Variable vs Standard service - How do I know?

[eltoro]

It's major service time!

I've had my 1.9tdi for about 1 month and it needs its 80k service.

I'm just not sure if I should get the Long Life (variable service) or Standard oil (every 10k/1year service).

I've been told that, if i'm currently on Long Life I should stick with that. The question, is how do I know which oil its currenlty running on? Dont really trust the service book or previous garages....

Do you all recomend moving from Long Life to Standard, or not?

Cheers :beerchug:

[GeorgeE]

General advice seems to be to switch to the shorter intervals, but stay with the long life oil.

[eltoro]

Thanks GeorgeE - everyone I speak to has different advice... Audi say it doesnt matter, but Long Life is cheaper in the long run....

Why oh Why are things not simple!

[GeorgeE]

I'm sure Crasher will be along shortly, but although long life is cheaper in terms of servicing costs, it can cause problems as the engine gets to a higher mileage.

If you do a quick search on fixed and long life servicing, you will find numerous threads discussing this very point.

[Lateknight]

General rule of thumb is the mileage you do a year.

12,000 miles / year is considered the cost turning point.*
Under that, stick with fixed servicing (10k/year intervals) using VW505.01 oils -PD engine oil
Over 12000 miles/year go with longlife (variable) servicing using either VW506.01 or VW507.00 oils -preference to the VW507.00 grade. These are both longlife oils suitable for PD engines.

*approximate (labour rates and how you use your car can influence this - ie if your a sedate driver your variable service might be 18k between oil changes. If your not it could be as low as 10k! between changes)

[eltoro]

Thanks..... for the oil recomendation Lateknight - great info.

If I was to do the servicing myself (got to save some dosh in these hard times) two further questions:

a) how do I know what servicing regime the car is currently running on. (dash/servicing display?)

b) how would I go about changing it?I guess this is using VAG-COM?

Thanks again.....

[eltoro]

I think I've answered both my questions with this little bit of research:


http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/704-screens/sri-function.png

See: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/applications_screen.html#SRI

So, if i've understood this correctly it means:

If I do my own servicing AND dont have VAG-COM i'll be stuck with putting the car into fixed servicing - this is because the only way to reset the service reminder would be by the method explained in the owners manual - which forces the fixed servicing regime.

Is this right?

[kite]

I think I've answered both my questions with this little bit of research:


http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/704-screens/sri-function.png

See: http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/applications_screen.html#SRI

So, if i've understood this correctly it means:

If I do my own servicing AND dont have VAG-COM i'll be stuck with putting the car into fixed servicing - this is because the only way to reset the service reminder would be by the method explained in the owners manual - which forces the fixed servicing regime.

Is this right?

Spot on..........