Burning oil problem vs. Turbo and cat.

[jackyaudi]

Ok here is the situation: Car is eating more oil than usual. Told dealer 3 times and they said just top it off. OK did that. Turbo and cat went bad last month (car would smoke at 4000RPMs and dealer said the cat was full of oil), they changed it under warranty, but they never investigated the loss of oil issue. Ok, now I told them again about the problem, and they want to measure the oil level now, and then again after 1000KM before opening the engine and investigating the problem.

Ok, thats what am waiting for, but I wanted to know: Is my oil problem related to why the Turbo and cat failed last month? Say they fix my oil burning issue next month, will that mean that the Turbo and cat would be damaged by then? Or is it that the Turbo just went bad at that time? Coz after they repair everything, how can one tell if the Turbo or cat are clean and sound?

Thanks.

[monkey323i]

if there's unburned oil went through cat, yes. your cat has high chance of being damaged.

some similar situations such as "cyclinder misfire" often has unburned fuel went through cats.


It will do damage to your cat and shortern its life. However, that does NOT mean your cat has failed, cat is designed to last up to 250k miles.


Do a VAG-COM scan and see if P0421 ( add P0431 for AVK 3.0 engine) shows up.
(Cats effeicnency below threshold.)
if it is only intermiet, CEL may not light up and means your cat is working but not in perfect condition.

If CEL lights up, you reset the readiness code, P0421 still shows up with no other O2 related codes after several days, then time for $2500 + cat replacement.

[jackyaudi]

Basically, depending on what is causing my oil to burn fast, or "disappearing" from my engine, that may or may not affect the cat. Makes sense. Last time I did a scan with a friend we did not find any codes related to the engine.

Am just wondering what could have caused the Turbo and cat to go bad, hoping that my current oil burning issue wont damage them again. Other than misfires, what can ruin the cat and or Turbo?

[jackyaudi]

ding

anyone??

[dirtybrd]

If you're still losing oil you need to take it in for a sludge inspection.

[jackyaudi]

If you're still losing oil you need to take it in for a sludge inspection.

Thanks dirtybrd, I will ask them to specifically check that.

I called the dealer today, they insist that the car runs 1000KM before they decide if its consuming too much oil and open up the engine. I asked them what if I have no oil in the dipstick? Thats one quart less... They said call us at that moment. Sure, I will also call them if my engine fails coz they want to wait 1000KM.. Dealer rather pay $4000 to $10000 later than check the problem early on.

[jursch2211]

How many miles on your car? Also, check the valve cover gasket and see if you are leaking from around there. Pull the coilpacks out and check for oil in the tubes. This is one check for oil leaks and a simple diy. If you are willing and somewhat experienced, pull the valve cover off and check for sludge. Have you been doing regular oil changes with full synthetic motor oil?

[jackyaudi]

How many miles on your car? Also, check the valve cover gasket and see if you are leaking from around there. Pull the coilpacks out and check for oil in the tubes. This is one check for oil leaks and a simple diy. If you are willing and somewhat experienced, pull the valve cover off and check for sludge. Have you been doing regular oil changes with full synthetic motor oil?

Mileage 58K miles.
Yes to regular oil changes with synthetic oil. I do it every 3200 miles since I do a lot of short trips and almost no highway.

A friend of mine and I changed the spark plugs not long ago, we did not see any oil in that area.

Honestly, am not experienced nor confident to open up anything related to the engine though. Hopefully whatever the problem is, it wont poor oil to the Turbo or cat. The car run smooth and seems powerful.

[jursch2211]

^pm'd you back, sorry I didn't see you responded here. If you can get pictures of the engine if you pull the cover off, we can tell you if you got sludge. Search for engine sludge and you'll see some pics. Did the previous owner use synthetic?

[jackyaudi]

^pm'd you back, sorry I didn't see you responded here. If you can get pictures of the engine if you pull the cover off, we can tell you if you got sludge. Search for engine sludge and you'll see some pics. Did the previous owner use synthetic?

No idea what the previous owner did, I got it from the dealer. From what I can tell now, he must have abused the living shit out of it. Dealer replaced half the car already.

Yep, I searched a lot about sludge and seen the pics, looks like engine death! I dont have the tools, or even experience to take it off, and I dont wanna screw anything up too. I hope its a leak or something lose like you said. I am going to have to drive more on the highway to get those 1000KM, otherwise it will take me ages with my current short trip distances. If I get a low oil signal, am calling the dealer ASAP and they better take it in too!!

[jackyaudi]

UPDATE:

We did a compression test today (Thank G-Bus!!) and all 4 cylinders were in the 180s, mostly between 180 and 182. No sign of sludge in the oil cap, but we did not open up the engine.

Still, still no clue why the car is eating a lot of oil. It could be a leak, or something else. We did notice the following crack:





No idea whats this tube for and if its related to the high oil consumption..

We also noticed that in the shield paper below the cat there was some oil there, but have not found where from or why:




I guess next step is to let the dealer open up the engine and find it out whats going on. Waiting to reach the required mileages by the dealer though

Suggestions are always welcome :)

[A4 TSCHUSS]

that cracked hose is not your problem that is just your secondary air injection hose or your EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) forget which one is which of those 2 hoses right there that run along the head. SAI is an emissions thing and the other just recirculates oil blow by and exhaust gases that get into the valve cover area back to the intake.

[B5Burn]

Curious if you found the solution?