Lately while driving, my oil light has been coming on at random points. Today i drove to school, 10 mile drive, nothing came on. After school turned it on and it came on for 40 minutes. Went to the shop down the road to talk to the guy, thats where i get all my parts, and he couldnt hear anything and siad youd hear a tick or something along those lines if it was something major. My level was fine and i got the oil replaced 500 miles ago. Could it be the sensor? What could be causing the randomness of it. I drove away with it on and hit about 3500 rpms and it went off and has stayed off all night.

 

This is usually a sign of sludge in the engine or a clogged oil pickup. Not really easy to diagnosis without tearing into the engine

 

I had the same issue couple months ago and since there was no oil leak what so ever, I changed the sensor and everything went back to normal. I'm not sure but I think it was only 10$ for the part.

 

What color is the light? If its yellow its an oil level indicator, if its red its an low oil pressure indicator (which can be a sign of sludge buildup). If its red you can try to do a seafoam treatment to the crankcase and vac system (theres a DIY somewhere on here) that may help loosen some of the build up. The sludge can clog up the oil pick up line causing the low pressure warning. Good luck.

 

Sludge isn't nearly as common in a 12v when compared to a 1.8T. If it's an oil pressure light, I'd be more suspect of the oil pressure sensor. If it's an oil level light, be doubly sure the level is correct. Otherwise, you might have to break out the DVOM and start testing continuity to the instrument cluster.

To be sure there's not going to be a sludge issue, get some Sefoam, pour it in the crankase and run the engine. Change the oil and filter shortly thereafter.

What kind of tick are you hearing? Valvtrain noise? Seafom also helps quiet down sticky lifters.

And one last thought, how many miles are on the car? What weight oil are you using? It's not common with Audi 12v engines, but numerous other V6 engines experience worn-out rod bearings, which will cause knocking and low oil pressure at idle. You can try using a slightly heavier weight oil as a band-aid, but eventually you'd have to replace them.

 

Its the Red Light. Im going to put seafoam into it and then drive for the 250 or so your supposed to drive and change it out with Mobile 1 i think. If i can get my hands on some Amsoil ill do that. When the mechanic put oil back into it after putting the new oil cooler on, he put on regular oil, so im not gonna change it until i seafoam it anyways. I think Im going to get the sensor just to be sure. Ive looked on auto stores for oil sensors and cant find them. Any sites?