Corie

003 Audi A4 1.8 Turbo / Sedan. 66,600 miles.
I have my car serviced at the dealership only. I have it it serviced by the book , so to speak.

Last night my min.oil light came on and I added 3/4 of a bottle. Light went off and the level seems fine, when I check the stick.
It has not had an oil change in about 6 months or more.

It was recently at the dealer in November.
One morning I got in the car and drove maybe 2 miles from the house when my check engine light started flashing, car started chugging along..I immediately pulled over and called AAA to have it towed to the dealership.

(I have had problems with the check engine light coming on a few times, but never noticed a change in the cars driving performance, unlike this time around.
The past times the check engine light would come on were all due to different problems that I cannot remember exactly what it ended up being over right now).
*In this case it ended up being the ignition coil. They also replaced both front turn signals which had gone out within two weeks prior.
I asked them to do an oil change while they had it there and was told it did not need one.
Three days after getting the car back the right turn signal went out again..and comes on here and there. I called the dealership after getting the car back from the ignition coil being replaced and my bulbs, due to the right turn signal going out three days later.

After adding oil last night, my turn signal stared working again and has been so far all of today.

Basically, this is the second time the MIN OIL LIGHT has come on since i have had the vehicle. The first time was probably 7 months into first having the car. Which after taking it in to the dealer was given oil and filter change.

The first time it happened I took it in and they did an oil change and checked it for leaks. There were no leaks and hasn't happened since then until last night.

It is NOT burning oil, nor does it appear to have any leaks that I have noticed.

Basically, I have to question why the car would be needing oil to the point that the light would come on considering it is serviced by the book and was not in need of an oil change 2 months ago.

Needless to say it is going into the dealership a.s.a.p.

I'd love to hear any feedback concerning problems as these.

Espritman99

Hey, have you checked the dipstick to see that the car was actually low on oil? Could possibly be a problem with the sensor that checks the minimum level of oil. If it is actually low on oil when the light goes on then it is obviously either leaking or burning a little bit of oil. I know I have seen that light come on once in my car and the oil was indeed low. Now i was following the books as well on servicing and going by the service light in the dash, but I think that is just too long inbetween oil changes. It works out to like 15-20k km's which is far to long and after that long I can understand it burning some oil. I now do oil changes every 7-10k km's which I feel is a much better time frame between oil changes. By doing this the oil is never more than half way down the safe zone by the time of an oil change.

Corie

Yes, checked the stick when I saw the light on..It was low, so like I said I added 3/4 of a bottle and the sensor light went out. It is NOT leaking oil. I had the dealership check the last time this happened.

I called Audi and a service appointment for Tuesday- for an oil change and to check as to why this would happen.
I am extremely on top of this car. There is also NO burning smell either.

The service guy I talked to gave me some line about the fact the turbo acts like a vacum when it comes to the oil consumption. I an wondering how full of **** his shpeall was.
I guess I will find out soon enough.

terraflata

Just to let you know. Oil changes should be done every 5,000 KM's. A lot of times you'll hear people complain about having to change turbos on their S4's (Think B5's) mainly because people don't change their oil regulary enough. (Well that and not allowing proper heating and cooling of the engine before and after driving). Changing your oil is essential. And for the price it costs is quite possibly one of the cheapest maintainence issues to do in order to prevent more serious problems.

15-20K KMs is way too much. The more oil is used, the easier it heats up. To the point where its burning point becomes very low. And oil won't do it's job if it's burning up before it has the chance to.

Terraflata

Espritman99

I know thats far too long, but thats what the owners manual and service indicator say. If you have Audi care, they are only going to do oil changes on the car when the indicator tells them to, not at 5k when you want them to. Before my A4 I had a '04 M3 and on that car it was 25k km's between oil changes. Talk to BMW, same thing, won't cover oil changes under maintenance unless the light has gone off. I am not saying I am for going with the factory specs in these situations (I change the oil on my Esprit every 3,000 KM's at $200 a pop doing the work myself!!!), but I'm just stating what the manual says. So, if the manual says this then they must have tested this and this is all their warranty requires.

Also, yes oil does burn up, but that is why you have to check it every once and awhile and add as required. I still have my first car, a '92 accord. Has 460k km's on it and in the last 250,000 km's its probably had an oil change every 25-30k km's. Burns a liter, maybe a liter and a half between oil changes and runs on propane or gas, whatevers cheaper.

axjv616

I've had the same problem with my S4. My mechanic told me that if you done use the correct oil the turbos will burn off the oil quite quickly. I was away on vacationand had another shop change the oil. We think they used a different grade or brand of oil. I was adding 1 litre every 1500 km. I'm know using Castrol 5W40. It's been a year and I've had no problems.

terraflata

Your turbos are cooled by oil lines....use low grade oil and you can predict the result on your turbos!

Terraflata