glhboy

Just curious as I just picked up an 09 with 74,000 miles on it and the car is immaculate, 1 owner. I've put on about 1300 miles on it and the oil level has not dropped at all in that time frame. All I read are about folks that have had issues with the oil consumption problem, but just wondered if there are those that have not had that issue? According to the Carfax on my car, the oil consumption test has never been performed and it was meticulously maintained at the local Audi dealer. I go in this week for the 75,000 maintenance and since I'm close to 80,000 miles (when this extended oil consumption) warranty expires, I was hoping to see if it was burning oil before that expired.

Turbo Freak

I have a 2009 with 103000 km on it. I have the oil change done every six months and it usually needs around 1/2 quart of oil every 6 months, but last month after only 4 months since the last oil change, I needed to add a little more than a quart...

Did my car suddently started to consume oil after 100000km ???

I guess time will tell...

motoguy128

No, not all it seems, but a very, very large percentage. The dealer I'm working with is rebuilding and A4 almost once a week. Apparently it's much, much more common on A4's than Q5's. The theory may be that Q5's are heavier and load the engine more so they were typically broken in better. They also might have less carbon buildup which might be compounding the piston ring leakage.

Audi used too light of a piston ring to improve fuel economy, and many engines if slightly out of center on some machining tolerances (even if within normal dimensional variances) are more susceptible. Combined with inadequate break-in. They needed to be driven fairly hard with a lot of RPM variation he first few hundred miles to break in the rings well. Early 1st oil changes may have contributed to it. Higher wear break-in oil helps in new engines.

motoguy128

If only 1/2 quart in 1000 miles or more, that's not very significant. You're still within what you'd expect of a direct injected turbocharged engine with 100k+.

But I'd keep an eye on it. You engine warranty is still good for at least another 40k and 2 years.

Once consumption exceed 1L per 1000km, you should have an oil consumption test done.

Mine was consuming 3.5L/1000km. It will likely get a new engine not just pistons and rings.

BMWBig6

Knock on wood, my 2009 with 74,000 miles (also 1 owner, and always serviced by dealer) doesn't seem to exhibit any unusual oil consumption either. But I'm certainly keeping an eye on it and keeping a detailed log just in case. I'm not sure if this is a sudden onset deal or if the afflicted cars always had higher than normal consumption all along.

jagtoes

The key word in your post is "unusual" . It all depends on what you consider oil usage. To me it is either a "1" or a "0". You either use some or you don't. Now granted there are a large number of these cars that start using in the early years and even though they are serviced regularly they still have the problem. Our 2009 with 22K miles would use a quart in 3000 miles and when we sold it at 75K miles it would need a quart around 2800 miles. I have found the Audi community seems to be in denial with this oil issue so if using oil in a street car is acceptable then no problem. It brings back the days when my father bought a new 1953 Ford with the 1st OHV V8 and needed to add a quart every 500 miles. He did love the car though.

glhboy

I just left the Audi dealer. I had the 75,000 maintenance done and an oil change was included in that. Since I just bought the car 2 weeks ago, I asked them about the oil consumption issue and they did stage 1 today just to see if there were any issues going on since I'm so close to 80,000 miles. He assured me they would take care of anything if it failed the test, so I feel good about that. Really great folks at this dealer.

motoguy128

Keep in mind that ALL engines use some oil. It's a simple fact. However, some of that oil volume gets displaced my water and gasoline and other contaminants, so the actual level won't appear to drop measurably. If nothing else, oil vapor is lost and burned in the engine.

so I'll repeat ALL cars use oil. But most modern piston ring design reduce it to a minimal level. But as we've chased better fuel economy, mfg's have increased compression while attempting to minimize friction losses and using the lighter ring pressure possible.... all the while trying o reduce production costs. Its' a risky balancing act. However, normally, power trains are tested so much that issues like this rarely happen.

I'm still dumbfounded how Audi allowed this to happen. This was a engineering & product design failure.

jagtoes

Sorry but I don't agree with your hypothesis. Water and contaminants do not displace oil in the sump and any engine run at normal temperatures will burn off any condensation in the engine. If you have the time do a few oil changes and weigh (that is Audi's phase 1) the oil each time from an engine that does not burn oil and you will see there will be no difference. Audi had significant blow by due to poor design of the pistons and rings and the PCV system.There are other engines that have a similar issue but the vast majority of engines burn no oil. Now if you want to discuss the definition of the words "all engines burn oil" that is a different discussion.

BrettC