With all of the dealer service horror stories as of late, starting tonight, I will supplement the dealer freebies with my own oil/filter changes.

Anyway, I've read the FAQ but the archives are down (for now) - so, does anybody have any helpful hints/tips for what should be a simple job? Any particular filter wrench better than others?

I will use ramps with a hydraulic jack as a safety. I got OEM filters from Clair ($5.50/ea).

Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks,
Chris
98.5 1.8TQS

Btw, my plan for oil weights has been the following (comments welcome):

June through August - 15w-50
September - November - 10w-30
December - February - 0w-30
March - May - 10w-30
All Mobil 1 (of course). I'm in the NE so temps can hit extremes in the summer/winter.

<i>Anyway, I've read the FAQ but the archives are down (for now) - so, does anybody have any helpful hints/tips for what should be a simple job? Any particular filter wrench better than others?</i>

I've got a band-clamp type filter wrench along with an adjustable "claw" type, neither works very well on the 1.8T filter (for me anyway). I'd think that the best type would be the end-cap one that you use with a socket wrench...I think I'm going to purchase one prior to my next oil change.

<i>I will use ramps with a hydraulic jack as a safety.</i>

I've used a jack & jackstands and also ramps (no jack, but I do block the rear wheels with wheel chocks) and the ramps are the quickest way to change the oil IMHO.

<i>I got OEM filters from Clair ($5.50/ea).</i>

Me too...I bought the "Champ" branded ones as they are one of the OEM oil-filter suppliers. In other words, it's the same filter.

<i>Btw, my plan for oil weights has been the following (comments welcome):

June through August - 15w-50
September - November - 10w-30
December - February - 0w-30
March - May - 10w-30
All Mobil 1 (of course). I'm in the NE so temps can hit extremes in the summer/winter.</i>

Hmm, I'd probably skip the 15w-50 weight all together and just run 10w-30 all summer with the 0w-30 (or 5w-30) in the winter. I've used 15w-50 and I found it to be a bit too thick for summers here in Philly. My engine seems much "happier" with 10w-30 as it seems to provide slightly quicker revs and in general just seems to run smoother.

<A HREF="Mailto:andy_hedin@hotmail.com">Andy Hedin</A>
'97 A4 1.8Tqms, Wett 1.0 Bar, ABT Filter, Euro Headlights, APR/Borla Exhaust (coming soon!)...

Pay a visit to www.redlineoil.com. I ran 15W-50 Mobil 1 year around in Houston before reading it. There is really no need for 15W-50 even in the summer even in Houston. Syn oil is just so much better, the numbers no longer accurately describe it. Now I am running 10W-40 Redline. If I lived a little farther north, I would do 10W-30 all year long.

Note that even 15W-50 Mobil is good down to like -55 F or some ridiculous temp. No need for 0-30.