Oil change nightmare. Learnd my lesson

[chaos2984]

So Im a tech so you can flame on me all you want. Im not an audi tech but worked for ford mazda mitsu and gm and now Cummins. So ive changed plenty of oil before. But man Changing the oil on this S4 what a PITA. Ive had 2 S4's before a B5 and B7 no where near this hard. So all was going good I do the ol drain and fill to start with. Take the drain plug out because im to cheap to buy a sucker. And I figure its a normal drain plug. No its dumb. As soon as you loosen it, it starts leaking. Going all over my hand and such. Then I put it back in and tighten it to proper feel from prior oil change expierence with many diff cars. Then I go to pull the filter out. I undo the cap and let it sit for a min. The car has no run for 3 days. And it makes a mess everywhere. I wasn't expecting the filter to have that much oil in it still. So I clean everything up and fill the oil up and run it. Found the next day a puddle of oil on my garage floor. And im like this isn't right. So I remove the under tray and the drain plug is leaking. Im like wth I tightened the crap out of it. Needless to say you have to really tighten the drain plug to almost stripping point to get it to seal. It seals with the crush washer now and not the threads. Stupid.

So I know what to do with the filter next time. Ill just loosen it and pull it up a little bit to let it drain a little bit more. And im deff getting a vacuum to remove the oil. Ive never had an oil change be this difficult before. I was mary franklin ing everything when I spilled the oil on the right right of the engine. I had to clean that all off. I felt like a noob changing oil

But do yourself a favor and just buy the vacuum pump to suck the oil out.

[doug97gxe]

don't you always bring the car up to operating temp before changing your oil? i usually do

[shadycrew31]

I learned that lesson the hard way, had an oil leak for the longest time. I tried some autozone crush washers in the multipack none would fit.

I eventually broke down and bought a new plug and oem crush washer it hasn't leaked since. I dont care what anyone says, I now replace the crush washer with each oil change.

[shadycrew31]

don't you always bring the car up to operating temp before changing your oil? i usually do

Yes, thats the best way to ensure you get the most amount of oil out.

[kr3w45]

The s4 is a really straightforward and simple oil change. Loosen the filter, pull the plug. The older 2.0t's are fun where the oil filter sits above the subframe on the side of the motor and you can either let it leak everywhere or rig up a slide for the oil to drain into a pan.

Ford and mazda have some poor placement for the oil filters too

[MacFady]

Too bad, I've done relatively low interval changes on my B6 for the last 140K km's using the same bolt and washer, doesn't seep a drop.

[The Fat Kid]

Blah... Blah... Blah...

But do yourself a favor and just buy the vacuum pump to suck the oil out.

The TL;DR version

[Pyromatic177]

I eventually broke down and bought a new plug and oem crush washer it hasn't leaked since. I dont care what anyone says, I now replace the crush washer with each oil change.

Where do you get the washers from? Gotta do an oil change soon.

[14S4GWM]

Where do you get the washers from? Gotta do an oil change soon.

Most of the vendors sell them here on AZ. Just buy an oil change kit and it should have the washer with it.

[amz]

Why not get a fumoto valve?

[DGVR6]

Since our filters sit on top, you have to leave the oil pan drain unplugged and then twist the housing open. When you loosen the filter housing open another quart comes out. That must've been annoying as hell lol.

[bhvrdr]

So Im a tech so you can flame on me all you want.

Nah, not any different than my experience with Audi techs... j/k...you did say we could flame.



The S4 is actually pretty darn easy. For my SI you have to take the wheel and lining off to access the filter through the wheel well and the oil drips down to the CV boot and ruins it.

Like other said, you just pop the top mounted oil filter (awesome location) and drain the oil.

Like with most oil changes, you replace the crush washer. Its a crush washer...its been crushed :) They are less than 50 cents.

Replace filter, tighten plug with new crush washer, fill oil. Really not bad.


I wouldnt recommend a fumoto as our drain plugs are on the bottom and not side of the pan. I dont like using fumotos on those apps because the valve becomes the lowest point/protrudes down.

Mike

[s14roller]

Yup, like you said, next time just vac from up top like what Audi does and it's all good

[blbroo]

I used an extractor for the first time last night. Feel dumb now that I waited this long.

There are more expensive options available, but this one did the trick and got all oil out in about 10 minutes.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00

[shadycrew31]

I've changed my oil 4 times so far and the only issue I've run into is the crush washer. Outside of that its pretty easy.

[doug97gxe]

I used an extractor for the first time last night. Feel dumb now that I waited this long.

There are more expensive options available, but this one did the trick and got all oil out in about 10 minutes.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o02_s00

have you seen any change in pedal responce with using this method to change your oil vs traditional methods?

[homelessNY_LI]

have you seen any change in pedal responce with using this method to change your oil vs traditional methods?

Nice

[sangaroo]

have you seen any change in pedal responce with using this method to change your oil vs traditional methods?

I have been using mitivac for last few years. I do every 5k mi change. No difference in pedal response.
Using manual vac, it takes me about 30 minutes when oil change and cleaning are done (Can pump it and walk away for 5-10 minutes to reset service reminder and start cleaning).

The drain plugs are not located on the lowest point of the oil pan. Traditional method looks like it will leave some behind as well. Found a picture of a oil pan from a DIY manual online below.


http://mythun-da.blogspot.com/2013/0...il-change.html

[richardm0025]

have you seen any change in pedal responce with using this method to change your oil vs traditional methods?

Lol funny


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[xuandatou]

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[chaos2984]

Yea I just wasn't expecting the things that happened due to my extensive knowledge of oil change mastery. As soon as I loosened the drain plug it started to leak everywhere. I hate when they do that. Its just dumb. None of my previous Audi's have done that. Usually the threads keep the oil in and doesn't leak until you get to the last thread or 2. But it was like the crush washer is the sealing factor to seal the plug. Another dumb design. Ive only seen crush washers there for, so you don't over tighten the drain plug not to seal it. I replaced the crush washer with the new one I got from Audi with the filter and I never had to tighten the crap out of a drain plug before like that. It was so tight to the point to where I wasn't comfortable tightening that tight to the point where I thought it was going to strip.

And The whole filter thing. I just wasn't expecting it to hold oil up there for that long. Its good in a aspect. I just have to change the practice on removing the filter next time. Ill just loosen the cap and pull up the filter a little bit to let it drain out completely before removal.

I don't know about newer fords and Mazda's. But older ones like late 90's to mid 00's are easy to change the oil. Some of them even had drip funnels for the filter installed onto the car from the factory like the F-150's and the Expiditions. The mazdas had the filter on the bottom and yea you make a mess but its only on the cap and you can just clean it off and put it back on.

Yea ive changed oil in a Honda before with that type and I know how it leaks onto the cv boot. That's just dumb too. You have to spray it off with brake clean so its like damed if you do damed if you don't.

But im deff buying that mighty vac.

[wwhan]

Yea I just wasn't expecting the things that happened due to my extensive knowledge of oil change mastery....But im deff buying that mighty vac.

Don't forget to get a dipstick: https://www.ecstuning.com/News/Audi_B8_S4_Engine_Oil_Dipstick_2010_2011_2012_2013 _2014_2015/

Vacuum oil from the top is the easy way (but preheat engine first).

I suppose already know about all the one time use fasteners on the Audi, in a lot of places- one time use stretch bolts, tighten to torque value, then 1/2 or 1/4 turn additional?
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.p...77&postcount=1

Even the sway bars use the one time use stretch bolts;

[hotleadsingergu]

So you have extensive oil-changing knowledge, but you changed it after the car had sat for 3 days? And being surprised when you loosened the drain plug that it started to leak? I'm confused by this post. Modern Audis don't even offer a re-usable drain plug, so pretty much the only way to change the oil outside of buying your own drain plug is to use an extractor.

I'm just surprised that you kind of rushed into a few parts of it. If you had started taking off the oil filter slowly you probably wouldn't have ended up with a mess.

[ENV²]

My 350Z had a crush washer. Never a problem I would never remove the old crush washer from the plug i would just add another. Every 3 I would buy a new plug and start over again. I never ever had an oil leak and did 15+ oil changes on that thing. The s4 pain in the ass to me was the location of the filter. I hate where it is.

[S4'ed]

I agree, the S4 filter makes a small mess...even if you are carefull. The top-side vertical filter on my VW 2.0T has a drain-back (to the crankcase) valve that opens as the filter unscrews. You unscrew it a few turns, wait five minutes, then unscrew it the rest of the way. No mess.....not even a drop.

And I agree on the drain-plug issue on the S4, all my other VW/Audi's of years past, had a crush-washer, but I rarely ever changed it. The S4 drain plug and its crush washer are temperamental....

[djkyky]

Just changed my oil this past weekend. Yes, it makes a little mess but with the filter housing on top is it much easier than spinning off the filter from underneath and having oil run down your arm. Much easier than a 370Z. Had more trouble changing the air filter.

I never did determine if the drain plug was allen head or torx head. I used one to remove and one to tighten. Both worked.

I bought a bag of 100 of the copper crush washers 14mm x 20mm x 1.5mm and have 99 left. I am trying to sell off some of them to recover the cost of buying 100. I will never have 100 oil changes. PM me if interested.

[RWD2quattro]

Since our intervals for oil changes are @10K, do you guys change the oil filter at the 5K mark in between oil changes?
Thoughts?

[forp]

The original washer isn't aluminium or copper crush washer it's actually steel, cut and remove it.

[S4'ed]

I change the oil and filter every 3000 miles...I am "old-school"....

[jygesq]

Since our intervals for oil changes are @10K, do you guys change the oil filter at the 5K mark in between oil changes?
Thoughts?

I change my oil once a year as I do about 6 k per year . My audi tech when doing my first oil changed asked me about change interval , saying 10 k was to long.

[boro92]

There was an oil leak because you didn't replace the crush washer on the drain bolt.

[PitchS4]

There was an oil leak because you didn't replace the crush washer on the drain bolt.

This...pretty rudimentary.

[chaos2984]

No I replaced the crush washer like I stated I did. But I tightened it up to normal to me tq for a drain plug and it wasn't good enough and I had to go HULK on it and really tighten it.

Again Most oil changes that I have done when you first loosen the tightness on the drain plug it doesn't leak. It only starts to leak when you get to a few threads from the end. This plug leaked as soon as I loosened it. I just wasn't ready for it was all. I hate those types of setups where the thread mesh isn't tight enough and it causes you to make a mess. And the filter I just wasn't expecting because the car had sat for 3 days. I figured most of it would of drained back by that time. But it didn't (which is a good thing) just caught me off guard is all. But next time ill just un screw it pop it up a little bit and let it sit for a bit.

Also my garage is in the mid to upper 60's plenty warm to drain the oil out and not like im a time table. But yes you should preheat the oil for using an extractor to make it easier and faster.

[TheTrith]

Aren't you the guy who called someone an idiot for taking his car to an oil change shop?
Pretty ironic.

[MVR 155]

Aren't you the guy who called someone an idiot for taking his car to an oil change shop?
Pretty ironic.

Yep...... He's the guy!!!! Besides being a total hypocrite, he is also an English major!!!!!

[u2nelson]

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This is exactly how it should be done...no mess, no fuss, I don't get dirty and I actually enjoy it. Maybe a little bigger funnel though. FWIW, I change every 5K mile, that way I don't need to remember when the next one is due...(5,10,15,20K etc.)

[stereojorge]

Aren't you the guy who called someone an idiot for taking his car to an oil change shop?
Pretty ironic.

Yep...... He's the guy!!!! Besides being a total hypocrite, he is also an English major!!!!!

[sirsycott]

weird, every oil change kit i bought on my 2.0t always included a new crush washer with each filter box, never changed out the drain plug though , no issues since

on my current s4 i've always used the fluid evacuator since it saves me time from jacking car up and dealing with that nonsense, i'm kinda glad i'm using the extractor instead

[IngolstadtTech]

Nah, not any different than my experience with Audi techs...

Speak or yourself lol

I just had a customer come in with an oil leak on their 3.0 a6 and it turned out the Indy shop used Teflon tape on the drain plug instead of replacing the crush washer. This lead to a pretty nasty oil leak. On top of that they removed the filter housing o ring and never installed a new one.

The change is pretty straight forward. I replace the crush washer every time because it comes with the filter at my dealer. I also replace BOTH o rings on the filter housing. I have seen people forget to replace the smaller diameter one and it usually leads to a bad oil leak. Usually I evacuated, but if I'm doing something under the car, ill drain

I think its pretty straight forward, I mean the 3.6l Q7 is way worse to change the filter on and so are the older 1.8t's that use the giant Ford truck filter.

[5snikufesin]

I've had issues with a small leak afterwards, but it was never from the crush washer. I think it was the drain plug. I've noticed that the plug seems to go bad after 2 or 3 oil changes. Since they are not too expensive I now change the plug and washer every time I change the oil. I would like to know if the dealers change the plug every time too.