Oil Change & now hesitating

[capt]

Ok wise ones, I need some info. I have a 01 A6 4.2 that i did an oil change on. That went great, everything was running fine and no issues. Next day, I warm the car up, get ready to leave after 15 minutes or so and the car now hesitates went I accelerate from 0-20 and from 20-0 when slowing down it hits about ten and it'll almost seem like it'll stall out. I get a little blue/gray smoke out of the exhaust, but not much. I've seen others with similar issues, but different models, anyone got ideas? Anybody have a place for photos of the undercarriage of the car where the oil pan and all of that are that says what each item is? Cannot find it and the book from one source is spendy as hell. Thanks for any help.

[A62TURBO]

did you put new oil in lol? Seems like a low oil situation.

[capt]

I did, new oil, new oil filter. My worry is that I drained the transmission and not oil. I've changed oil hundreds of times on my jeep and I don't have a book on the audi, but everything I have read leads me to believe I changed the oil. Do you know if the tranny is sealed on the a6 4.2 or how could I find out? Went into limp mode for a bit, turned it off and restarted and that went away.

[B6JoeS4]

what did the old fluid smell like. if you did add oil to an engine that is allready full of oil, i doubt the engine would run for long

[A62TURBO]

I doubt you changed your tranny oil, especially if you say you changed the filter as well. Did you put the correct oil and amount?Maybe you put too much oil.

[capt]

smelled like oil best I can tell. can you even drain the transmission fluid on an a6 4.2 01? How would I tell without some pictures which is the oil pan and which isn't? Anyone have a sight with pages of the manual online or where i can find them? If you can drain transmission, where the hell do you fill it?

[A62TURBO]

You can only fill the transmission oil through the drain hole from under the car. if you drained the tranny oil you would have got some sort of CEL, it could be that you put too much oil in the engine and fouled one or more of the oxygen sensors, or even caused damage to the cats.

[capt]

so i suppose the only way to know what i drained is to go back under the car and try to read the pans I suppose? What is CEL? Thanks for all the help, amazing that this has become such a hassle when all the other cars i have changed oil on are simple and straight forward.

[Kevin1]

What oil did you use? Did it meet 502 00 and/or 505 01 standards? What was the weight/viscosity of the oil?

[capt]

5w30 SM i believe? book says sj, but couldn't find any?

[A62TURBO]

5w30 SM i believe? book says sj, but couldn't find any?

Check the engine oil dipstick, see if it's topped off.

[capt]

it is, a little over actually. the car also sat out in -25 weather, any impact?

[A62TURBO]

it is, a little over actually. the car also sat out in -25 weather, any impact?

lol that should of been in your first post. If you're not getting any CEL's you should be fine. As far as the smoke, the previous owner might have not kept up with the oil changes and burned the valve stems causing that slight blue smoke at start up. Let the car get up to temp. and drive it around, if you don't get any CEL's you should be fine.


I just got this from the Bentley guide.


CAUTION!

DO NOT overfill oil past the MAX mark on the oil dipstick. Damage to the Three Way Catalytic Converter (TWC) could result.

[capt]

I'm not getting any CELS. I put in 8 qrts per manual, could it be the overfill is causing the hesitation when accelerating and the almost stall affect? Do I need to drain some out or what? This has never happened before and it is the first oil change. Even after warming up it still does it, bought from the audi dealer used and ready to do a little complaining if it's a major issue. Everyone here has been a great help, thanks. One other thing, when i got the oil filter it came with a gasket, but no old gasket came off when i drained the oil, thoughts?

[Kevin1]

What brand filter and oil did you use?

Are you sure you did not leave the old filter gasket on?

[basso]

as far as I know the trans plug is like an 18mm allen bolt, your oil plug should be a nut if you removed the trans fluid your car would not run for long,only way to fill it is from the underside. Think its time for you to get a bently man.

[capt]

What brand filter and oil did you use?

Are you sure you did not leave the old filter gasket on?

audi filter. Audi told me the gasket is for the oil plug not the filter, the old gasket could be on, would that maybe cause the issue?

[capt]

as far as I know the trans plug is like an 18mm allen bolt, your oil plug should be a nut if you removed the trans fluid your car would not run for long,only way to fill it is from the underside. Think its time for you to get a bently man.

Ok, good, I used a torx for the oil plug. didn't drain the tranny then it sounds like. thanks.

[nimski62]

Ok, good, I used a torx for the oil plug. didn't drain the tranny then it sounds like. thanks.

If you used a torx, then you likely drained ur tranny fluid. Was it reddish in color?

The oil plug is a PROTRUDING NUT, which means you need a standard 19mm wrench or socket.

The tranny plug on the other hand is an ALLEN, and you CAN use a torx driver to make it work with allen.. so you probably drained your tranny fluid, and when you changed the filter you let most of the oil drain out thru the filter... DONT drive this until you go to a shop n get the tranny fluid filled, you'll fry the tranny.

I have a 2.7.. You have a 4.2, i think in my s4 4.2, its an allen.. so you are probably right.

[capt]

nope, not reddish in color, solid black, just like oil. It was protruding, but not a nut, looked liked this image

[FabulosoM3]

sounds like u have a air leak somewhere maybe u didn't tighten down something enough..even if you pull out your dipstick and start your car that causes a leak and the car would run like crapola. Make sure everything is snug and in place gaskets drain plug and all.

[capt]

ok, i'll check all of that out, thanks for the advice. what about the two different drain plugs i see out there for my model car though. one looks like the link i have at my other post and another looks like a nut standard plug. Should i have two to drain and don't know about it, it's the v8 so a lot of oil, but it seems like there is a lot of funky info out there for this model and year.

[Kevin1]

What brand oil and filter did you use?

[capt]

used the oil filter from audi and just some 5w30 oil, dealer told me they put in just 5w30, no specific brand or type other then that.

[Kevin1]

According to Audi there are only a handful of oils in North America that meet their requirements and only 5 of those come in a 5W30 weight. Here is a list off of the Audi database. I hope that you used one of the approved oils. Audis can be very finicky when it comes to oil. Do you remember the name of the filter?

PRODUCTS GENERALLY AVAILABLE IN NORTH AMERICA
Audi Oil Quality Standard VW 502 00

Castrol ZVW 352 167 SAE 5W-30
Castrol ZVW 352 540 SAE 5W-40
Castrol Castrol SLX Professional OE SAE 5W-30
Castrol Castrol Syntec SAE 5W-40
Pennzoil Pennzoil Platinum European Formula Ultra SAE 5W-30
Quaker State Q European Engine Ultra SAE 5W-30
Kendall Motor Oil Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic Motor Oil SAE 5W-40
Mobil Mobil 1 SAE 0W-40
Motul Motul 8100 X-cess SAE 5W-40
Pentosin Pento High Performance SAE 5W-40
Seventy-Six Lubricants 76 Pure Synthetic Motor Oil SAE 5W-40
Elf Excellium NF SAE 5W-40
Motul Motul Specific 505 01 502 00 505 01 SAE 5W-40
Total Total Quartz Ineo MC3 SAE 5W-30

[capt]

don't remember filter, it was bought directly from the audi/vw dealer, so i'm hoping they know what the hell they are talking about and sold me the right filter, afterall, that's what they do for a living. didn't use any of those brand of oils, everything i have read here and other places people just use 5230, some synthetic and others just 5w30, I can't believe that the oil is going to make that bit of a difference between syn and regular. Does anybody have a picture of the undercarriage with the guard off to show where everything is at? All I need is the page that shows the oil pan, trans, and other items in that area, no auto shops have anything.

[kingofnyc]

Some one on AZ drained the trany and then put 7l of oil into the engine. Oil was coming out of exaust and trany was making noises.

[capt]

my tranny doesn't make noises and the oil I drained has no red tint at all, but who the hell knows. I just cannot believe it is this hard to change oil on the car and this complicated as to what is the oil drain plug and what isn't. I mean seriously, two different oil plugs show up when i search for the year and model, why? I also cannot believe autozone or anyone else doesn't have a schematic of the undercarriage to show what is the oil pan and what is the tranny oil pan. Love the car, but great googly, it shouldn't be this difficult to just find info. thanks to everyone for the help though, appreciate it.

[A62TURBO]

my tranny doesn't make noises and the oil I drained has no red tint at all, but who the hell knows. I just cannot believe it is this hard to change oil on the car and this complicated as to what is the oil drain plug and what isn't. I mean seriously, two different oil plugs show up when i search for the year and model, why? I also cannot believe autozone or anyone else doesn't have a schematic of the undercarriage to show what is the oil pan and what is the tranny oil pan. Love the car, but great googly, it shouldn't be this difficult to just find info. thanks to everyone for the help though, appreciate it.

It's actually not hard at all to change the engine oil, this is the first time I'm reading a post like this. I still think you over filled the oil and maybe did damage to the cat.

[V8weight]

This thread is giving me the blues. capt, where are you in MN? If you want to bring your car to my house I would be more than happy to put it up in the air and show you how to drop your oil and go over some maintenance stuff with you. If you used straight non synthetic 5w30, it needs to be drained and refilled anyhow. In fact I still have 4 quarts of amsoil 5w40 sitting here from when I had my 4.2 S4 that I'll give you if you want to pick up the additional 5 quarts and filter. Let me know, or pm me.

[A62TURBO]

This thread is giving me the blues. capt, where are you in MN? If you want to bring your car to my house I would be more than happy to put it up in the air and show you how to drop your oil and go over some maintenance stuff with you. If you used straight non synthetic 5w30, it needs to be drained and refilled anyhow. In fact I still have 4 quarts of amsoil 5w40 sitting here from when I had my 4.2 S4 that I'll give you if you want to pick up the additional 5 quarts and filter. Let me know, or pm me.

You don't get too many offers like this, I say take a ride and meet him

[kastro]

You don't get too many offers like this, I say take a ride and meet him

wow nice ppl huh.. anyhoo

your symptoms resemble my friends car when he put oil for diesel engines, goodluck

[Kevin1]

This thread is giving me the blues. capt, where are you in MN? If you want to bring your car to my house I would be more than happy to put it up in the air and show you how to drop your oil and go over some maintenance stuff with you. If you used straight non synthetic 5w30, it needs to be drained and refilled anyhow. In fact I still have 4 quarts of amsoil 5w40 sitting here from when I had my 4.2 S4 that I'll give you if you want to pick up the additional 5 quarts and filter. Let me know, or pm me.

Great guy.

[capt]

This thread is giving me the blues. capt, where are you in MN? If you want to bring your car to my house I would be more than happy to put it up in the air and show you how to drop your oil and go over some maintenance stuff with you. If you used straight non synthetic 5w30, it needs to be drained and refilled anyhow. In fact I still have 4 quarts of amsoil 5w40 sitting here from when I had my 4.2 S4 that I'll give you if you want to pick up the additional 5 quarts and filter. Let me know, or pm me.

Thank you very much for the offer, appreciate it. I'm in St. Cloud, my only concern is that if I did indeed drain the tranny and have no oil, I'll majorly screw the car up. Looking into alldata to see if they have the info, I'll let you know if I want to take you up on the offer. Thanks again, appreciate the help.

[A4edwin]

oil pan towards the front of motor. oil level sensor on the pan also it has three bolts if you drained the oil from there your good with the motor oil

[Stampy]

My God. I can't believe this thread. You didn't drain your trans. The BIG pan under the front of the motor is the oil pan. That plug that you posted a link to...DRAIN PLUGis the oil drain plug. I could never understand how someone could even drain the trans....its nowhere near the oil plug. I will venture to say maybe you used some really shitty oil. like Shell brand, since you can't seem to remember what you put in. It doesn't matter that you didn't use synthetic, and the oil filter you used is fine. The washer they gave you was supposed to replace the one that was already on the drain plug, or go on it if it did not have it.

I would get under the car and make sure everything is cool....no leaks or anything funky. I would then drain out the 8qts of ??? oil and put in Mobil/castrol or something like that.

All in all.....none of the things you say are wrong should have anything to do with an oil change. You should find someone with VAGcom and scan it. Probably a code in there for something.

[Kevin1]

... I will venture to say maybe you used some really shitty oil. like Shell brand, since you can't seem to remember what you put in. ....

... I would then drain out the 8qts of ??? oil and put in Mobil/castrol or something like that.

Obviously from my prior post I agree. Since you said it was -25 degrees you may also want to use a 0 weight oil.

[Stampy]

Depends on the kind of mileage he has. Synthetic is great and all, but if he has 100K+ he is begging for new leaks from his seals. Not trying to make this a debate. Regular is fine, synthetic is good...but better if its what your motor has had for most of its life. Once again, I'm trying to stay on topic.

[capt]

thanks for the tips and info, going to get under it this week and see what I can see, maybe I do have a leak, hard to tell until I get it up. Went on all data and they have some good info to give on it, just have to get it up and then take it from there. Appreciate all the help, i'll let everyone know what it ends up being and what i have to do. Thanks again.

[FabulosoM3]

If anything just post up a pic of what plug u actually drained from we can tell you if you indeed made a mistake or not