Longlife service - do they work?

[Monsieur]

I've got an audi a4 2.0tdi.
Had a longlife service last july and the car has now done 10000 miles since then. The computer tells me that the next service is not due for another 250ish days yet.
Do I need to wait until then for an oil/filter change or will the computer tell me when to get it done?
I've never had a car with a sophisticated computer before so have always change the oil/filter every 6 months or so.

Do I need to cange the oil/filter on my audi every 6 months or just wait until the car tells me when its due?

[vwcabriolet1971]

As I understand it ,the VAG recommended oil ( & filter) change on variable or longlife service interval is controlled by the onboard computer. The computer program algorithm gets input from various sensors from the engine and vehicle computer and then tabulates the recommended interval . As the sensor input history is updated so is the computer service interval recommendation.
Thus if the vehicle is used mainly on short trips the recommendation for oil change will be a lot earlier than if the vehicle is used on predominantly long motorway type trips. In the optimum conditions the oil change interval recommended may be as high as 30,000 miles for some vehicles.

Having said all that it depends how long you intend to keep the car. It is a proven fact that earlier than recommended oil changes can extend the life of the engine.
If you intend to keep the car for longer than say 6 years & do a low annual mileage with lots of short trips it would be prudent to reduce the oil change interval to say half that recommended, say every 5,000 miles or yearly. If you do say 12,000 or more annual mileage then change every 10,000 miles. The VAG computer recommendation would probably be the most economic for the average owner who changes his/her car say about every 4 years.

[Puresilk]

If your on the longlife service and do lots of miles the computer will tell you when your next service is due about 2k before you need to get it serviced.

My thinking is that if you do frequent short trips and low mileage go on the annual 10k service.

If you do high mileage go for the 20k variable service.

I do about 20k a year so my oil and filter gets changed every year anyhow and its on the Longlife.

But no matter what service you get you always get the oil and oil filter changed.

[Monsieur]

Thanks for the replies.
So, if I change my oil now will the computer automatically 'sense' the new oil and adjust its warning?

[Puresilk]

NO

It has to be reset using VAG.com

[skymaster]

Call me old fashioned... but I don't think the longlife service regime is wise... the same oil in the car for 24 months or 18k or so... in a turbo diesel.... just doesn't work for me...

[Puresilk]

Everyone has their opinions/experiences

Mines on 143K now and runs sweet on L/L but if I did 10k a year I probably would return to 10k/annual service

[Lateknight]

Would not concern yourself over the longevity effects of being on longlife servicing. Audi would not risk those long servicing intervals on their engines if they thought it would affect reliability.

The oil is specially formulated to last the distance (and a bit more). Most folk on longlife put less stress on their engines as they drive mostly 'A'roads or motorway as they rack up the miles. Remember (or maybe you don't) only a few years ago cars were serviced at 6000 miles regularly and they probably wore out quicker. If you had a car with 100k miles on it in the 1980's it was probably about ready for a new engine. Nowadays 100k is just 'run in'. Thats more down to the progress of engine oils than any other engineering.

If you do a lot of short journeys or drive aggressively a lot, the longlife service interval could be a short as the standard 10,000 mile servicing. Hence why sometimes longlife servicing is also known as variable servicing.
As vwcabriolet1971 said the car monitors how you drive, distance, temperature, duration etc and works it out accordingly.

:beerchug:

[Puresilk]

Nice write up and I agree with you!

Its just no matter how far technology advances and the advances we now have in oil you will always get the old school who will insist that oil should be changed every 10k no matter what! :Blush:

[sooty]

I do about 20k miles a year and opted for the long life service.... Bear in mind that I top up with a litre of oil every 2/3 months so it gets replenished.

[kris_lpgcars]

as many lads will say there own as many option youll have so ive got Q to all. Why no one read recomwndation from manufactures about different style of driving, well i do work in motor trade and how often you will change oil is up to you
technology- yes it went forward but dont forget there is few bits added to engine ie if u hav dpf and keep doing short runs oil life monitoring may tell u to change oil even after 6months /suzuki example/. Most of body computers works out of mileage and time to show how often do the oil change.
So that is up to you only.

[Lateknight]

http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/department/docs/punctuation/node00.html

:1zhelp: