1.8T oil change

Hi, replaced the oil and filter on my 1996 1.8T today, used a genuine Audi filter and the semi synthetic quantum oil (the one in the silver container) draining the old oil is never usually a problem but i usually struggle trying to remove the oil filter, its fairly hard to get to, this time i removed the 3 screws that hold the coolant expansion bottle in place and moved it to the side, it made the job so much easier, with a chain wrench i soon had the filter undone. Does anyone know of a way to remove the filter without a stream of oil running down the outside all over the driveway, in the end i found a plastic bag (no holes in the bottom!) and undid the filter inside the bag. Has anyone else got a better way?. Also i am reading a lot of problems with the oil light coming on relating to a blocked pickup filter, so far mine has been ok, its done 166K miles but has a full Audi history, in its first three years of life it covered nearly 100K, with services every 4 months, is this perhaps why mine has not got blocked? motorway miles and plenty of oil changes, i now change oil every 6 months or 5K since i have owned the car (120K). Any advice on oil blockages greatly received.

It always makes a mess. Blocked oil pick up screens are a big problem on all 1.8T's and the best way to avoid this is to drop the sump and fit the later pick up if yours hasn't already been done but that means dropping the subframe. To help prevent the carbon build up in the first place I would advise using a higher grade oil than Synta Silver so Synta Gold would be my choice. Further to this, when you come to shut the engine off, leave it running for at least a minute and even longer if it is just after a long high speed run. This allows the turbo temp to drop and so reduces the chances of carburisation of the oil.

I`m running the same engine in my passat.
Its almost identical in history to your car ie first 3years it did 60k etc.

Its on 113K now and since getting the car 5k miles ago have changed the oil and filter twice,hopefully removing a fair amount of any oil sludge etc.

By the way I now run 5w40 fully synthetic instead of the reccomended 10w40 semi synth.

Its doesnt mind the thinner oil and isnt using any either.

Regards
Mark

Hi again, not too sure where i heard it, but am pretty sure i was told not to change to fully synthetic oil on a higher mileage engine if you were not sure if it has been run on fully synthetic from new or nearly new. I still think that using a good quality semi synthetic oil and changing every 5K is probably better for an engine than someone with fully synthetic and changing it every 10K or more (on the long life service schedule). I recently spoke to someone with a 2004 1.8T with 42K and has only had 2 services!!!! if that was my car it would have had 8 oil changes in 42K. Any advise?

I would use fully synthetic Synta Gold with the 2 year oil filter but change it every year or 10K miles.