Gymbeau

Hi, folks. I'm hoping someone might have a suggestion about some error codes I started getting yesterday on our A4 with the 3.0 litre V6.

My wife took it out yesterday and got a low oil warning, so she came home and I checked it as much as I could thanks to its ridiculous dipstick. It looked dry, but this was right after shutting it off. So I added a bit, not even a litre and she went on her merry way. I checked when she got home, giving the oil time to settle, and it looked overfilled. This morning, engine cold, I tried again and got the same result. Not that I trust the results since I have trouble reading that strange, bulbous dipstick.

I fired it up and did a system check and got red warnings for both oil and coolant, though they both went off again and there were none of the accompanying tones the manual said should be there. Oh, and the coolant level is just fine, according to the reservoir.

I'm also getting a "next service" warning saying it's due in 8000 k, a warning it's not supposed to give until there are 2000 km left - which makes me think it might be a computer thing.

Any ideas? I'm hoping it's false warnings, of course! Damn thing has been running just great, though I did forget to check the oil before we went to Edmonton from Calgary a couple of weeks ago. And I'm afraid to drive it now cause it's made me really paranoid. The manual says red warnings mean park the car till it's serviced, though My wife said she thinks the warning she got was only yellow.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Jim

a4audi4fun

Dipstick on the 3.0 is really difficult to read. What I do is wipe the bottom portion dry, take the oil reading and then place the bottom section onto a white paper towel - it's very obvious then where the oil level is.

if the dipstick level is normal, but you do get the cluster lights showing, then a scan of the instrument cluster module is the next thing I would do.

Ref the Next Service msg, mine comes up when 5000 km to the next service, (though it's currently showing 4900 km now ) so that's normal as far as I'm concerned.

Gymbeau

Hi. Thanks for your response. I'll try checking the oil that way; sure is a PITA the way they've done it! Apparently I can't change to a more conventional dipstick, either, so I'll try your suggestion.

The car's in the shop now, so hopefully I'll get a diagnosis today.
cheers
Jim

1move

iTrader: (1)

I have a vag-com if you need it scanned let me know or come to one of the meets

Gymbeau

Thanks!