My Oil...

[MAJI]

over the past few months my engine oil light has been coming on... the one that says "min"... i have also just changed my oil 3 weeks prior to the first time the light came on... now its on again.. what is going on.. i have the oil leak and when i check the oil it's just below the line.. help, tips, give me some reasoning on this...

TIA
ANTHONY

[B6480Avant]

its a horrible word and i hope for you its not sludge

[lookaught]

If it is the oil level warning, and the oil level is correct, then the next reasonable place to look is at the sensor itself. Check for corrosion that would produce a faulty ground.

[MAJI]

i recheck my oil this morning and the oil level is below the doted area... and i have no oil leaks... i remember putting oil to it's exact amount..

[lookaught]

Well if its below the hatched area on the dipstick then it is indeed low. If you have no leaks you could be burning oil....

My oil checking procedure:
1) Warm car up to full operating temp or do this after a 20+ minute drive.
2) Stop car, turn off engine, let sit for a few minutes for oil to drain to the pan (like 2-3 min)
3) Check oil level
4) Top off to about 3/4 up the hatching. When you put oil in, it needs time to drain down. Keep a record of exacty how much you add.
5) Recheck every week and determine your loss rate
6) If you have a significant loss and no leaks, send oil to lab for analysis and probably get a leak down test
7) Depending on results of the leak down test, the next step can vary. If its slow enough, you can just continue to top off.


To be frank, the simplest solution is usually the right one. DOUBLE CHECK for leaks, pull the belly pan and get a flashlight. Just b/c you dont see oil on your driveway doesnt mean there is not a leak and its not pooling on the pan. It could be as simple as a drain plug that is not tight enough or a bad crush washer that was reused. Check the top of the motor as well, around the valve cover and cam chain tensioner, etc. Anything heavier than a light dirty film means there is a leak.

[MAJI]

thanks for the info..

[Charlescrs6]

remember that oil expands when its hott as well, your oil level when your engine is hot will be slightly higher than when the engine is cold

[B6Lovin]

^i had the same problem with the oil level light coming on recently too - and i know DAMN well how much is in my car (i check it EVERY DAY atleast three times) turned out that a wire came loose on my AVIC somewhere and was causing a bad ground which was messing up that, my diagnostics port, how my wideband gauge was reading, my turn signals, AND causing my spark blowout up top.

i shit you not, one little wire caused ALL those problems. put my symphony back in as a quick fix and disconnected all my AVIC stuff - every single problem... gone for the entire day so far, i'll post tomorrow if they come back.

[MAJI]

i searched inside of my engine and did not find no oil leaks... i could smell my car burning oil sometime... how do i go about fixing this... i still have warranty.. dealer or not... i'm running a straight pipe now.. can that be the cause...???

[MAJI]

i was told that my turbo is going out... is this true..??

[UhOhQuattro]

i Was Told That My Turbo Is Going Out... Is This True..??

No!!!!!!
Oh The Humanity!

[lookaught]

Dude nobody can answer that question based on the limited info you have posted. If it's not leaking oil and it's losing oil, then it must be either burning it or its leaking into your cooling system.

GET A LEAK DOWN TEST PERFORMED and that will isolate if the leak is in your motor. Blown turbos do cause heavy oil consumption when the bearing gives out and the oil blows into the turbine housing, but this burns and you'll be able to really smell it and it usually smokes, depending on how fast its leaking. I suggest you take the car to a shop (not the dealer) that specializes in Audi/VW cars and have them properly diagnose the problem. They can probably find the exact problem in an hour or two and then you'll know how to proceed. Without more information its very hard to give you suggestions.

[MAJI]

my car is under warranty... why not the dealer?? and i can smell my oil burning, but don't see no smoke... thanks...

[diagnosticator]

my car is under warranty... why not the dealer?? and i can smell my oil burning, but don't see no smoke... thanks...

Definitely take it to the dealer for warranty with the oil burning/loss issue.

[lookaught]

my car is under warranty... why not the dealer?? and i can smell my oil burning, but don't see no smoke... thanks...

Ah, well if you have a warranty then definitely take it to the dealer. I didn't realize that you were one of the few that actually has warranty support. That's nice! Don't let them give you any shit and not fix it, that's a common occurance with warranty claims. Even if you have to leave it for them to drive around for a few days to see the problem its worth it.

I said don't take it to the dealer b/c in my experience many dealer techs are no more experienced than an indie shop and cost more. Plus they charge out the butt for parts and the book time can be absurdly overstated. For future reference, when the warranty expires, take it to a VW/Audi indie mechanic and you'll save a lot of money over the stealership.

[vdubstreets]

I have never personally owned a car that has had a warranty but I would be careful bringing your car to the dealer with a test pipe. If for some reason it is the turbo they will void it due to that. If they can find ANY reason to void a warranty they will.

[NOCAN]

Well I had a simliar thing happen to me almost right after I had bought my car (used). Over the course of a couple of days my oil light was intermittently turning on. I would stop, check the oil level, refill, etc. The funny thing was that like you, I could detect no leaks and my level was always pretty much full. After about two days (this all happened during a trip to Mammoth, I was on my way back), my car completely seized up and I had to be towed back to San Diego darn near 130 miles. After talking to the dealer (thankfully I was still under extended warantee) they said the previous owner had used some kind of non-synthetic oil during the life of their ownership and it had gunked up whatever valve brings the oil to the engine (don't really know the technicalities of it but that's basically how the dealer explained it to me). So my oil reservoir showed adequate levels but the oil actually wasn't getting into the engine. The end result of all that was I had to replace the entire engine. Not really what I was looking for when I had purchased the car.

In any case, odds are that isn't the case here but your situation sounded familiar so I thought I'd share just in case :)

[lookaught]

Well I had a simliar thing happen to me almost right after I had bought my car (used). Over the course of a couple of days my oil light was intermittently turning on. I would stop, check the oil level, refill, etc. The funny thing was that like you, I could detect no leaks and my level was always pretty much full. After about two days (this all happened during a trip to Mammoth, I was on my way back), my car completely seized up and I had to be towed back to San Diego darn near 130 miles. After talking to the dealer (thankfully I was still under extended warantee) they said the previous owner had used some kind of non-synthetic oil during the life of their ownership and it had gunked up whatever valve brings the oil to the engine (don't really know the technicalities of it but that's basically how the dealer explained it to me). So my oil reservoir showed adequate levels but the oil actually wasn't getting into the engine. The end result of all that was I had to replace the entire engine. Not really what I was looking for when I had purchased the car.

In any case, odds are that isn't the case here but your situation sounded familiar so I thought I'd share just in case :)

From your description it sounds like you were getting the oil pressure light, not the oil level light. That would of course be indicative of a sludge problem. The OP, on the other hand, is getting the oil level light and his oil level is actually low, which leads me to believe it is not sludge related.

I agree with the above comment 100% regarding the test pipe. If I were you I'd remove anything in the motor bay and put it to stock before a dealer looks at it, they will be very quick to point fingers IMO.

[Amze]

When this happened to me over a year ago. It ended up being sludge.

Good luck.

If you have proof and documentation of all oil changes, every 3k-5k, even think they allow up to 10k with synthetic.

Then you'll be fine, and they will give you a brand new engine for free.