UPDATE on the oil sludge problems on the 1.8T...

[Jet Jockey]

Well today I got my letter for my 2002 A4.
So I decide to cal VW/Audi to tell them to put their files up to date, like WTF, the Passat as been gone for 3 years.

Anyway I asked him a few questions on the oil list and he noticed right away that he was not dealing with a car novice, if you know what i mean. The 502 standard and the list of oils was done for the North American market so as to offer more choices to the consumer. I asked him about the bigger oil filters now used on the 2004.5 cars and up and he told me that from what he understands, they will be used on the previous model year car to when they go back for an oil change. But knowing AOA and some of their dealers you may have to argue that one with the service managers at your local dealerships.

[Saturnine]

So, they're just going to "slip in" the larger oil filters in hopes of correcting the problem?

[Jet Jockey]

The problem is two fold.

One, the oil capacity on our motors (Passat/A4) is less than the Golf, Jetta and TT. So the bigger oil filter in our cars helps in that way.

Two, because the 1.8Ts heads run very hot, dino oil would break down a lot faster than a synthetic oil. So the move to the synthetic. Also don't forget that now you will be changing your oil more often. This according to them should solve the problem.

Between the two moves they