Audi used to use conventional oil in the 1.8T before they kept on having massive failures, now audi calls for only synthetic oil in the 1.8T. Its absolutely rediculous and ignorant for someone to say that its ok to put conventional oil in it.
To answer your question ocadam there has been no problems recorded for the 2.0T with oil sludge.

 

i heard about the importance of keeping all oil change documents. my 1.8t has 32kmi on it and i am the second owner...i cannot show proof of oil changes as the previous owner is unknown to me...assuming i save everything from here on out and i run into sludge problems say...at 60k miles how would your dealership handle this? is audi pretty good about this or do they try to get out of this TSB fix as much as possible?s

 

Records of the oil changes are kept at the dealer if he went in for his factory services, so you should be fine.

 

My recently purchased A4 supposedly had the motor swapped out ~30k ago because of the sludge problem. Do the replacement/repaired engines have the fine mesh screen? Or do they switch to a different screen for this issue? Also, is there any way to verify factory performed service and things like the engine swap? When I called the dealer it was purchased and serviced at, they told me they couldn't release that information, even though I now own the vehicle.

Thanks.


Edit: +1 vote for sticky

 

All 1.8T engines are designed the same, even the new ones for a replacment. The problem is the oil sump/pan design that doesn't allow a big sized oil pick up tube, which is half the problem. I couldn't tell you about the pick up screen, i would have to ask an audi engineer, but they don't tell us s***!!!
I don't know why the dealer wouldn't give you the info about the engine swap either, maybe because in their records its registered as a different owner.

 

I might just go the external oil cooler route in that case. Would you anticipate any problems with pressure drop sticking it inline with the turbo oil lines, or would the screw on filter type adapter be the better approach? Also, since you're an Audi tech, what is your opinion of seafoam? I don't normally go for the "miracle additive" type products, but after reading all the posts about people loving it, it's making me reconsider. Would it be an appropriate preventative maintenance measure to avoid the sludge build up? Any drawbacks to using it? I had the crank bearings on a `75 Midget turn to pudding after an oil additive treatment, and been leery of them ever since.

 

Pressure would drop slightly which is not ideal, plus it wouldn't stop the fact that the oil pick up tube will get clogged with something. It doesn't have to be sludge either, oil pan gasket material, crap in the PCV system ect.
Seafoam is an amazing product, it CAN harm the engine if used improperly however. To use the seafoam, pour half a can of it into the crankcase and run it for about 1 hour or go for a small 50 mile drive without pressing the gas pedal too hard. Drain it and change the filter, you will see all kinds of crap come out of the oil pan. It greatly reduces the chance of oil pressure failure.

 

given that i'm the third owner buying it @ over 80k mi thus having oil changes that wouldn't be under manufacturer warranty/records, do i think, "its over 103k so i'm f*****," or do i think, "i'm @ 104k w/no problems and most happen quickly around 60-80k, so it hasn't happened yet, so if i maintain it, the car will be ok?"
christ, i'm already planning on redoing the timing belt and waterpump, and doing a levelten for the tranny. adding an oil cooler to those on an 8yo car that's gonna die just doesn't make sense.

 

In your case you could try to convince the dealer thatYOU the current owner had taken care of the car and kept all the reciepts until now and they might cover it.
Any engine at any mileage is subject to losing oil pressure depending on how it was taken care of.
Running a seafoam treatment would be good in your case. There are threads on here (AKA AMZE'S) thread that ran full synthetic the whole engines life and changed it every 3k and still got stranded from sludge.

 

my car has salvage title what now?