Long life servicing

[Wizbit]

My A8 is currently setup for long life servicing and only requires an oil change every 2 years/19K miles or so. This sounds good as it reduces the number of services needed.

I have spoken to a local independant specialist who tells me that they recommend putting the car onto a yearly service interval as its much better for the engine. This would then use 'normal' oil instead of long life oil.

What are peoples thoughts on this? Surely Audi know what they are doing and the long life service interval is fine, but does this reduce the life of your engine? I only do about 12k miles a year so i'm not sure if this would benefit me.

Final question - presumably the service required every 2 years is going to cost alot more than if i was on the 1 year service interval? Any idea how much more and is this because the longlife oil is more expensive?

[Goz]

Hi,

I have had my car for almost a year, have done almost 6k miles, I have decided to ignore the Audi service intervals (mine was long service as well) and get my car serviced independantly. I change the oil (I use Castrol Edge - the long service oil) once every six months, air filter once a year, I have done a gerabox oil change when I bought the car, I have done the fuel filter at 80,000 miles, and the power steering fluid as per Paul W's excellent site audipages Home

Maybe its over the top, but I feel 2 years between services is too long. My previous car was a Volvo, and the Haynes manual for that says do the oil every 6 months, air filter every year, etc. So my thinking is, if a Volvo needs this level of servicing then the higher performace Audi should be serviced at least as often.

[Goz]

I forgot to give you the costs.

Engine oil change (with longlife oil) at independent mechaic: £108.38

Air filter (from Audi Dealer), best to change yourself: £15.44

Tiptronic oil change, filter & gasket (ind. mech): £200

Fuel filter (ind. mech): £35

Power steering fluid (changed myself): £22.77

I haven't changed the coolant yet, and I need to change the brake fluid too.

[Wizbit]

Thanks for the info Goz. I'm seriously considering getting the car changed from the variable 2 year service interval to a fixed 1 year service interval. Given my relatively low mileage i think this would probably best suit the car.

I presume the service indicator can be easily changed from the variable cycle to a fixed 1 year cycle?

[Goz]

sorry, I dont know how thats done, my mechanic must have changed it using VAG-COM. Hopefully someone will be along shortly who knows how its done, theres loads of people on here with VAG-COM.