So I've been trying to find out about the light that has been intermittently flashing in my cluster on my A4. The car has just under 70k on it and at least as long as I've had it (1 1/2 years, 18k) the oil has been changed with full synthetic every 3-5,000 miles. The light is in the middle of my cluster where the door ajar would also be displayed. It is just a red oil can and doesn't have any words. It's been about 6 months, but only 3,000 miles since my last oil change. The car runs fine day in and day out. I'm worried though since I'm supposed to go on a long trip in a couple weeks.

I've seen some other posts about similar issues, but they are all for the 1.8 engine and i'm not sure if it would be different.
Thanks!

 

the red oil can means low oil pressure. a yellow can means low oil level. usually the pressure light is no good, but if your car is running fine im betting its a sensor of sorts-but im not positive about that. maybe someone else can chime in?

also-how long has the light been on?

 

It's been happening for a couple months, but as you can tell i haven't been driving much only a few miles to the store or work and back and it wouldn't come on usually unless I've been driving for about an hour or more. It's in the same spot as the door ajar, which i didn't think could turn yellow. If it's the sensor I should be able to read a code off of it correct?
thanks for the help!

 

yup, it can turn yellow. just for fun, try hitting the "wrench" icon on your dashboard (under the gauges) and you can see the display scroll through a bunch of icons-some good stuff to see in there for future reference. these are all the systems the car checks when the "OK" lights up after you put it in gear.

anyway, it should throw a code (if it is a sensor) but you wouldn't be able to read it with an obdII scanner. if you or a buddy has a vagcom, you should be able to scan it and get some more info.

 

Thanks I'll check it out later today. I don't have a vagcom, but I'll see if i can find someone around me who does.

 

My car is at 101K, I purchased it last month. Driving on hot FL afternoons, the min. oil indicator popped up a few times. The next night, it was gone. I left the car directly under sun one day, and when the car started, the ac screen messed up blowing air with full power, and none of the buttons worked. I parked the car to a shady area, 5 hours later it was gone, and never happened again.

And finally this afternoon, I started the car and the red oil pressure symbol appeared. Again, it was parked under the sun, I parked it to a different spot, I did not use it to go to work. When I came back, the symbol was gone again.

So, I don't know but I think the sun has a considerable impact on the sensors(at least for me), maybe my car is black that has an impact, too.

The car is not leaking oil, it shows the min. oil symbol randomly(as I said related with heat) - so assuming the oil pressure has the same reason...

Anybody can help about this??

 

Unless things changed with newer Audis, the low oil pressure lamp is controlled by two pressure switches.
1) The low pressure switch is normally closed to ground, it is spec'd to open at 0.3 ± 0.15 bar (4.4 ± 2 PSI). Any time the switch is closed, the warning light should come on. This lets you know if there is enough pressure at idle speed.

2) The high pressure switch is normally open to ground, and is spec'd to close at 1.8 ± 0.2 bar (26 PSI). If engine RPM is above 2000 RPM and this switch remains open, the ECM senses less than 26 PSI at 2000 RPM, and after a two second delay the light and buzzer should come on. This lets you know if there is enough oil pressure at road speeds.

 

So I pushed the wrench button and it said "service" I remember this popping up before and seeing somewhere it was a dealer oil change light. I'm still working on getting to a vagcom. I do remember when I bought the car on the way home (about 90 miles) the oil light came on and i thought it was just low oil. I checked it and put in about 1/2 a quart and it didn't come on again for awhile. Now I wish I had taken it to the dealer right then seeing as 1.5 years and 18k miles later they won't do anything.

 

You have to make sure which oil light you are looking at and talking about.

Low pressure Lamp - Oil pressure is too low and the engine may get damaged.
Oil Level Lamp - Oil level is low in the cranckase, and you need to add oil, before it gets too low, and then the low pressure lamp will light.
Service Lamp - It is time to perform routine preventive maintenance.
Check Engine Lamp - Something is wrong and needs to be looked at.
Flashing Check Engine Lamp - Heavy misfire engine and cat damage possible.

 

Hi Pete,
It's the red blinking oil can that says oil underneath. I'm a huge noob when it comes to working on my car. After putting $2500+ into a steering rack i decided I should learn how to fix anything I can. Plus I've always wanted to do more, just nervous about screwing something up.