Buying synthetic motor oil at a bargain price

If you own a European car or any luxury brand such as BMW,Audi, or Mercedes, the manual states that you should use only a certain grade Synthetic oil.

For my Audi for example, they recommend 5w40, which is hard to come by at the local Autozone or Walmart.

First, find the recommended engine oil grade for your car. It can be found in your owners manual or you can search online at google. The best place to get information about your car online is at a forum site that is specific to your car, where other owners can help with your questions.

The best prices are usually found at https://www.autohausaz.com/

Elf brand 5w30, 5w40 etc were under $40 for 5 liters (free shipping over $50)

More info on Elf engine oil, here is a link to their site:
http://www.lubricants.elf.com

Ehow.com

Replacing Front brake pads & rotors on Audi A6 3.0 (C5)

Check out my Step by step Do it yourself ehow article on replacing front brake pads and rotors on my Audi A6 3.0 2003

DYI: Replacing Front brake pads/rotor on Audi A6 3.0 (C5)

DIY: Do it yourself library

I want my blog to be a quick reference for all Audi owners, something I wish I had before. Following is my compilation of helpful links of how to guides provided by other sites.

LIST OF DIY links (for the home grown mechanic):

• Audiworld tech pageHas most of what you need.

• Blauparts.com Not in great detail for a beginner but great general outline of procedures.

• Interior Lights Mod: Install led/cathode lights onto your car

Getting Audi Parts

1) http://www.autohausaz.com/
They have audi OEM parts and other european parts at half the price. I do most my shopping here, and always check here first. They usually have the best price with free shipping over $50.
(Engine Oil TOTAL/Elf 5W40, Full Synthetic 5liter@ $33, other sites:$55 plus 5W40 is a pain in the A&& to find)

2) http://www.blauparts.com/
This is one of the popular sites. They're audi/vw based site with shops in the east coast. If you don't know which parts to get and want to do a full belt/water pump change, they sell them in kits here at a fairly good price and they provide OEM parts of course. (They have wide range of "how to guides" as well to give you an idea of what kind of effort a project might entail.)

3) http://www.shokan.com/
If you have an older audi, and want to look for used parts. This is a great place to start.

4) Ebay.com
I use ebay motors from time to time when I'm on a budget and dont mind aftermarket unknown quality.
For example when I was doing my upper control arms, I got my front OEM uppers at autohaus for about $60 per side, bargain. Then later found out I had to replace my front rear arms too. I figured 100% rating ebay dealer couldn't possibly sell me a product thats worse off than the worn out dead arm on my car... plus at $60 for both sides. What i got to lose but my life :)


If you know of any great sites, let me know. Always good to have a wide selection to choose from.

Jack Points

Jacking up the car can be scary the first time. And even worse after a bad experience.
Following are pictures of jacking points/jack placement that works for me without causing major dents:

Front of the car:



Back end:
(I normally jack up at the spot where the jack stand is and place the jack stand at the x, similar to the placement in the front of the car.)

Other options:
You can use the jacking points recommended in the car manual(see pic below) but without proper padding you can put small dents in metal after a couple of lifts :(

Audi A6 3.0 Quattro 2003

Hey everyone, I made this blog to document my journey with my first car the Audi A6 3.0 that I bought in 2005.

Since then I have gone from doing my first oil change, brake pads to changing my tie rods and control arms.

I've captured the hardship, lessons and knowledge on to my digital camera. And I would like to share them with you in my blog. Stay tuned!