Best servicing options

[Johnmed]

My A8 is due a service in 1400 miles, and is currently on 104k will full Audi service history. Appears to have been serviced near enough at every 10k mile interval up to now.

Re: long life oil/variable/fixed interval etc, indie or main stealer I'm not sure what to choose.

In the past I've had older cars and cars of less value, from 100k I've just changed the oil myself or gone to National Tyres when they're cheaper than buying fully synthetic myself (and yes I always watch them like a hawk).

So, is it worth my while preserving the full Audi history? Should gearbox/diff fluids be changed or are they 'sealed for life', should I whack it in the Indie? Guessing to preserve the value of the car changing it myself would be unwise?

What do you all do?

[Delboy]

How long you intending keeping her, I personally think people get hung up on dealer servicing too much, plenty of stories of dealers making a complete f'up when servicing so doesn't mean it's not going to have problems.

What I like to see is history, receipts for everything kept to show continued care.

Let's face it a trained monkey could change oil and filters. If it was an engine out job then that's different.

So personally an indie would be my choice as he will be more likely to take the care and attention that you require while keeping some more pounds in your pocket.

[Johnmed]

Thanks Del.

I don't know how long I'll keep the big oil burning beast. I intended to keep my A2 forever and that lasted about a week after I bought the A8.

Having said that, I can't see myself getting shut for at least a year or two.

I'd imagined an Indie I've been to before would be cheaper, but they want ~£500 for long life service. Whereas the main dealer, 5 mins from my house want £189 for an annual service.

Or I could just whack it in National Tyres, cos they tend to be cheaper than the price of decent oil. But would I want to see that on a service history if I was buying the car myself, I don't know...

[Delboy]

Well in that case you may as well keep it at the dealer, till they revise their pricing.

The thing that gets me is you spend thousands maintaining the car to a high standard and for what, these cars depreciate like nobody's business, so is it really worth lavishing the best servicing on them after say 100k I just don't think so.

Dont get me wrong I love my car and always look after it, but I don't see myself selling it in the near future.

I will at some point start in between servicing it myself but its only got 60k on it at the mo.

[tintin]

I personally wouldn't touch NTS with a bargepole for anything: the last time (and it was the very last time) I booked the car in with them, they raced the nuts off my S8: I couldn't believe the way they'd left it, so take care if it's a Cheshire branch, as one of those was the culprit.

I stick with the local main dealer for the servicing, but tell them what I want done, and they're pretty good, and flexible on pricing (up to a point)

[kele]

I just do mine myself and keep all receipts and meticulous records of what has been done and when. I then take it to main dealer for free summer and winter checks. More just to have the records in the history than anything else...

Beyond servicing, then I would probably use an independant Vag specialist with good reputation. Although I did also use main dealer and got them to price match indipendant. Took the bill from £1200 down to £700. Main dealers have a price match policy on servicing, tyres and repairs. But you need a written quote, they need to also use genuine parts and be within 15 mile radius of main dealer. Still, I was glad to keep the £500 in my pocket.....

[sarg]

Long-life servicing - a big fat NO, don't do it.

For engine oil and filter change use your indie or Audi dealer, often the latter will price match local indies and even they would find it hard to mess up an oil and filter change.

Anything else, use a good indie, don't bother with the dealers.

And yes, get the gearbox oil serviced, despite it being 'sealed for life' but for this you must find a reputable ZF gearbox specialist, nothing else will do, and anything else might just mess it up big time.

Most manufacturer's definition of 'life' is 7 years or 100,000 miles, so anything beyond that is no longer 'sealed for life' and should be serviced.

[Johnmed]

Thanks all.

So the gearbox needs the fluids doing, and not by Audi?

[sarg]

Originally Posted by Johnmed

Thanks all.

So the gearbox needs the fluids doing, and not by Audi?

Audi are not ZF specialists

[Architex_mA8tey]

If you take a look through the sticky threads at the top of each relevant section you will find a wealth of information - the D2 transmission sticky is here-
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24
Take a look at the threads particularly the one mentioning a suckypumpysquirty machine as a lot of us think this is the best route to go