Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Hi guys,

My oil light on my dash - the RED one has come on twice in the past 3 weeks now. I am starting to worry/wonder what it could be. The first time I turned the car off maybe one minute after it came on. I waited about 30 min, turned the car back on and it went away. Then it came on again yesterday, turned the car off, waited maybe 2 min, turned it back on and went away again. I checked the oil level and it looks fine, checked the manual and it says the "red" symbols are bad.

I am thinking about going for an oil change to to make sure nothing is wrong. I just had my oil changes less than 5,000KM ago at the stealership. The car is a 2000 1.8T - has 94,000KM or roughly 58,000 Miles. My timing belt is making a ticking noise when its really cold out, but after 10 min of driving it goes away. When its warm out (0 degrees C or above) no noise on the TB.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

first off it is not your timing belt making the ticking noise that is your lifters are you using syntic oil ?

second your oil light does this say service oil or is it a picture of a oil can ? sounds like it is just your service oil light nothing major to worry about take it to your local Audi dealership and they acn reset this for you

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Yeah its the oil can, but the Red one. Last time when it came on for service - which should be in roughly 2,000K it flashes Yellow. The Red oil can is the one to worry about - which is what came on.

Last time it was in, at 90,000K - they changed the oil which I would presume they used synthetic. It was serviced at the Audi dealership so it would make sense they used synthetic.

Lifters... Can I check that? Should I be worried about them going bad?

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

yea if that one comes on you should not drive your car at all sounds like you have a oil sludge problem

audi dealers use syntic if you ask for it on cars that are out of warrenty

My advise to you get your car towed into Audi and tell them what is going on do not drive it

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Welcome to the world of the 1.8t. I just had my oil pump replaced after the same problem.


There are 2 types of oil lights with these engines. If the oil light comes on at high RPM's thats very bad and indicates a sludge problem.

The oil light coming on after the car is at operating temp at low rpms (under 3k) means faulty oil pump. Mine was this one with no sludge issues at all. BTW My light would come on at low Rpms (when I would lug it) A quick downshift to a lower gear to get the rpms up would spin the oil pump to get enough pressure to get the oil light off. I'm saying if you HAVE to drive it, and the oil light comes on, try getting RPMS up (if u are lugging the engine) and see if the light goes off. ( I had to sustain higher rpms for 7+ seconds for the light to go off) Then it's your oil pump (which is a known issue in these cars)

It could also be the oil pressure sensor which I doubt. You're in luck tho as long as you saved all your service recipts audi will cover the replacement of the engine if your car does have sludge issues. If it's just a bum oil pump (like mine) then you might have to pay out of pocket since your car is beyound warrenty.

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Yeah I think I will drop into Audi and find out what the deal is.

Thanks for your help.

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

low to no oil....very bad.

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Well its going into the dealership tomorrow morning. I just want to make sure this isn't early signs of sludge. I will post what they say regardless. I have all the oil change and maintainance records, so I wouldn't mind getting a new engine! :D

But, I do recall that I was at relatively low RPM when the light came on both times.

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Do not drive your car! Have it towed.

Either you have a bad sensor(unlikely) or you have sludge or a bad oil pump.

Again, do not drive your car! If you haven't scored the CR*P out of your bearings yet, consider yourself lucky.

Dont drive your car. It is a ticking timebomb that could cost you 5 grand to fix.

Did I mention not to drive your car?

The ticking noise you hear, are you hydraulic lifters starving for oil pressure!!

RE: Red Oil Light - No symptoms yet
 

Haha... yeah... thanks for the warning. Its at the dealership right now. The light was coming on, then going off, then on, then off. Im not sure if its the sensor or actually a sludge problem. I'll know for sure hopefully in the next hour or 2. I handed them all my maintainance records - thank god its up to date.