Audi UK "Long Life Service"

Have just had my wife's '02 A4 TDi serviced for the first time after
17000 miles and 24 months. Which means this is the first time it's seen
a dealer since registration.

I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of once every two year oil
changes but found dealers insistent that this was AOK thanks to the new
synthetics. Anyway I've gone along with it and waited until the car told
me it wanted a service.

Point is I suspect that the buggers have merely topped up rather than
replaced the oil. The level is up - above the max mark - and, after only
20 miles, it's a far from reassuring black. Surely thats not right? I
suspect that the grim reality may be that for all the valeting, coffee,
and bull**** accompanying the £300 bill, the age old game of charging
for work not done goes on as ever - greatly assisted by the fact that
hardly anyone under 40 ever lifts a bonnet these days....

Be glad when the warranty's up and I can find someone who actually
services a car with an eye on its longevity rather than on pursuading me
to buy a new one....... any other UK owners out there care to comment on
Audi dealer "long life" servicing????

"Barry Bingham" > wrote in message
...
> Have just had my wife's '02 A4 TDi serviced for the first time after 17000
> miles and 24 months. Which means this is the first time it's seen a dealer
> since registration.
>
> I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of once every two year oil
> changes but found dealers insistent that this was AOK thanks to the new
> synthetics. Anyway I've gone along with it and waited until the car told
> me it wanted a service.
>
> Point is I suspect that the buggers have merely topped up rather than
> replaced the oil. The level is up - above the max mark - and, after only
> 20 miles, it's a far from reassuring black. Surely thats not right? I
> suspect that the grim reality may be that for all the valeting, coffee,
> and bull**** accompanying the £300 bill, the age old game of charging for
> work not done goes on as ever - greatly assisted by the fact that hardly
> anyone under 40 ever lifts a bonnet these days....
>
> Be glad when the warranty's up and I can find someone who actually
> services a car with an eye on its longevity rather than on pursuading me
> to buy a new one....... any other UK owners out there care to comment on
> Audi dealer "long life" servicing????

Yout paranoia is very irritating. You should seek help for that.
New oil is light brown and VAG dealers are not in the habit of cheating.
If you feel cheated out of 300,00 UK be a man and accuse your dealer!

Ronald

"R@L" > wrote in message
...

>
> Yout paranoia is very irritating. You should seek help for that.
> New oil is light brown and VAG dealers are not in the habit of cheating.
> If you feel cheated out of 300,00 UK be a man and accuse your dealer!
>
> Ronald
>
>
>

Some people in Audi-sport.net would tell you otherwise, it's not unheard of,
I would say that diesels have a habit of blackening the oil real fast, so I
would say that it prob has been changed.

If your a bit worried that it has not, just go into a local independant and
get them to change it, shouldnt cost no mroe than 40 quid then you will
know.

Another good sign is to look at that oil filter, does it look new? if so
then it shows they have done some work

Ronny

I have has a similar experience, although my car is petrol. When the car
was new it took a few thousand miles for the oil to go off colour at all -
partly due to the amount it used and hence the amount of new oil I had to
put in it!

When I took it for the first service after 19,000 motorway miles I expected
to hardly be able to see the oil level on the dipstick again - it should be
so clean - however after getting the car home after the service the oil,
although definitely cleaner, did not look brand new.

I have another reason to believe it was only partly changed - I was invoiced
for only 4 liters of oil, unless they made an error, and my car holds quite
a bit more than that (it's a V6).

Having said all this, the car has been great and the engine still sounds
like it did the day it arrived on my driveway so i'm trying not to worry
about it.

Diesels discolour the oil much more quickly than petrol engines however
after 20 miles i'd expect the oil to be light grey at worst. My wife has a
Peugeot diesel which I service myself and the new oil stays clean after a
change for at least a couple of hundred miles.


"Barry Bingham" > wrote in message
...
> Have just had my wife's '02 A4 TDi serviced for the first time after
> 17000 miles and 24 months. Which means this is the first time it's seen
> a dealer since registration.
>
> I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of once every two year oil
> changes but found dealers insistent that this was AOK thanks to the new
> synthetics. Anyway I've gone along with it and waited until the car told
> me it wanted a service.
>
> Point is I suspect that the buggers have merely topped up rather than
> replaced the oil. The level is up - above the max mark - and, after only
> 20 miles, it's a far from reassuring black. Surely thats not right? I
> suspect that the grim reality may be that for all the valeting, coffee,
> and bull**** accompanying the £300 bill, the age old game of charging
> for work not done goes on as ever - greatly assisted by the fact that
> hardly anyone under 40 ever lifts a bonnet these days....
>
> Be glad when the warranty's up and I can find someone who actually
> services a car with an eye on its longevity rather than on pursuading me
> to buy a new one....... any other UK owners out there care to comment on
> Audi dealer "long life" servicing????

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 18:58:14 +0100, R@L > wrote:


> New oil is light brown..
This I know. Not only from decades of car ownership, but also because I
have some of the VAG uber-oil for topping up. What is in the A4 after 20
miles is black, not light brown, not grey, but black. Pretty much the same
colour as before it was serviced. Except theres more of it. Hence my
concern.

and VAG dealers are not in the habit of cheating.

perhaps not. I hope to be persuaded that they have not. In any event
non-performance is not necessarily about cheating punters out of money for
its own sake - it more often than not is about individual technicians
cutting corners to get through the day.

If you feel cheated out of 300,00 UK be a man and accuse your dealer!

Exactly what I'm doing tomorrow. They also failed to correct a warning
light malfunction (although they claimed they had) and left the damn thing
reading kilometres instead of miles too - so I'm not exactly starting from
ground zero in the development of my "paranoid" suspicions regarding the
completeness of the service. They're not around today and I thought I'd
seek comments from owners to see if, for example, it is perfectly normal
for Audi diesels to have black oil 20 miles after a service, (I have after
all never previously owned either an Audi or a diesel) or if my "paranoia"
about the motor trade really was ill founded for once.... in which case my
rehabilitation may become a work in progress

Perhaps I'm being a bit of a ranter and I admit to being premature in
voicing dark suspicions- but it's precisely because of the reputation
enjoyed by VAG that I feel disappointed by this experience. I also own an
Alfa and thus naturally expect any encounter with a main dealer to result
at best in things not being done or at worst in my car actually being
harmed in some way.... that said, they always managed to leave me with an
Italian sump full of light brown oil....


--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

I take it you took it to an authorised Audi dealer?

Being a diesel, the synthetic oil will turn black within a few miles of use,
that is quite normal.

All UK Audi dealers have to adhere to a standard called "HSO", a German
standard smiliar to "BS" or "ISO" in the UK.

It would be more than the dealers franchise agreement worth to charge for
work not carried out.

And finally, please bear in mind that even though you wish to have the car
serviced outside the dealer network, an Audi dealer history holds a lot more
sway in the cars resale history and any future goodwill warranty claims
against Audi....For example if your windscreen de-laminates Audi UK will
replace it up to 10 years from date of registration if you show goodwill to
them by having it serviced by a main dealer.


"Barry Bingham" > wrote in message
...
> Have just had my wife's '02 A4 TDi serviced for the first time after 17000
> miles and 24 months. Which means this is the first time it's seen a dealer
> since registration.
>
> I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of once every two year oil
> changes but found dealers insistent that this was AOK thanks to the new
> synthetics. Anyway I've gone along with it and waited until the car told
> me it wanted a service.
>
> Point is I suspect that the buggers have merely topped up rather than
> replaced the oil. The level is up - above the max mark - and, after only
> 20 miles, it's a far from reassuring black. Surely thats not right? I
> suspect that the grim reality may be that for all the valeting, coffee,
> and bull**** accompanying the £300 bill, the age old game of charging for
> work not done goes on as ever - greatly assisted by the fact that hardly
> anyone under 40 ever lifts a bonnet these days....
>
> Be glad when the warranty's up and I can find someone who actually
> services a car with an eye on its longevity rather than on pursuading me
> to buy a new one....... any other UK owners out there care to comment on
> Audi dealer "long life" servicing????

Thanks to all who've commented.

On Sun, 31 Oct 2004 23:22:50 GMT, John105 > wrote:

> I take it you took it to an authorised Audi dealer?
I did.
> Being a diesel, the synthetic oil will turn black within a few miles of
> use,
> that is quite normal.
I had not realised that this could happen in so few miles.
> All UK Audi dealers have to adhere to a standard called "HSO", a German
> standard smiliar to "BS" or "ISO" in the UK.
>
> It would be more than the dealers franchise agreement worth to charge for
> work not carried out.
I can see that.
> And finally, please bear in mind that even though you wish to have the
> car
> serviced outside the dealer network, an Audi dealer history holds a lot
> more
> sway in the cars resale history and any future goodwill warranty claims
> against Audi....For example if your windscreen de-laminates Audi UK will
> replace it up to 10 years from date of registration if you show goodwill
> to
> them by having it serviced by a main dealer.
I'd prefer to keep the relationship going for the reasons you set out.
My opening rant probably reflects my experience of other main dealer
networks. I moved to an independent with my Alfa not for cost reasons but
because I wanted to keep the car for some time and realised that I simply
could not trust main dealers to do what they said.

I have heard that what official dealers do is vacuum the oil out of the
engine, rather than let it drain through the plughole. Can't certify that
one, though, as this is just something I got wind of.

JP Roberts

"Barry Bingham" > escribió en el mensaje
...
> Have just had my wife's '02 A4 TDi serviced for the first time after
> 17000 miles and 24 months. Which means this is the first time it's seen
> a dealer since registration.
>
> I was pretty nervous about the whole idea of once every two year oil
> changes but found dealers insistent that this was AOK thanks to the new
> synthetics. Anyway I've gone along with it and waited until the car told
> me it wanted a service.
>
> Point is I suspect that the buggers have merely topped up rather than
> replaced the oil. The level is up - above the max mark - and, after only
> 20 miles, it's a far from reassuring black. Surely thats not right? I
> suspect that the grim reality may be that for all the valeting, coffee,
> and bull**** accompanying the £300 bill, the age old game of charging
> for work not done goes on as ever - greatly assisted by the fact that
> hardly anyone under 40 ever lifts a bonnet these days....
>
> Be glad when the warranty's up and I can find someone who actually
> services a car with an eye on its longevity rather than on pursuading me
> to buy a new one....... any other UK owners out there care to comment on
> Audi dealer "long life" servicing????