A3 - oil consumption - Page 4

Just hit 30K on my 06 A3 2.0T.  I'm  having the same problem with excessive oil consumption.  My oil light came on this weekend and when I checked the dipstick it was dry.  I called the dealer to report the problem and make an appointment to bring the car in.  They acted very concerned and said to "plan on leaving the car" for a few days.  I think Audi knows what the problem with this particular engine is and doesn't want to publicize it.  More to follow....

Wanted to add my info.  My 2006 A3 2.0 T is burning oil at 1 Qt every 1600 miles!
 
I even had the dealer change the oil (which I paid $$$ for) at 10,000 and 20,000 mile intervals (ontop of the other oil changing intervals).  It now has 23,000 miles on it, and Audi is giving me the "we have to perform an oil consumption test"  Which I was lead to believe they did last time I was in.
 
High compression or not... there is no way an engine should be burning oil that fast!

Having two other Turbo charged 4 cylinder engines, (1 Subaru and 1 Saab) I can say I experienced very little oil consumption from both. I do not have the Audi yet but if I run into anything out of the norm I will let you know.

I would be interested to know how these oil consuming engines were initially broken in?

quote:

ORIGINAL: chifanpoe

Having two other Turbo charged 4 cylinder engines, (1 Subaru and 1 Saab) I can say I experienced very little oil consumption from both. I do not have the Audi yet but if I run into anything out of the norm I will let you know.

I would be interested to know how these oil consuming engines were initially broken in?

This is my 6th turbocharged car...I just bought it with 65k miles and the previous owner alerted me that it goes through a quart about every 5k miles. That does not alarm me, as long as it stays around there. Even the owner's manual advises that this is not atypical or necessarily cause for alarm. Perhaps it is notable that the only other of those turbo cars I owned that consumed oil was an '86 Porsche 951 (944 Turbo). It went through about a quart every 2-3k miles. The dealer did a compression test and said it was fine and not to worry about it; just keep adding as needed. I had also heard that the reason that car did that was due to the cylinder lining being made of silicon-impregnated aluminum, rather than cast iron, like most other cars, so it requires iron-coating in the pistons, which has a looser tolerance to the cylinder wall when cold. The 2.0T has an iron black, AFAIK, so perhaps it's just a German turbo thing :P.

quote:

ORIGINAL: chifanpoe

I would be interested to know how these oil consuming engines were initially broken in?

I am also interested in this. I read this same issue on other Audi forums about the 2.0T. Yet there is never any word of how the engines were broken in. Since there seems to be some with the problem and others without it I would tend to think that maybe those without the issue broke their engines in a little more carefully? Not sure if this type of correlation has been made yet...

FWIW, I broke my 2.0T in meticulously and it doesn't seem to consume any oil so far. I've only got ~12,700 miles, and I change the oil every 5k. Perhaps if I followed the 10k intervals suggested by Audi then consumption would become an issue.

I broke my engine in properly too and I go through a quart every 4k miles or so.
 
 
 
 
Cheers!

Well the car is on a trip via flat bed to the dealership.  In response to how the car was broken in, the answer is I don't know.  I bought it slightly used with 8300 miles.  I will tell you that I'm taking it to a different dealership this time.  They advised me that Audi has issued a tech bulletin on the "Pressure Regulating Valve".  Apparently they can stick in an open position and cause oil consumption.  I'm not sure why the first dealership didn't tell me about that.  Nevertheless, I will follow up with more info after the car is back home.
 
I've also had a Saab 900 turbo and 9000 turbo.  No problems with oil consumption ever.

I was told by many BMW and Audi owners, that I am crazy for giving Audi and or Audi mechanic specialists more of my money for the every 5,000 mile oil change, instead of just waiting the 10,000 miles like it says in the manual.  what do you all think?

1.  Turbochargers put much more stress and heat into the oil.  Remember the oil is lubricating a very hot device spinning at 100,000 rpm or more.  I wouldn't be surprised to start hearing owners of the new turbo'd BMW's changing their oil more frequently.
2.  Why not just do the oil changes yourself? It is pretty simple to do, you avoid the aggravation of taking it into the dealer, and your spare time is probably cheaper then the dealer's labor rate.

I bet that you'd be fine changing the oil every 10k miles.   However, with all of the mods on my engine and the way I drive, I feel it is good to change mine every 5k miles.   But, I do the mid change myself for around $40.   Very simple on these cars.
 
 
 
Cheers!
 
 
 

With a top-quality full synthetic oil (I personally use Mobil1 and more recently Amsoil), there is no reason to change it earlier than the 10k period.  I've read extensive articles on this, and the consensus/testing is overwhelming (I'm sure an internet search will give you plenty of reading material).  Dino oil is a completely different matter, as is semi-synthetic, but not allowed in the A3 anyway (full synthetic only).

The fact that is the recommendation from the manufacturer is an even more overwhelming confirmation.  They have zero incentive to extend milage between oil changes if it wasn't well within full synthetic's protective capability.

I'm sure if you stick with the VW/Audi OEM syntethic oil, Mobil 1, or Amsoil, you will have no problems.  I'm not discounting that other synthetic oil brands aren't also good, only that those are the two brands I've had good personal experience with.  I switched to Amsoil in my old autoX car and in my 2003 V-8 Explorer that I use to tow our 5800lb travel trailer camping (also put full-synthetic ATF in the tranny, but that's another story).

In short, yes, I think changing at 5k is definately not necessary.  In any case, a google search should give you hours of reading/research to draw your own conclusions if you want to look into it further.

-Jeff

After 5,000 miles, send your oil out for analysis (and pay extra for the TBN calculation).  The data you get back will allow you to gauge how your driving in your car is affecting your oil and give you the data you need to figure out whether you're pissing money away every 5,000 miles or whether the early changes are necessary.  Anything else you hear, be it from a friend, folks on the internet, an Audi mechanic or even your Owner's Manual is simply speculation.

Welp, I'm officially in the club. Just added some oil today. It's consumed 1/3 of a quart in 3,7xx miles, I'm not worried about it though. I have been working the turbo extra hard for the past few months (cold air = zoooooom!)

On top of that, my brakes just started squealing today too, but to be fair I was riding them hard all day (I suppose it's not such a good thing when I get out of the car and I can smell the brakes, huh?).

PLUS, I just had to replace a Pirelli P6 yesterday due to a nail. It really kind of pissed me off to have to buy a new tire at 13,700 miles when I was planning on replacing them by 22k anyways.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jtrimm

With a top-quality full synthetic oil (I personally use Mobil1 and more recently Amsoil), there is no reason to change it earlier than the 10k period.

What amsoil are you using and is it VW 502 spec certified?

This thread (and the similar ones on other audi forums) really worry me :(

quote:

ORIGINAL: eger

quote:

ORIGINAL: jtrimm

With a top-quality full synthetic oil (I personally use Mobil1 and more recently Amsoil), there is no reason to change it earlier than the 10k period.

What amsoil are you using and is it VW 502 spec certified?

This thread (and the similar ones on other audi forums) really worry me :(

Certified?  No such a thing.  You have to take Amsoil's word for it that their oil meets the 502.00 and 503.01 specs.  For my part, I'll stick with certified oils, and here in my neck of the woods, that means German made Castrol Syntec 0W-30 and Mobil 1 0W-40.  Period, full stop, the end. 

I guess I meant 'on the approved by VW' list in manual. Not having my A3 yet, I did not know, and is why I was wondering.

Sorry, I didn't mean my post to sound as if I was coming down on you, that was absolutely not my intent. 
 
I just have a problem with the veracity of the rhetoric that comes out of the Amsoil Marketing Department.  If you read their web site, you'll read stuff that would indicate that their oil is the greatest thing since sliced bread, however, if you read between the lines and then do a little research over on http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php, you'll find that while their products are good, they aren't necessarily the best in any given car, and if fact are often inferior to oils that cost less and are easier to obtain.

FWIW, I ran Amsoil in my Chevy Blazer (4.3L V6) before I got the A3... 25k oil change intervals with a filter change half way through. The engine was still running like a beast when I traded it in (unfortunately everything besides the engine was falling apart  ).

Did you ever have your oil analyzed?  I cannot tell you the number of reports I've read from folks who believed that whole "Amsoil is good for 25,000 miles" thing and then sent the oil in for a UOA, only to have the results come back showing the oil was thoroughly exhausted (in fact I've NEVER seen a single UOA of any Amsoil grade that showed it was still good to go after even 20,000 miles, and I've read LOTS of UOAs).
 
Think about it this way, let's say that the oil you were running was good for say 15,000 miles before the additive pack started getting a bit sketchy, and that by the 20,000 mile mark said additive pack was fully gone.  As long as you keep your oil filled up you're still going to get some lubrication and cooling from the oil that is in the pan, however, your wear numbers will skyrocket during the last 5,000 miles (relative to what they were before the 15,000 mile mark).  Will the high wear numbers for those last 5,000 miles of each 25,000 mile OCI be enough to cause the engine to fail before say the 100,000 mile mark?  No, probably not.  How about the 200,000 mile mark?  No, but by then your oil consumption should be high enough that your make-up oil should keep the additive levels up above the minimum.
 
The flip side of course is the engines that are run with OCIs that don't let the additive pack drop below a TBN of 1.0.  In engines like that, the amount of wear is so low that even at the quarter of a million mark, the engines show little measurable wear.  Case in point, I pulled the heads off of our oldest car last summer (thinking that I had a coolant leak from one of the head-gaskets, which I didn't, it was from the timing chain cover), and I was delighted to see that ALL of the honing marks on the cylinder walls were still in place and that there was virtually no detectable ridge above the area of the cylinder walls that is swept by the piston rings.  The engine had 143,625 miles on it at the time, and has been run on a steady diet of Mobil 1 for ~11,000 mile OCIs (which per my UOAs means that the oil still had a TBN comfortably above 1.0).
 
Please understand, I’m not saying that Amsoil is bad, I’m just saying that it is A) no better than it’s competition, and B) no where near as good as Amsoil would have you believe.

I never had the oil from the Blazer analyzed; however it was my father who got me using the stuff. His company has quite a fleet of heavy duty work trucks, dump trucks, semis, etc; as well as machinery such as front-end loaders, backhoes, and whatnot. They use both Mobil 1 and Amsoil and regularly send out the oil for analysis. He was impressed enough with the results to switch all of his personal vehicles to Amsoil, plus I figured my Blazer wasn't seeing near as harsh conditions as these trucks that run 12 hours a day hauling (literally) tons of materials. You could be right, maybe in the long term the engine won't hold up. It never burned any oil while I had it, just added about half a quart when the filter had to be changed. Anyway it's not my problem anymore 

Sorry to drag this topic off on a tangent. I don't intend to instigate an oil argument (LOL, we've all seen them on any car related forum!)

Regardless of how the oil performs or lasts I am more interested in the relation to different oil brands and weights contributing to the oil consumption. Once I get my A3 soon this will be something I keep a close eye on (will probably be checking at gas station every 1k) and reporting back on also.

Here's what I was told and what was done regarding my high oil consumption:
 
The Pressure Regulating Valve in some A3's has proven faulty and causes high oil consumption. 
 
Mine was faulty, and was replaced.  TSB 2015505 is the bulletin that was listed on my invoice regarding this problem.
Nevertheless, be it my imagination or reality, the car seems to be running much smoother also, and the exhaust a bit throatier.
I'll still keep an eye on the oil level of course and will report back if I see a problem, but for those of you currently experiencing this problem, question your Dealer about the Pressure Regulating Valve.

Kind of strange so many have this issue and so many times have been told it's normal yet there is a TSB out for it? Is there a date on the TSB to know when the issue was resolved in producton? I am assuming once they figure out the fix they immediately start applying it to all new vehicles correct?

I'm unsure of a date for the TSB or if they apply it to all vehicles.  I was advised that the valve has been re-designed to avoid the same problem from occurring again.