dear John,
if you had bought a tdi from my girlfriend, guylaine,  here in quebec city,
canada, she would have told you that your engine came with syntec oil, and
that the dealer paid for three oil ( castrol syntec ) and filter  changes at
8k, 15k and 30k kilometers or 5k, 9k, and 18k miles... and would have
suggested that you paid for one in between,  around 23k km... then you are
on your own..   i do not know if it was like this in alaska,  but here due
to  change of weather, i change my oil every 3k km or two  months???
you will love your tdi... we now have a beetle but thinking of going back to
a jetta tdi... eventhough the cost of fuel, in the provinve of quebec,  just
went crazy last week... it had been 56�� a liter for years and went to 78�,
( around  3.12$cdn  us gallon ); as john travolta said in one of his movies:
'' i've  got to change my residence  ???  ''
pierre a. lachance
lac beauport, que