Hi,

My7 month old A3is starting to make clicking noise near the passenger windshield while the car is idling... I have tried to identify the problem but with no luck... I brought the problem up with the dealer and they told me that its normal for it to click during the first few minutes... but the problem does not go away after a few minutes... it persist for at least 40 minutes before it goes away... and again the dealer insist that its absolutely normal operation... the noise is driving me crazy during the traffic drive... Are you experiencing any noise that I am describing ??? One last note... I had the car serviced at 5K miles... and at 10K the oil light came on telling me that its low on oil... to my horror I took out the dip stick and found no oil on it... I double checked was shocked to see that it was 2.5 quarts low... I immediately brought it in for service... the rep told me that its normal to "burn 1 qtr. of oil per 1000 miles"... I was absolutely stunned to hear this after owning other cars that never burned any oil... they just fillup the oil and washed the car and sent me on my way... They toldme to check my oil andmake appointment when it gets low... (it took them 3 hoursto look at the car)... What am I missing here ??? Its a great car... but I have a feeling that Iwon'tbe owning this car beyond 20K miles...

P.S. while I was at the dealer another A3 owner came in for the same reason... they fed him the same line... I understand that the turbo need some oil for lube... but this is too much... by the way... I am not seeing any smoke from my exhaust... yet... but I do see oil residue trails on the pipe... Any help and hints is apperciated...

 

The clicking is most likely the fuel line rattle. I fixed this on mine and for another member on this forum. To fix it all you need to do is spray some foam insulation in the fuel line area located under the passenger side underbody of your car. The oil problem is normal as well. Some owners burn oil quick, others not as much, but the issue is common. I changed my oil at 10k and i'm at 15k right now with about 1+ quart low and I drive pretty slow.

If you need help fixing this let me know. My garage, although its an apt garage, is always open.

 

I hear the same noise too. I mentioned it to the Audi mechanic when I had my 5k done and even mentioned I had read about a fuel line rattle, but they "could not locate the problem".

So can I just go under the car and spray the fuel line on the passanger side?

 

Pretty much. If you look under the passenger side you'll see a 1ft by 5 ft piece of plastic plate. If you remove all the plastic bolts and let it drop you'll see the fuel lines go into this rectangular metal covering. In this covering you'll see a few access holes where you can touch the fuel line. You can actually reproduce the noise by forcing the fuel lines to rattle with your index finger. All you need to do is basically fill this area with foam and thats it!

 

I am rather surprised that its normal for an engine to use up so much oil...for the fact that we aretalking about2006 technologynot 1977... I have never had a car that used any oil in between maintenace... granted their oil change cyclewas 5K vs. 10K... but even at 5K Ihave neverseenany noticabledrop on the dip stick...I guess this is something I can never get over...but now I know...
I hate to say this... but this whole experience and the response I got from the dealer shook my confidence in Audi to the core.

Thanks for the help... By the way...After I added 2.5 quart into the engine at 10K... the dip stick only registered half way between min and max... so you do the math... I'll be sure to memorize their 24 hour free towing hot line... *_*

 

My oil consumption has gotten better with time, from my 0 to 5k I had to add about a quart, 5k to 15k about a quart & half, 15k to 21k 1/2 quart.

On another forum, the reasoning why the 2.0T burns more oil than say the 1.8T, is the the pcv hose???(I will find the post and be more exact later) is relatively short on the 2.0T versus the 1.8T hose which is considerably longer . . . .I can't find the post, I will look later, remind me, I have beenvery busy at work, tia.

Found it, from crew217 on Fourtitude:

"Ok, I'll say it here and now, the 2.0t will burn some oil and it is completely normal.

Unlike the 1.8t, the PCV tract on the 2.0t is designed to be much shorter. For instance, it is a mere 7-9" of tubing from the valve cover to the intake manifold whereas the 1.8t, it was probably closer to 24-30" of tract. The amount of oil vapors coming out of the PCV is significant and can be easily exacerbated by someone who drives primarily in the middle to upper RPMs.

Also, our turbos use sleeve bearings which are dependant on oil film providing lubrication and stability to the bearing. A little oil will always leak from the turbo itself.
IMO, anything under 2 qts/5k is normal. VW/Audi requires 1qt/1k before they'll do anything about it."

This is the most logical explanation that I have read. [sm=groupwave.gif]