Several months past I was on a long drive, the oil light came on. The engine was starved for oil and had the loud rattle. I stopped the engine and had the A4 1.8T towed home.

I had the engine flushed two years ago and had not driven the car much (4k-to 5K miles) since then.

An Audi tech told me that the screen should always be changed after a flush because there is not enough pressure to move the material through the screen. I recently drained the oil pan, removed the pan and replaced my intake screen. The screen was clogged.

last week I changed the oil filter, all breather hoses and pcv valve from the valve cover to the oil filter, removed the valve cover, looked at the cams - did not look bad, greased the cam with engine assembly grease, replaced with new gasket and added oil.

I started the engine last night and after several minutes the engine finally got oil circulating and engine began sounding normal.

After the engine warmed to normal temp I started seeing white smoke (vapor) from the exhaust. Took it for a drive and discovered a constant stream of smoke. I also noticed that I lost about 1/3 inch of coolant. The exhaust pipes have coolant and water, but no excessive amount of oil. No unburned fuel odors.

I’m thinking the turbo seals are bad and letting coolant into the engine. I checked my spark plugs this morning. The plugs smell like coolant. My plugs are dirty and dry, but not wet with oil.

I checked the oil level and the dipstick does not show any oil. I don’t have leaks.

I am planning to have the engine compression checked.

Any ideas in which lines the oil may be?
head gasket/ engine block problems?
Any chance I burned through the oil with the gasoline?

Head gasket. You cant see the oil smoke because the coolant smoke is more pronounced and oil smoke is more subtle. I doubt the turbo is letting that much oil out. Do a compression test to be sure.

defintly a gasket issue. did u put silicone in the right places. I know the 1.8 ask for gasket only in certian areas or something like that.

the gasket for the valve cover is not a problem. silicone at all corners and 90 deg angles. torqued to 84 in - lb (7 ft - lb). cover went in nicely.

I did not remove the cylinder head/replace the head gasket. i plan to do a compression test, then if it is a problem then Ill likely remove the cylinder head and go from there ...and replace the timing belt (mileage is ~ 89,000), tensioner, water pump, etc...
Thanks!

Valve cover wont cause a problem like that. Check for blow by. Pull the oil cap off while the engine is idling. It can have air puffing out a little but it should be blowing out. Drain the coolant and check it for oil. Drain whatever oil is left and check for coolant.