It would be great to hear any experiences or suggestions in regard to engine oil weight. In hot weather climates what are you running? 0w 5w 30/40? While I understand both ratings are startup viscosity and running viscosity, I’m trying protect and keep engine temps as low as possible in a hot ca climate. I know that 0x is especially good for very cold areas so startup viscosity is fast; I’m more concerned with running temps, would a x40 provide more viscosity and possible very slightly lower running temps or just the opposite? I’m not a professional, but it seems there may be some correlation between weight and temp all-though on a very minimal level. I know we need to keep things to VW 502.00 spec. Sure will be nice when my manually finally arrives on Thursday… 
I used Mobil one, castrol 5w40, and motul 5w40. Weight is important depending on where you live.
Liquid moly is great as well, have had great experiences with it, but a bit pricey though.
I run Mobil1 0-40
A great thread to have. Oil grade is very important to the answer
the specs are the first place to start and the grade and specific grades helps further.
For hot weather always use a SAE 40. Thats a standardized figure for how the oil flows
For how the oil protects your going to need to look at the grade or group. This is the single most impornant thing you want to look at when it comes to the oil other then the SAE
Group 1 and 2 are your usual cheap brand X oil. Its the oil you get when you go to a 19$ oil change place.
Group 3 this is a good grade but has become a grey area
Group 4. True synthetic and expensive.
Group 5 Rare hard to find and is used in race cars and formula 1 cars arospace ect.
Obviously you dont want a group 1 or 2.
Group 3 is your so called synthetic oils. Companys like Mobil 1 and castrol edge use petroleum based Group 2 oils that have had the sulfur refined out making them more pure and longer lasting. but to make them a Group 3 synthetic motor they add Viscosity Additives.
Group 4 is the true synthectic oil very few oils have not tried to cut corners to sneak under the synthetic tag
Those are the big things to look for. It might be a good idea to add to this thread what oils are actually group 3 and 4. True synthetic oils will help bring down temps and add the most protection
I use 5w40 shell rotella t6
Forgot about that one, great oil as well!
As far as off the shelf stuff, Castrol’s new euro titanium 5w-40 is fantastic. I was researching this extensively when I was choosing an oil for the GTI. Mobil 1 0w-40 is also good and it has held the crown for a long time but the new Castrol stuff doesn’t shear down like the Mobil 1 does.
There’s also Motul, Lubromoly, etc. but they don’t put out numbers that justify the cost. Castrol is $24 per gallon at walfart
I run T6 Rotella in my 2.0 FSI A4 and my 4.2 FSI Q7 and love it.
Thanks for the heads up guys; I’m about ready to buy. I did pick up a Mityvac fluid evacuator and look forward to giving it a try; this article convinced me awhile back: http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/d3/d3S8oilchange.html. It does seem however there are some nay-sayers: http://forums.quattroworld.com/a8d3/msgs/11816.phtml. Should I be concerned with clearing sediment from the drain - I hope not!
Oil extractors are great if you know what your doing and do it right.
Some quick advice about the Quattroworld link. Almost everyone calls that site QuattroFail for a reason. If you read the page you linked to look how clueless most of the guys are. Sure most of them dont know about AR and it would be helpful to many but most of the guys on there while nice are not real work on your car car guys.
This site became a site where more of the technical car guys that work on these cars would come to and are on. So for good advice I would stay away from QuattroFail. As a disclamer not everyone on the site is clueless but a lot of them are.
So a few thing about an oil extractor and maybe it would be something good to start a thread on this to help others. I have done several oil changes on V10 cars and Ill be honest I take it for granted that some might not feel that comfortable doing a oil change. As a dissclamer alway come here if you get stuck or need help but to give a few pointers.
The oil extractor idea is not too bad and you can actually get more sediment off the pan bottom if you work the suction tube a little bit also there isnt going to be much more that you can get out with draining the oil. Even if there was the oil pick up is not on the very bottom so sediment isnt an issue. Lastly on that subject whatever is sedement wise on the pan bottom thats what you have an oil filter for.
There is there theory that you cant suck up all the oil but you can get all the oil out if you drain the pan. This is kinda true but not really. Think about it. Your draining the oil out the bottom or your sucking it out of the top. Both ways only get the oil on the bottom of the pan and if there isnt oil by the drain hole that oil is going to be left in the pan. If there is oil not by the suction tube that oil is going to be left in the pan. In either method lets just say for sake of conversation your not going to get all the oil in the pan. Even if you leave lets say half a quart and thats a lot to say your not going to get out. I dont think you would ever leave that much in. Even if you leave that much in remember your oil capacity is over 10 quarts. This isnt a 4 cylinder that uses 4 quarts of oil.
When using an extractor its very impornant to keep track of the amount of oil your pulling out. What I do is I check the oil level on the oil dip stick and from there I measure the oil I pull out of the pan. Keep in mind you have about 3/4 of a quart in the oil filter. If your oil level is full on the oil stick before you do the oil extraction you know you should be pulling out about 10 quarts. Keeping track of this takes time but it will allow you to know exactly how much oil your pulling out and how much you might leave in.
Completely agree and thanks for the reassurance. AR rox!
Justin, I would rather drain the oil out of the bottom on a V10 S6/S8. The older motors before the B8 and newer cars are not designed to be sucked out. The oil drains work well on the older engines, especially the bigger drains like the B6/7 S4s and older timing belt V8s.
Draining is the perferd method yes. I know lots of RS4 guys and S4 guys who use the extractor with great results and after looking at the S8 oil pan the layout is the same. I was more saying the qfail panic was for nothing. But sure if you can oil pan drain its a great way to do it.
Damn; everything seems dandy and then a certified Audi mechanic says nah, better do it the other way… 