I bought my silver A4 in 2009 with about 130k miles from a used dealership, the car was a repo from California. Ever since I've had it there has been that oil burning smell, at times worse than others. I had a neighbor who knew Volkswagens take a look at it and we found a good amount of oil in the spark plug wells, so then I took it to a mechanic. They diagnosed a valve gasket leak and I got that fixed. Problems persisted, and within the next year I took it to another mechanic who fixed the cam seals. They also replaced the timing belt because it was soaked with oil and cracking. Since then it still has been giving off that oil smell at times, but it was ran fine. Last September I was rear-ended and had to get an oxygen sensor replaced, and within the last few months my engine light came on, which the manual says is a signal for the catalytic converter. A couple weekends ago I drove to Corvallis from Portland (OR), about an 80 mile trip each way. I've driven this car to Seattle before (a 3 hour drive) and delivered pizza for a while, where I'd drive 100+ miles a week. Upon returning from Corvallis the car was smoking/steaming a little and giving off the burning oil smell, but I didn't pay much attention to it that night. I'd been on I5 going 65-75 for a solid hour coming back from the trip. The next week I took the car on a short drive in the morning and everything was ok. That afternoon I came out and a lot (if not all) of the oil in my car had dropped out of the front. I haven't talked to any mechanics, a secretary at the dealership told me it would be $120 just to have it looked at. I haven't driven it, although I have a can of oil if I want to try.

Note: I'm missing the lower plastic bumper piece and remember pulling up on a curb to far the evening before I took the long trip to Corvallis.

Any help?

 

What engine is in this car? the 1.8t?

 

You may have hit the curb? Anyways, if you don't see a visible leak from the pan, and don't see anything from the top, i.e. valve cover gaskets and seals, then I would suspect the crank seal.

What motor do you have?