Hi, I was driving a nice '00 a4 1.8tq tip with 124k until yesterday when red oil light came on after some tight s-turns on mt. road. Drove 1 mile to closest pull off and shut her down. Massive amount of valve noise as I pulled over as well as stuttering and metallic noises. Yipes! Went back to retreive car with truck this morning. Started right up and sounded fine other than lifters pumping up (just a bit noisier at first than usual but then quieted down). No oil light, decided to drive 1 mile back to my house, drove fine for 3/4 mile but seemed to heat up quick then oil light went on, valves got noisy and I limped into my driveway. It seems like the engine and top end are ok, maybe oil pump? or clogged pickup tube? Any thoughts out there that might help would be much appreciated. I've had this one for exactly a year (102k), previous owner said all synthetic since 30k (so I hope no sludge, maybe oil pump was starved during hard cornering?) Although the previous owner may be a bit suspect, bought car with only six bolts holding tranny in. First time I threw it into reverse (mem. day wknd '10), gave it a little gas and welded the input shaft to the tourque converter, yipes! again. Two months and two trannys later I was back in the driver seat, wheel bearings, t-stat, aux. fan, control arms and turn signal relay were the next hit.

 

a- always do full timing with a thermostat change you wasted that one
b - how fast did the oil heat up? like bam too hot or gradually too hot. either way check the cooler
c - solid red or flashing red? solid is oil level i believe flashing is temp?

 

PO produced receipt for TB (92k), bought car with 102k, tstat at 110k, shoestring budget...back to the issue at hand...red oil light is blinking, low oil pressure, oil level is fine, oil did not heat up fast but coolant did, reached running temp and stayed there. red symbols(priority 1) yellow (priority 2) oil level is yellow...meaning you don't have to pull over immediately. My theory is that the top end and turbo were both starved of oil, resulting in some hellish sounds. Hope I didn't do any serious damage. I think I want an oil pressure gauge.

 

they should always be done together.. but not important
id check the pump or possibly a sludge issue maybe do a quick seafoam run just to see what happens if not tear it apart

 

Sounds like sludge blocking the oil pickup screen.