage to 2 types of service. oil service and then inspection service (might not be called this exactly). The oil service interval can be reset once from the display but the inspection interval is locked in and needs the dealer tool. Its certainly not on longlife at this rate. In the service book where the dealer stamps delivery inspection there is a box to tick to show whether the car is on longlife or fixed intervals. Neither ticked in mine.

-Chris-

yop wrote: »

thats interesting, so once the garage, whether it be an Audi or a private garage, resets the service button they cannot set the interval?? This interval is built into the car?

AFAIK, they just tell the car it's been serviced, they don't tell it when it next needs servicing.

whiterebel wrote: »

My A6 is counting down from 15,000km as we speak. Do I ignore it then when it gets to zero for the service? What does it take into account for differing service intervals; style of driving, distances driven?

Your car will vary that countdown as you drive. Obey it when it gets to zero, but don't expect it to get to zero in exactly 15,000KMs.
The factors that will influence the servicing interval are things like:
-regular short trips
-long periods of engine idling
-regular stop-and-go traffic
-personal driving style

As I understand it, there's also a sensor in the engine measuring oil viscosity that also updates the service interval computer.


Edit: all this info was just read from a VW Golf service book (closest thing I have to hand). The principal will be the same for all modern VAG engines with longlife servicing.

voxpop

From my understanding VAG (or vw in my case) cars can be either on interval servicing or long life(variable) servicing. If the car is set for interval servicing then you services it ever 10,000 miles or so.

Variable servicing depends on a number of items see AudiChris' post - there are sensors in the sump,etc to tell the computer when a service is due.

If its on interval servicing and you want variable servicing- the dealer should be able to reset to variable servicing at the next service (i think vag-com is needed).


Interval servicing can be reset manually (without vag-com), variable servicing needs vag-com to reset - so for ppl doing their own servicing - interval is generally the best.

mickdw

Ok, rang dealer. Confirmed that they had my car on fixed 15,000 km oil change intervals.
Also confirmed as per service receipt that I had longlife oil etc at last service and after alittle confusion said that its a mistake and the car should be set to flexible longlife program and to call in and they will sort it out. I then put forward the argument that at that rate I should not have had a service carried out at 15,000 km because car came from factory with longlife oil. No proper response to that but not worried about that tbh. No doubt if I turned up for a service, they would have carried it out and also filled it with longlife again and sent me happily on my way wallet empty

yop

AudiChris wrote: »

AFAIK, they just tell the car it's been serviced, they don't tell it when it next needs servicing.



Your car will vary that countdown as you drive. Obey it when it gets to zero, but don't expect it to get to zero in exactly 15,000KMs.
The factors that will influence the servicing interval are things like:
-regular short trips
-long periods of engine idling
-regular stop-and-go traffic
-personal driving style

As I understand it, there's also a sensor in the engine measuring oil viscosity that also updates the service interval computer.


Edit: all this info was just read from a VW Golf service book (closest thing I have to hand). The principal will be the same for all modern VAG engines with longlife servicing.

Very interesting that Chris, never knew it could be variable! Good to know that

whiterebel

Ok, starting to make more sense now. When I had a new A4 for a couple of days test drive, I fiddled about with the MMI and it showed first service at 30,000K and was showing a corresponding figure with the miles driven. Looking at the MMI on the A6 it shows an oil service @ 15K and inspection @ 30K. If the A6 was sent from factory with longlife oil, then it should have been set on the MMI at 30K. Am I reading this correctly? Sales guy was absolutely adamant they wouldn't see the car back until 12 months or 30K.

-Chris-

whiterebel wrote: »

Ok, starting to make more sense now. When I had a new A4 for a couple of days test drive, I fiddled about with the MMI and it showed first service at 30,000K and was showing a corresponding figure with the miles driven. Looking at the MMI on the A6 it shows an oil service @ 15K and inspection @ 30K. If the A6 was sent from factory with longlife oil, then it should have been set on the MMI at 30K. Am I reading this correctly? Sales guy was absolutely adamant they wouldn't see the car back until 12 months or 30K.

Yep, check the service manual - you're either on the longlife shedule or on the inspection service interval. All cars come from Germany with longlife oil, then whether you opt for the inspection service or service outside the dealer network you'll find yourself in the inspection schedule.
Otherwise you're on the longlife schedule.

mickdw

whiterebel wrote: »

Ok, starting to make more sense now. When I had a new A4 for a couple of days test drive, I fiddled about with the MMI and it showed first service at 30,000K and was showing a corresponding figure with the miles driven. Looking at the MMI on the A6 it shows an oil service @ 15K and inspection @ 30K. If the A6 was sent from factory with longlife oil, then it should have been set on the MMI at 30K. Am I reading this correctly? Sales guy was absolutely adamant they wouldn't see the car back until 12 months or 30K.

It seems your A6 is set for the inspection service just as my A5 is currently. I never opted for this and neither did you Im sure. It sounds odd to me. Also, in every case, Every new car should be on the longlife program and surely only after 1st service if you decide to go the set interval route should the set intervals come into play. There really is no reason why our cars are set this way from new apart from someone trying to get us to service the car more often than required

whiterebel

Thanks for all the help, lads. I'll contact the dealers about it and see what to do next.

whiterebel

Ok update. Rang the dealer. He reckons the New A4 and facelifted A6 have different intervals set on the display (makes no sense to me). He says there is no need to go for an oil change at 15K, and reiterated thats why they give you a litre of longlife oil going away. Nothing marked in the service book, because they lost the original and gave me the one from their demo instead. So just drive it on until 30K I presume.

unkel

yop wrote: »

Very interesting that Chris, never knew it could be variable! Good to know that

BMW have been operating variable service intervals for about 25 years

You do see (slowly) how a service is coming up. After a service (reset) there are a few green leds on and when they've all gone off, a yellow one comes on which means it's time for a service. When a service is overdue, a red one comes on

mickdw

Just to waken this up again,

As stated above, my own dealer said it is a mistake that my car has been set to a fixed 15k km interval (after being charged for longlife oil etc) and agreed that at next service, they would change it onto variable service. This was ok.
Now, Im heading to northern Ireland next month and thought I would price the dealers up there to compare standard of service & cost etc. I gave Chassis number & they replied back saying that seeing as the car was 2008, the "New" service regime applied to it and so they couldnot offer the longlife service for my car and would have to carry out oil or inspection service depending on mileage etc. What the hell is going on with Audi? I said this new regime sounds exactly like the traditional service regime and seems to be a major step backwards. Waiting for latest response.

-Chris-

mickdw wrote: »

Just to waken this up again,

As stated above, my own dealer said it is a mistake that my car has been set to a fixed 15k km interval (after being charged for longlife oil etc) and agreed that at next service, they would change it onto variable service. This was ok.
Now, Im heading to northern Ireland next month and thought I would price the dealers up there to compare standard of service & cost etc. I gave Chassis number & they replied back saying that seeing as the car was 2008, the "New" service regime applied to it and so they couldnot offer the longlife service for my car and would have to carry out oil or inspection service depending on mileage etc. What the hell is going on with Audi? I said this new regime sounds exactly like the traditional service regime and seems to be a major step backwards. Waiting for latest response.

That doesn't make sense, afaik as long as you got long-life oil at your last service, your service interval should be set to the long-life setting.
The manuals I got my information from were all '08 models.

Let us know what they say.

Neilw

If you know someone with vagcom they can change it from fixed to variable servicing

bazzachazza

I would love to know the answer to this one as well.

I have long life oil obviously as its a new A6 but car amd sticker and dealer told me 15000k.

HashSlinging

I've been told to service my 05 2.0 Tdi every 12k.. will need to do some research into this. As if its just a sensor in the engine thats dictates what engine can use long life oils I'm going to move over to long live intervals.

Drummerboy08

Guys, service intervals are a very hot issue at the minute in the office here.

I was doing up maintenance figures for a customer this week, and something i discovered triggered it all.

The quote was for a Nissan Interstar, so no big shakes there. We decided to quote for the Opel Movano and Renault Master too, as they are slightly cheaper at the minute.

Now, heres the interesting thing. The service interval for both the Renault and Opel is 30,000kms, but for the Nissan its 20,000kms. They are the same van, built in the same factory, so this doesnt make sense. We can only put it down to Nissan wanting the vans back that bit earlier for the extra revenue.

This seems to be going on alot, with other manufacturers too.

These are the figures i use for the most popular Makes. I have an excel sheet of all the maufacturers i've ever quoted for with the service intervals and timing belt intervals, but my system has gone down. We use these same figures for cars that we currently have out on maintenance contract.

For any VAG diesel engine, i work off the basis of every 30,000kms or two years.

For any Ford Diesel, i work off 20,000kms, unless its a Transit, which is 25,000kms.

For BMW's and Mercedes, its a computer controlled interval, so you wont really know. On average its 20-25,000kms.

Opels are every 30,000kms.

Toyotas are every 15,000kms.

Hope this helps someone out there!

mickdw

AudiChris wrote: »

That doesn't make sense, afaik as long as you got long-life oil at your last service, your service interval should be set to the long-life setting.
The manuals I got my information from were all '08 models.

Let us know what they say.

Yes dealer said it was a mistake after having charged me for longlife service that I should be on the flexi interval and agreed to change it at next service. Its just the comments from the northern Ireland dealer that is now confusing the issue again...... saying "The new service regime is fixed interval oil & inspection services" and that its not possible to set my car on the flexi schedule??

I say everyone should ring Audi Ireland/vw group ireland and ask them this. I will be doing on monday. The number is 01 8989700.

mickdw

bazzachazza wrote: »

I would love to know the answer to this one as well.

I have long life oil obviously as its a new A6 but car amd sticker and dealer told me 15000k.

Yes that display is on fixed schedule (i.e. 15,000 km) and those figures will count down exactly with the miles you cover and will not change depending on driving style. The dealers must be doing this prior to delivery to take in more service work. THey will then tell you it will depend on the way you drive but no, when this is set on fixed interval as yours is and mine, it will just say service due at 15K regardless.

HashSlinging

So with longlife servicing do you need to change the filters at 10k intervals.? or do you just get it serviced and forget about it till the next time the car says so.

Surely an engine that has had its oil changed at regular intervals (10 - 12k) will be in a better state long term, than one that has it done once every 30k.

Think i'll just stick to what the book says, as thats what I've started with, and the way my car is driven it should probably be done every 5k.

Also wouldnt performance and MPG dip.?

paddydriver

Think the long life servicing is open to a lot of different interpretation and variations!

We got a GTI in Feb 06, looked for its first service in Feb 07, 2nd in Feb 08 and now it is looking for its 3rd one now!

It only has 17k miles on the clock (I set it to miles as I wanted MPG as opposed to l/100km etc) - now it has been used by my wife most of that time for short trips so think that contributes but it is still a bit much to be looking for a third service after 17,000 miles. Dealer has always swore blind it is on long life as I always question it.

When the service indicator comes on it counts down as 15 days/5,700km... Hmm, wonder which will come first. I have had to top it up with oil a few times over the years as it burns it off fast - always used the recommended longlife oil's - Castrol I think.

This car has been well looked after but its tough on the pocket! Will definitely be getting pricing in NI this time around as I am regularly up there with work.

Read what you can into that

mickdw

HashSlinging wrote: »

So with longlife servicing do you need to change the filters at 10k intervals.? or do you just get it serviced and forget about it till the next time the car says so.

Surely an engine that has had its oil changed at regular intervals (10 - 12k) will be in a better state long term, than one that has it done once every 30k.

Think i'll just stick to what the book says, as thats what I've started with, and the way my car is driven it should probably be done every 5k.

Also wouldnt performance and MPG dip.?

The only filter thats changed at 10k miles is the oil filter obviously being done with the oil change. Some others are changed at every second service. However on the longlife, AFAIK, a major service is carried out each time thereby giving approximately the same mileage between major services but stretching out the oil change intervals.
With average driving the flexi service allows about 27,000 km (Longlife has superior oil) whereas the fixed interval (with inferior oil specified) is 15,000km.
Longlife servicing is 100% "by the book" so your comment on sticking to what the book says isnt valid. This Longlife servicing is pretty standard across many manufacturers now as people want less time off the road.
On longlife plan, if you drive the car like a lunatic, I assume the car would fire the service warning after about 5k... thats the whole idea, it senses when it needs an oil change so really its the best option for looking after your engine and as someone above stated, his golf has "asked" for 3 oil changes in 17k miles. This must be on flexi (longlife) as the fixed interval would be more than 6k miles.