Hello forumers, I'm a newbie and hope you guys are doing great. Well.., yesterday, my 2003 Audi A6 3.0 started stuttering whenever i applied pressure on the gas pedal going above 30miles/hr. I thought I must have bought some bad gas from the gas station, so I got some Lucas and poured into the tank. No improvement. I then went to Autozone and the guy there suggested that there might be some water in the gas tank, so I got some Heet and poured that as well into the tank to drive out the 'water'. BUT as soon as i pulled out of the parking lot, my CEL started blinking.

I took the car to an auto shop, and they found out that there was NO OIL in the engine!! Their diagnosis: NO OIL NOTICEABLE ON THE DIPSTICK. 2.25QUARTS ADDED BUT LEVEL IS STILL LOW. CODE P0305. RECOMMEND MAJOR ENGINE WORK.

Mind you, I did an oil change just three weeks ago, had 6.4quarts of synthetic oil put into the car (at least thats what the service guys claim) but the verdict now is that my engine has no oil in it and is damaged.

The guys who changed my oil say that there could be an oil leak into the cylinders, hence the P0305 code, but would the cylinders hold all 6.4quarts of oil? If they did put 6.4quarts of oil, where did it go to?

What can i do about this situation, friends?

 

Yikes? And your low oil never registered? Is this a tech you trust?

 

Oh my!!!

(P0305 is for misfire)

Somebody with more patience could comment on the cylinder's oil leak...

You have to document everything from now on and get a legal advice and involvement.

Long before the oil gets this low your car has to warn you.

Make sure the oil change guys have not replaced your dipstick with a shorter one.
Because the overflow could case more damage than low level.

To have the oil level this low one should have puddles of oil everywhere-where do you park?

Get some reputable repair shop to inspect your car - keep all the findings in writing.

Engine with this low oil is good for nothing!-$$$$

 

The oil would not stay in the cylinders -- it would be seen as dark gray or black smoke...hard to miss for three weeks. Otherwise look for oil leaks on the engine and where you park. Unless you have had a lot of experience with the guys who did the oil change, I would be suspicious that they put in the standard 4-5 quarts and never checked. If that's the issue, it's possible you burned a bearing but I would not think running for three weeks with low oil would ruin the engine. NO oil is another thing entirely. How much oil did you put in after you found the probem?

 

Thanks for your feedback, guys. Most of the suggestions were spot on:

I took the car back to the guys that did the oil change three weeks ago (Shop A), and they drained out over 7 quarts of oil from the engine: their original 6.4qts plus what ever the other fools (Shop B) had added in. Turns out that Shop B merely pulled out my shortened dipstick, observed no oil on it, and concluded that there wasn't any oil in the engine, and made a 'recommend major engine work' diagnosis.
They couldn't be any 'wronger'.
Shop A found out that the car's cylinder # 5 was misfiring, changed an ignition coil, changed all spark plugs, refilled the oil and my car car now runs like butter. Total cost: $350.

This morning, i stopped at Shop A and got a 50% refund for their sloppiness in misdiagnosing the issue and causing us all much trouble.
<<--- Me today

 

"shortened dipstick"

What a shot !