Hi all, I have a 97 A4 1.8L Quattro with about 195,000 miles on it.

The problem I have is whenever I change the oil, it never seems to empty much. I decided to measure it this weekend, and less than 2 quarts of oil came out!
I know what youre thinking, but I just checked the oil last weekend and it was full. It was full the week before that too, so I don't think I lost 2 Qts in one week.
I changed the oil on a flat driveway, but just to be sure I only put 2 Qts back into the car (in case there was 2 old Qts in there already). I let the engine run for a min or so, and after it cooled those 2 Qts I put in was barely reading on the dipstick. I put a third quart in, let it run, cool off, and now it's reading as full.

I know the car is supposed to take 4.3 Qts, so I'm trying to figure out what I'm missing.

One possibility is it's reading wrong on the dipstick. Is it supposed to click or snap into place? Mine just drops in and rests on top of the filler. The dipstick is part number 053 115 611 C, which is the correct one.

Have I really been driving around with less than 2 quarts of oil for the past couple months? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Mine only takes 3.8 quarts. The owner's manual says 4.3, the Chilton manual says 4.1 quarts, but I always use 3.8 quarts and it's exactly full. As for why only a couple quarts come out if it's full, I'm at a loss.

 

Are you also replacing the oil filter? If not I think this may be part of your answer...

 

if your dipstick drops down it may be that the plastic tube is broken. thats what happened on my dads ATW engine. we really had 2-3 quarts in there registering full because th dipstick went lower than it should have. just my .02 cents

 

Thanks SAudi, that's a good thought.

Does this look normal to you?

 

you dont have the plastic piece the dipstick pushes into.

http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...arch/Dipstick/

you are really running 1 to 1.5 quarts low.

 

Thanks for the help Ghost. You're right, I was missing that piece, specifically http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B5_A4-...pstick/ES1501/

Got it for $2.00 from Carquest. I was reading almost exactly a quart low