Not 5 minutes after firing-up our 2008 Audi R8 and heading for work this morning, the "Low Oil" indicator came on. This has happened before. The display flashed something along the lines of "1 quart low, add no more than 1 quart," before settling back to the icon you see above for the rest of the drive.
The mileage? 26,855. For the record, our last oil change came at 25,000 miles.
The owner's manual states that the R8 needs 10 liters of oil when you do an oil and filter change. That's 10.6 quarts. If the oil change technician added 10 quarts, our R8 would have been over a half-quart low when we left the dealership. There's no way to tell if this was the case at this point, but perhaps this explains why we're only 1,855 miles past our last oil service and the R8 is thirsty for more.
Taking the car back to the dealer for some more oil seemed a little silly, so I broke out the manual to see what this car needs. How hard could it be?
Harder than necessary, that's for sure.
For one, the oil specification isn't familiar. What the heck is VW 504 00? Is that 10W-30? Synthetic? Jell-o?
And what is the difference between LongLife service and Inspection service? Each is associated with different oils, as you can see above.
Let's tackle the second question first. LongLife service basically means flexible service intervals, scaled by the on-board computer as it monitors your driving style and the resulting engine load. If you baby the thing, the oil change reminder might not come on for 24 months or 20,000 miles, whichever comes first. Or it could come on sooner; it depends on your right foot. Inspection Service is more traditional. You give the R8 an oil change every 10,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first.
In order to have a chance at LongLife service, you have to use a higher grade of synthetic oil, so-called VW 504 00. Inspection service also uses synthetic oil, but a more common grade of synthetic will suffice, so-called VW 502 00.
Great, but what the heck is VW 504 00 and VW 502 00? VW stands for Volkswagen, of course. The rest of the digits are their internal standard. I searched the internet to find a list of oils that meet each requirement. I never did find an official Audi document dated any earlier than 2005, but I eventually came across this link, which contains a list of oils that comply.
It's a copy of a copy of a VW TSB, but it looks legit enough. And it has a recent date that includes model year 2009. Our R8's oil filler cap "Recommends Castrol," but many other brands of oil are listed in the TSB. I think the R8's Castrol recommendation has more to do with their sponsor relationship with Audi Motorsports than anything else.
The LongLife oils are few in number, with only one brand familiar to North Americans. None looks like an off-the-shelf item, but we did find one for sale on-line at the VW TDI fan site. Apparently any modern VW or Audi TDI diesel with a particulate filter needs the LongLife VW 504 00 oil, no matter what.
But this isn't a diesel. And we're not going with LongLife service because the idea of a 24-month, 24,000 mile oil change seems somehow wrong. We'll go with the shorter fixed oil change interval, thank you very much, and that opens up the potential list to several VW 502 00 oils we can buy at any auto parts store.
We ended up buying
a quart of this:
It's Castrol Syntec SAE 5W-40. And on the back, a small note that says it meets VW 502 00 is indeed present. But don't take that to mean that 5W-40 is the absolute weight of synthetic that the R8 needs. There's a Mobil 1 on the list too, but that one is an SAE 0W-40. Others on the same list (Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol SLX Professional) are 5W-30 synthetics.
It's all just plain weird, and I think it applies to any Audi or VW, not just our R8. My advice to you is to read your manual and check-out the above TSB carefully. Once you decide whether or not you want to go with LongLife service or Inspection service, you'll know which oil choices you have.
Maybe taking it to the dealer for a top-off would have been easier. It certainly would have taken less legwork.
Dan Edmunds, Director of Vehicle Testing @ 26,901 miles
msdaisy says:
04:08 PM, 01/21/09
What oil was already in the r8? Or does it not matter if you mix different oil grades?
billt9 says:
04:39 PM, 01/21/09
This is why you buy a Toyota Camry.
The tech's done the same service a bazillion times, he can't possibly do it wrong, unless he's an ass intentionally.
Ew the Toyota Camry.
cah11705 says:
05:02 PM, 01/21/09
10.6 quarts?!
wow thats a lot for a car
ive heard of 7 or so quarts in my friends volvo, but 10.6 is a lot.
firstwagon says:
05:51 PM, 01/21/09
Don't you check the oil level after an oil change?
I assume the car has a dipstick, it's simple to use.
actualsize says:
06:09 PM, 01/21/09
10.6 quarts = dry sump engine. A very shallow oil pan allows a low engine placement for a low overall center of gravity and avoids oil starvation in high-g maneuvers. The oil is stored in a remote tank, which tends to be rather large. Having a lot of quarts circulating tends to extend oil life, because each spends a lower percentage of time in the bearings, getting hot.
And we don't know if the tech undefilled it -- it's a theory. It could have leaked or burnt it, but we've not seen the warning come on this early before, so an underfill seems plausible. We'll keep a wary eye on it.
The R8 comes with the LongLife VW 504 00 oil from the factory. That's why our first oil change reminder came on rather late, at 15,472 miles. At that point we switched to the 10,000 mile interval. We had it changed again at 25,000.
If you have 504 in at, as we did originally, you can't intermix more than 0.5 liter (just over half a quart) of 502 to get you by until the next oil change. Switching to pure 502 at an oil change point is fine, so long as you adhere to the shorter interval, 10,000 or less, as you prefer.
MS3lvr92 says:
06:13 PM, 01/21/09
10.6 is a lot of oil for the car. It's only a 4.2 liter right?
carfreak8394 says:
07:01 PM, 01/21/09
I know it's completed unlreated to the R8, but my uncle said he had to put 10 quarts in his Hummer H2 when he got an oil change. It's a bit different though, considering the H2 is built to handle, ya know, just about anything..
firstwagon says:
09:09 PM, 01/21/09
"considering the H2 is built to handle, ya know, just about anything.."
You do know that the H2 is just a different body on a Suburban.
It's not an H1.
clarkma5 says:
10:05 PM, 01/21/09
10.6 quarts is expected for a dry sump motor.
As for the oil viscosity, 0W-40 is a weight that VW/Audi seems to specify across the range practically and I'd be willing to bet that's what your R8 came with from the factory.
linard says:
10:26 PM, 01/21/09
Our SL550 takes 9.8 quarts of Mobil 1.
Carfreak, I agree with Firstwagon, the H2 is a Tahoe that's had a makeover. It's guts are still the same. And if your uncle says he put in 10 quarts of oil, he must have spilled 4 on his driveway, the total system capacity for the 6.2 liter engine is 6 quarts.
chavis10 says:
06:20 AM, 01/22/09
That's the beauty of the everyday supercar.
tenfifteen says:
06:36 AM, 01/22/09
@firstwagon:
Actually, I don't believe the R8 has a dipstick. I believe Porsche has moved away from them, and BMW's moving in that direction. Not crazy about electronic dipsticks, but who knows.
actualsize says:
09:35 AM, 01/22/09
It's hard to say, clarkma5
But, since Castrol and Audi are like *this* (crosses fingers) and the Long Life oil is what they put in at the factory, I'd bet they use the only 504-approved Castrol on the list: Castrol SLX Professional LL03 SAE 5W-30.
stingray454 says:
10:59 AM, 01/22/09
Leave it to the Germans to take something simple and make it needlessly complex.
redgeminipa says:
04:58 AM, 01/26/09
Is it just me or does it seem like it's becoming common that some of these new cars don't like to hold on to the oil very long? The R8, CTS and G8 seem to come to mind. I've already gone over 7k miles w/ my Intrepid (3.3 v-6) without adding any oil (on Castrol GTX)... my '97 Intrepid! Well... since the oil change after that (at Firestone), I've had to add 3 qts in 8k miles. Seems Firestone put water in it instead of oil. It has since then started leaking around the gaskets and my oil light flickers at a stop when the engine gets good and hot, but isn't low on oil (started about 150 miles after the oil change). I guess that's what I get for an $18.99 super special coupon including tire rotation. I'll never go there again! I had it changed again 2 days ago w/ Pennzoil 10w30 and added a bottle of Lucas Stop Leak. We'll see how that goes. For those who want to criticize on my infrequent oil changes: it's an old car that I don't really care much about. I picked it up cheap over a year ago to get me around until I decide on something better to buy.