A3 Oil Consumption
#1
A3 Oil Consumption
I purchased a brand new Audi A3 in 2007.
I bought this new car because my former vehicle (a Honda) was starting to age a 2003.
I wanted a car that was relatively manitenance free, because I am a girl and can barely stand the thought of touching a gas pump.
I have now owned my car a little over a year. It has 20k kms on it.
My oil light has been coming on every 2 months or every 2,000 kms. At that point I add 2 litres of oil and I am on my way. In the space of a year I have had to add oil 6x and have been for two complete oil changes.
So...given that I loathe all things that require me to get my hands dirty, I find the process of constantly needing to add oil a bit excessive. Audi in the demeaning way has told me this is normal behaviour for an Audi. I say kiss my ***, I never want to work this hard for my car!
So, they placated me and did some tests and replaced a gasket. Problem persists.
They recently have put some die in my oil and told me to drive a 1000 kms and come back (oil consumption test). Did that. They informed me that my car does require some additional tests and when the audi people located at some mysterious location tell my locals what tests to now they will call me back.
My question is has anyone had this experience with their A3 using so much oil. They guy at the dealer told me it is NORMAL to add oil about 6x per year apart from oil changes!!! Is this true?
What is wrong with this car and what will be a reasonable course of action if they can not improve this problem?
What should I be asking them to do?
Help and advice graciously accepted.
Angela
I bought this new car because my former vehicle (a Honda) was starting to age a 2003.
I wanted a car that was relatively manitenance free, because I am a girl and can barely stand the thought of touching a gas pump.
I have now owned my car a little over a year. It has 20k kms on it.
My oil light has been coming on every 2 months or every 2,000 kms. At that point I add 2 litres of oil and I am on my way. In the space of a year I have had to add oil 6x and have been for two complete oil changes.
So...given that I loathe all things that require me to get my hands dirty, I find the process of constantly needing to add oil a bit excessive. Audi in the demeaning way has told me this is normal behaviour for an Audi. I say kiss my ***, I never want to work this hard for my car!
So, they placated me and did some tests and replaced a gasket. Problem persists.
They recently have put some die in my oil and told me to drive a 1000 kms and come back (oil consumption test). Did that. They informed me that my car does require some additional tests and when the audi people located at some mysterious location tell my locals what tests to now they will call me back.
My question is has anyone had this experience with their A3 using so much oil. They guy at the dealer told me it is NORMAL to add oil about 6x per year apart from oil changes!!! Is this true?
What is wrong with this car and what will be a reasonable course of action if they can not improve this problem?
What should I be asking them to do?
Help and advice graciously accepted.
Angela
Last edited by Anglea; 12-11-2008 at 06:56 PM. Reason: spelling mistake
#2
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
It is certainly NOT normal for a new Audi to be using oil. My A4's went between oil changes without EVER having add oil. Don't let these guys give you any crap! I hate it when mechanics treat women like that. Which dealer are you going to?
#3
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
Yeah, the guy that told you that is a moron!! I also hate when they take advantage of people. This is not normal, it is a fairly new car and it should not use any oil basically at least not enough for you to notice! The issue has to be fixed and I would just be persistant at it! Same thing happened to me and I kept complaining about the same issue every time i visted the dealer (I visited about every 2 weeks to **** them off) So finally Audi replaced the fuel pump that I needed and my stereo system and .......TADA!!! That thing they called "Normal" dissapeared!
#4
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
I have an '06 that has the same oil consumption you describe (not quite as severe though). I have the car since new. I have learned to deal with it after doing some research about VW/Audi as being "normal". I don't know how much truth there is to that, but oh well. I hope my '09 TT 3.2 that's coming doesn't do the same thing.
#5
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
I have a 2008 A3 2.0T and the funny thing is, when it hit 20K the oil light came on. I added just over a 1 ltr of fully synthetic. As I worked at a dealership I asked the guys in the shop for the non "bullshit" reason for this. After a bunch of techy stuff like compression ratios, turbo lubrication, and FSI they told me that the best thing to do is service it sooner than the 17,000km service interval between the 8K and 25K service. And not to rev it hard when the engine is cold........hmmmm
We shall see!!
We shall see!!
#6
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
yeah i had the same problem my oil light came on put almost a litre in and everything seems to be ok, changing it before the 15k the recommend i think is important i am looking at doing around 8ish i think
#7
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
Hello
I have also the same problem of Oil consuption and I have a problem with the engine.
When I first start it in the morning, the engine goes up and down between 800 and 1200 rpm for 4 minutes and then everything is allright, but I noticed that there are black drops (many black drops) on the ground below the exhaust pipe. This happened twice last week and yesterday, the Oil light came On. I had to add synthetic Oil and the light went OFF. this morning the same problem, the engine had a serieus problem to maintain the rpm at 800 and then the ESP and the ECP came out of service.
I have some pictures and videos of it, but I don't know how upload them here.
question: do you think that the Oil comsumption problem has anythink to do with the engine problem?
thank you for your help.
note: the car has 13,800Km and the last oil change was at 8,000Km like recommended by the dealer.
I have also the same problem of Oil consuption and I have a problem with the engine.
When I first start it in the morning, the engine goes up and down between 800 and 1200 rpm for 4 minutes and then everything is allright, but I noticed that there are black drops (many black drops) on the ground below the exhaust pipe. This happened twice last week and yesterday, the Oil light came On. I had to add synthetic Oil and the light went OFF. this morning the same problem, the engine had a serieus problem to maintain the rpm at 800 and then the ESP and the ECP came out of service.
I have some pictures and videos of it, but I don't know how upload them here.
question: do you think that the Oil comsumption problem has anythink to do with the engine problem?
thank you for your help.
note: the car has 13,800Km and the last oil change was at 8,000Km like recommended by the dealer.
#8
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
i have 06 a3 and mine did that to in the winter i had oil change done at 70k and the light at 78k and then i talked to the dealer and they told me the only reason they do every 15k oil changes is because that's how they save money buy extending it to as long as they can. The service manager told me to just to do an oil change every 8-10k and that's what i'm doing and i don't have that problem anymore.
#10
Re: A3 Oil Consumption
my 07 Gti was using quite a bit of oil until recently when I discovered a gasket leak. It has since been repaired. A month later it doesn't seem to be using any oil at all. My car has had the computer reflashed so i try to avoid the dealer. Car is near out of warranty, only 1500km's left. No major problems with car, engine has been a dream.