I have a couple questions about my 03 Audi A4 3.0L.

One day my car was parked out overnight and it was very cold. In the morning, on my way to the mechanic ironically, it was hard to start it. The mechanic said they found an oil leak initially (there was oil in some engine compartment) but they said there was no leak they could find. Up until now it hasn't occured again to that extent but once in awhile on cold mornings the car starts a bit sluggish and I can smell burning oil through the vents (and get lightheaded sometimes too, lol). Any ideas?

I've had the car for almost 6 months, and on two occasions when driving on the highway the car has begun to quickly shake, not violentley but a good vibration to say the least. What could be the cause of this random shaking? Anything to be worried about?

Thanks for your help.

 

yes you should be worried, your getting lightheaded and you got oil coming out of somewhere, did the mechanic say what comaprtment it was in, if it was the belly pan it could be old oil that dripped form oil changes. also do you have a CEL or is the oil level going down. not surprising that you can smell it through the vents the cabin filter is under hood and leads right to the vents, the question is what is it dripping form and burning on, also the vibrations may not be oil related at all, probably a bad CA or TR, it can also be bad mounts. do you feel vibration through the floorboard or the steering wheel.

 

I can't remember exactly where he said the oil built up in, but he said they had to remove the front right side bumper to be able to clean it? I don't think it is from oil changes I could only smell it after I started the car on a cold day, so those rough starts are what's causing a leak or spurt. After awhile the oil burns off and I don't smell it anymore, the weather is getting warmer so I haven't actually smelled burning oil for a couple weeks. He said something along the lines of that he thinks because it was so cold and the start was sluggish that the oil spurted out of some valve in the wrong direction? Didn't make sense to me, is that possible? I checked the oil a few weeks later and the level was still good, so I don't think it's going down (or very very slowly?). The CEL has never come on.

I've only felt the vibrations a couple times in the past 6 months and each time it lasted maybe a few minutes tops, both times I obviously felt the steering wheel shaking, I can't remember feeling it through the floorboards.

Thanks for your reply!

 

lol... oil doesn't accidentally spurt out of any valve.

what it sounds like you have a leak... and when the car warms the seal expands and fills the gap leaving no signs... its obviously above theexhaustmanifold leaking down and burning off. most likely a valve cover gasket or maybe a broken breather line.