tanev

My 2009 Audi Q5 has ~ 14,000 miles on the clock. About 2 months ago I started noticing a smell of oil upon cold startup (especially when I turn it up early in the morning to go to work). The smell usually goes away after couple of minutes. There is no smoke or anything like that coming from the exhaust - just this nagging oil smell upon start up. Is anybody else experiencing similar problem? Does anybody know what this could be? I am thinking small amount of oil leaking in cylinders/ some sort of valves sealing issue?
Thanks,
Peter

mikeh

Have you been monitoring your oil consumption? If so have you noticed any difference in it? The smell might not be oil but the pre-cat which comes into play in the first few minutes of start up time.

tanev

I can not well monitor oil consumption -Q5 does not come w oil dipstick. I am ordering it now and will check, Can you elaborate little more on the second point? Thanks,
Peter

mikeh

Without a dipstick you must be able to still monitor the oil levels through your display. It might be worth the purchase of a dipstick for peace of mind. Some of our members have done so on thier own.

SInce you believe the smell is an oil smell it really becomes imperative to monitor the oil levels for a prescribed period of time.

The second point is that what you think is an oil smell might be a failing Catalytic converter smell. I am sure you have a pre-cat and a regular cat. You might be experiencing a failing pre-cat hence the smell only last a few minutes and then goes away.

So in short, step one is monitoring of you oil consumption and identifying the trends. Step two would be to have an e-test done which would give you an indication if your cats are failing.