http://www.autoweek.com/article/2010...NEWS/100929873

'Volkswagen AG has agreed to pay maintenance costs under a proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit over sludge-damaged engines in 479,768 VW and Audi models.'

 

Must use 'Synthetic engine oil' it appears..

or IMO Oil change intervals are WAY to High mileage wise.

 

When I took apart my old Civic engine at 190,000 miles, there was no sludge in it whatsoever. None. Just a very fine layer of varnish that easily cleaned off. That engine died due to air filter failure which was my fault. That car only used 5W20 Royal Purple synthetic oil. Oil was typically changed somewhere between 3K and 5K miles but on one occasion went 10K miles on an oil change. Bearings still looked good. I definitely will never blame sludge on a synthetic oil. A high amount of cylinder ring blowby could be a culprit though and this could also hurt synthetics as well.

My 2011 Camry only uses whatever the factory 0W20 synthetic oil is and has recommended oil change intervals of 10K miles. At 5K miles the oil just gets topped off if it is low. It has a 125,000 mile warranty so we'll see what happens. Normally I would change my own oil and use the brand that I want but I've got 2 years worth of oil changes for free and the mileage in that time is irrelevant. I am curious to take an oil sample before the next change to send if off for analysis.

 

and people said Rotary Engines suck ... yeah try a VW

 

or a Porsche....

 

hey now my 1958 porsche is running on the original engine. Yea the compression is in the upper 60's now, but hey its been 52 years on the road!!!

 

One of my friends had this happen to him - toasted the engine, and Audi did nothing to help him. The dealer had some guilt however, and, since they also dealt in Subarus, sold him a heavily discounted Outback. He's not going back to Audi/VW for sure, and neither am I after owning them from 1984 - 2008: too many breakdowns.