I was hoping for some feedback from the obviously well-informed members of this group on the lube regimen I use on a particular vehicle. I have a 2003 Audi that gets free maintenance from the dealership every 1 year or 10,000 miles. I put about 12,000 miles per year on the car, so the dealership service is every 10,000 miles. We do a fair amount of stop-and-go driving, make short trips, and tend to sit in traffic, so the "severe duty" schedule is what I typically follow for all of my vehicles.
While the Audi manual specifies 0W-30 oil, I doubt that is what the dealership uses for oil changes. They do not use synthetic oil (except at additional outrageous cost), and I believe that only synthetic oils come in 0W-30 grade. They also use OEM Bosch oil filters.
My current procedure is to let the dealership do the free 10,000 mile change with whatever dino oil they use and their Bosch filter, and then about 3,000 miles later do my own change with Mobil-1 0W-30 and a Mobil-1 filter. I'll run the Mobil-1 for 7,000 miles until the next 10,000 mile interval when I get the free dealer change.
Does this sound sensible?
Also, any info on the quality of the Bosch oil filters?
And finally, anybody know (or suspect) what the dealerships are using for dino oil when the service manual calls for 0W-30 oil? (I plan on asking them next time, but until then...)
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