Hello.
I bought a 2011 A4 with 104k kilometers on it in August of 2016. I had read about oil consumption issues and when the add oil light came on I noted the mileage and put a liter in. When the light came on again I noticed I had done roughly 7500 clicks before oil needed topping up.
I talked to the service manager about that figure and he said it was not alarming but I should do the stage one just to be sure and it didn't cost anything. I mentioned that I had a small leak near the back and was worried that Audi would insist that I fix that otherwise the oil consumption was due to leak. I assured him the leak was very minor, not enough to leave a drip stain when the car was parked , and he assured me they wouldn't be fussy about that.
SO I have 2 questions for the experts here:
1: Is a liter of oil for 7500 clicks excessive consumption ?
2: Should I go and have the stage one done on my car ..I was worried it may have negative effects on performance and fuel economy ? Have there been any negative effects reported from having this done ?

 

Stage 1 is just a test. It should have zero negative impact.


One liter oil loss for 7500 km (4650 miles) sounds like you are in good shape. Now, here is the rest of my answer. I owned my A6 from 37k-236k miles and it never used a drop of oil between 8k mile changes. Never - and that is my expectation of a German luxury car. Fast forward to my A4, purchased with 99k miles in Sept 2014. Almost immediately I took it to FL and back, roughly 2k miles, and it did not burn a drop. But a year later it was using a quart every 600+ miles based on mostly local driving. Now, with 125k miles, it uses a quart every 400-500 miles and I am seriously disappointed. There will be no warranty love due to the mileage.


I am exploring having my indie shop replace the rings, depending upon cost. I know it won't be cheap, but it is a heck of a lot less costly than a trade and new A4. In spite of the higher mileage the car is dentless, no wheel rash, and everything works. The only think that makes me sad is pouring in oil about once per month (at a cost of ~US$5).

 

Thank you for your reply.
I was told by the service manager that the stage 1 or whatever it is called here would consist of replacing a part and re-programming the ECU. It is the re-programming part that has me worried for some reason.

 

I'll have to defer to someone who had this done - my car was stage 1'd under the prior owner so I don't know more. I find it questionable that they re-flash the ECU when the root cause is mechanical = defective rings.
I had "stage 1" done on my 2.7T but that was a performance upgrade to increase boost and horsepower from 250 to 318.

 

According to me, We use normal level of oil consumption for 600-700 miles.

 

Audi used to use a loss of 1 qt. of oil in 1200 miles is acceptable. Anything under that is they oil issue. Stage 1 fix is to replace the PCV valve and reprogram the emission system through the ECU. If that doesn't work then they need to replace rings/pistons

 

Then the 2.0T engine 2009-2011, is poop. My 2003 2.7T never used oil between changes even at 236k miles.