I am burning oil in my 2008 A4 2.0T

[S_Line]

Issue: My 2008 A4 b7 2.0T Quattro (90k miles) is burning oil and it's coming out of my tailpipe. I first found out this was an issue because my car was going through oil at an alarming rate. (low oil light comes roughly after 3,000 miles). I've tested this by having someone drive behind me at 40 mph and flooring it, the result is blue smoke. One of my mechanic friends said something like the oil is getting around my piston and burning up and he said the fix was not cheap. I plan on taking it to a mechanic for a second opinion this week but I wanted to see if anyone has had a similar issue on here.

Extra information: I use Valvoline Full Syth. 5W-40 SYN-power (European formula). The previous owner did not do the proper maintenance on the vehicle and also did not use premium fuel. I am due for my timing belt, water pump, spark plugs, etc and got a quote to do all of that for $800-900 (is this reasonable)

Questions: Should I move up a grade in oil? I heard that can hurt the turbo.

At what point is burning oil going to hurt my catalytic converter?

Should I go through with the timing belt maintenance and is the quote I received fair?

[RakkCity]

Quote is reasonable if they're a German/VAG specific shop. Otherwise find one that specializes in euro cars, there's a lot of finicky stuff that general mechanics may not be aware of.

As for your oil burning, that's completely normal and a quart low after 3,000 miles is on the better side. Others here have burned a quart in 1000 miles or less. It's. it ideal for the cat but it won't burn it up either, plenty of 150k+ mileage B7's with no clogged cat and lots of oil blow by.


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[S_Line]

Thank you for the quick response! I will get a second quote from a German/VAG specific shop and most likely go with that one! I was unaware that burning oil at this rate is completely normal!

[aluthman]

It's not ideal but quite common with these cars. A quart in 3000 miles is pretty easy to live with.

[Low and Behold]

Insanely common. Search "oil consumption"

3,000 miles between quarts is great. I was going through a quart every 1k until I changed my valve cover.

How did your mechanic come to the conclusion that the piston rings are at fault? There are many ways these engines eat oil.


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[hemantpd1]

3000 miles per quart is good. You can save some money by changing spark plugs by yourself as it is a fairly easy job.
Buring oil can have many reasons, not necessarily piston rings. I was suffering from oil consumption and blue smoke on flooring. Ended up with a cracked Valve Cover. Oil leak from piston would rarely happen in the car with 90000 miles. Do a compression test if possible. If compressions are good across all cylinders, then u can rule out piston rings or valves. In most cases it is PCV, cracked VC or bad turbos.

[80sGuy]

3K per Qt? That's nothing! Consider yourself lucky.

[KJack]

OP said the low oil light comes on after 3,000 miles. Wouldn't that be more than a quart down? I always keep mine topped-off so I'm not sure how low it needs to be to trigger the warning light, but I always figured it would need to be pretty low to cause that warning.

[Charles.waite]

Low oil light comes on when you're 1 qt low.

And as others said, 3000 miles per quart really isn't that bad. Having said that our engines *shouldn't* consume any oil. That they do is evidence of a defect. I wouldn't jump to piston rings (as your mechanic did) since those require huge amounts of labor to replace. Personally I would do as most of us do to try to diagnose it. Replace the Valve cover and the PCV stuff first. Shouldn't run you more than $350 and many have reported their consumption to go away after that. If you're one of the unlucky multitude as many of us are then you've pretty much just confirmed the piston rings are toast. It should be a bad turbo, and I wouldn't rule that out either, but thats also another expensive replacement and unless you're having issues with slowlybuilding boost or something I would presume the turbo is fine...

[Theiceman]

mine consumes almost nothing in 3,000 miles. Just a point of reference. But could also be indicative of driving style. All stock and I don't drive it like Mario Andretti.

[80sGuy]

mine consumes almost nothing in 3,000 miles. Just a point of reference. But could also be indicative of driving style. All stock and I don't drive it like Mario Andretti.

I'm all stock too and go very easy on the car and still get the light - more or less every 2000 miles, but I only top it off in 1/3 Qt increments with Mobil 1 0W-40. Dealer uses standard Castrol 5W-40.


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[Charles.waite]

I'm totally stock and not he car consumes pretty much the same amount of oil regardless of how I drive. Driving style doesn't make the messed up piston rings seal better or worse.

[80sGuy]

I'm totally stock and not he car consumes pretty much the same amount of oil regardless of how I drive. Driving style doesn't make the messed up piston rings seal better or worse.

It's just poor designed that's all.


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[Charles.waite]

Yup. My 1.8t never burned a drop at 100k miles. This engines were super reliable (for an Audi engine). The FSI 2.0t seems like a public beta test for a bunch of new tech...

[Okedokey]

Never burned any oil on mine.

[1killera4]

I drive the piss out of mine and use a quart about every 6000 miles.

[Denio24]

Yup. My 1.8t never burned a drop at 100k miles. This engines were super reliable (for an Audi engine). The FSI 2.0t seems like a public beta test for a bunch of new tech...

That's my impression as well. The 2.0t block is basically the same as the 1.8t, so it makes me wonder where they went wrong. Using plastic that cracks has a lot to contribute.

[Charles.waite]

That's my impression as well. The 2.0t block is basically the same as the 1.8t, so it makes me wonder where they went wrong. Using plastic that cracks has a lot to contribute.

Yea I don't know. They used a different piston design and maybe different piston rings as well (they're a different size obviously, but also maybe a different design as well?).

I think because the FSI has such high compression ratio the piston rings just can't quite keep up or something.

But I wish I could have the reliability of my 1.8t with the low rpm pickup of the 2.0t. That low down grunt makes the 2.0t so much more of a pleasure to drive. The 1.8t was pretty fun once in boost but under 2300 rpms? Fuhgettaboutit. There was pretty much zero power whatsoever. Made driving a manual in the hilly Seattle area such a pain in the ass.

[Okedokey]

Yea I don't know. They used a different piston design and maybe different piston rings as well (they're a different size obviously, but also maybe a different design as well?).

I think because the FSI has such high compression ratio the piston rings just can't quite keep up or something.

But I wish I could have the reliability of my 1.8t with the low rpm pickup of the 2.0t. That low down grunt makes the 2.0t so much more of a pleasure to drive. The 1.8t was pretty fun once in boost but under 2300 rpms? Fuhgettaboutit. There was pretty much zero power whatsoever. Made driving a manual in the hilly Seattle area such a pain in the ass.

I guess a stroked 1.8T is what you're after?

[Charles.waite]

I guess a stroked 1.8T is what you're after?

Nah. Direct injection is one of the main reasons for that low rpm grunt. Personally I'd rather have a ea888 2.0t. Those engines pull hard and don't have the Achilles heel ours do...

[adam044]

Welcome to the 2.0T club!