All,

I've had my 2001 A4 1.8T for the last 5 years and I have no complaints. The car is a pleasure to own and drive. I am coming up on 70k miles and I have decided to keep it for the long haul. As a result, I am willing to invest in it more than ever to make sure it can serve me for years to come.

Recent work completed inlcudes full on brake job, timing belt/water pump replacement, tie rod replacement, and oil change.

Here is my current issue: After the work was completed, I noticed blueish/gray smoke coming out of the muffler. It has a gas/oil smell. There are no signs of oil leaks in my garage or on the car, this was confirmed by me and my mechanic. My mechanic also noticed the smokeat idle and mentioned that it is possibly the valve guide seals. The car is burining through oil and the check engine light is on. My mechanic told me it wouldcost about $600-700 more to replace all the seals. He also told me that this was not a 'huge issue' and that I couldget away with adding oil as needed until I can afford the fixes. Isthat true?

It has been about 300 miles since the work and I had to add one quart of oil already. I'm using 5W-30 full synthetic right now, but considering a heavier oil (10W-30) since it is burning off so fast. Is this something I should correct ASAP? Does anyone know what I should expect to pay for this? Finally, what would you do...bite the bullet and replace the seals or just add oil as necessary?

I appreciate your input. Any other general maintenance tips for a 70k mileA4T would be appricatited as well (tune, spark plugs etc). Thanks for helping me keep it alive!

 

Just get the seals replaced, and if that isn't the problem they will have to fix it for free so what is there to lose besides buying oil at $5 a quart.

 

It could also be your turbo seals. They like to cause smoking at idle.

 

Use 5W-40 or 0W-40. In the summer you might try 15W-50 or 20W50
fully synthetic, until you can fix the problem.

 

I doubt it's the valve guide seals, unless you have a lot of miles on the car. It's more likly a turbo on the way out, or a clogged breather system.

 

Thanks guys. I appreciate the input. I'm having it checked out again by another indpendent mechanic and I'll let you know what I hear.

 

more and likely valve guid seals...especially if this is at idle and your ading as much oil as u said. also b/c its throwing a code.. if it was a blown turbo seal it wouldnt throw a code.

 

We don't know what code it is throwing, chances are it's totally unrelated. For the record, a blown turbo can in fact throw many codes.

 

"Ur a nuttass... I have a blown K03 running on my car right now. and its not throwing anycodes. So please explain that If your such a smartass. Also seized a k04 turbo in the red a4 below \/ nvr threw a code. SO with that being said i think my first hand experiences prove you wrong.

 

You can get LTFT codes, MAP sensor codes, rich running codes, EGT codes, primary & secondary O2 codes. What, you blew 2 turbo's so that's your definitive proof that they never throw a code? You just keep proving that you know nothing about how an modern Audi ECU works. All turbo's don't "blow" in the same way, there are many types of turbo failure.

Ok, again, sorry for the name calling, it was out of line. We can disagree all we want with out name calling!