ElliottA6

I bought CPO 2018 A6 3.0T with 17K on it. It has about 19K miles on it now (4 months later). It's last oil change was at 14.5K, 200 miles after I bought it, the low oil message came on, something like "low oil, add a quart, OK to drive". I added a quart of oil and took it to the dealer and they checked for leaks, but had no explanation for how the oil got low. They topped it off and I've been driving it about once a week (100 miles 80% highway) since. I got a dipstick to manually check the oil level. Now about 2000 miles after it was topped off, the oil level is lower on the dipstick and the MMI which showed a full oil bar indication before, now shows 3/4 of a bar, after just 2000 miles. This is my first Audi. Is this normal?? Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?

J. Patterson

Mine only uses about 1/2 quart in 10,000 miles. FYI the full display bar only indicates about 1 quart so 3/4 bar means you’re only down about 8 ounces from full. A physical dipstick is a nice addition to these engines. I put one in mine soon after after buying it.

enGage

I picked up a 2017 CPO last year with 21k miles. It used 1/2 quart in 4,000 miles. My 4.2L A8 didn't use any. My 2.0T AT used a quart every 3 to 4K.

ElliottA6

I would be OK with 1/2 a quart every 10K. The thing is 2500 Miles after the last oil change from the dealer, which is 200 miles after that when I bought it, I got the low oil message.. I added a quart which brought the oil level half way up the MMI. Then the dealer added another quart, which brought it to the full mark. So now my estimation is I'm down about a quart every 3000 miles after all that. Extrapolate this to 10000 miles and you get oil consumption of 3.3 quarts every 10000 miles. For a relatively new CPO 2018 vehicle with less than 19K miles, this is unacceptable to just about anyone. The car is still under warranty but I'm not sure how to best approach this so they actually address and fix the problem. BTW, you're taking to a guy who is religious about maintenance and owns a Honda with over 250K miles that hardly burns any oil at all. The dipstick is an easy way to check oil level without having to run the engine. Just be aware that the full oil line for you may not line up exactly with the marks on the dipstick.

ElliottA6

That's insane. Is Audi quality control so inconsistent. I know the early 2010-12 vehicles had oil consumption issues, but I thought in the latter years Audi had addressed the issues.

Valpo A7

Been driving since 1984 and I have only had 1 other car consume oil on me. 1981 Ford Mustang 2.3 L 4 cyl and it consumed oil because the valve seats were a bit warn. No o try or car in all this time has consumed oil. For some reason Audi thinks it’s normal for an engine to consume oil. WTF?

J. Patterson

In Audi’s defense these increased oil consumption issues are more “normal“ in modern direct injection engines due to their priority (necessity) to increase efficiency through the use of low tension piston rings and low viscosity motor oils. Most engines now use 0/30 or even 0/20 oils. That is some pretty thin oil. Low tension piston rings reduce friction thus increasing efficiency. At the cost of a few ounces of oil every thousand miles. Sometimes they obviously go a bit too far.

https://www.noln.net/articles/3574-w...on-ring-design

ND410

I'm going through approx 3 quarts each MONTH on my 2012 A6. Of course I'm also driving almost 4k miles each month too! No sign of any oil leaks in the garage whatsoever so I guess that's just the "price" of putting that volume of miles on the car.

Valpo A7

3 quarts in 4,000 miles is not normal consumption. 2 summers ago I went on vacation and only consumed 3/4 quart in 4,600 miles of highway driving. My guess is your PCV needs replaced. I typically consume 1 quart in the first 5,000 miles after an oil change.

enGage

Agreed - that seems high, but I want to comment that some engines do use some oil. I've read that car companies are actually making engines less tight to improve mileage, which causes some oil use. I'm not sure if that's true, but like I said above, the Audi 2.0T is known to use some oil. My 2.0L Kia Soul is good for a quart every three thousand or so. Someone mentioned a Honda that didn't use any. I've had many cars that used no oil, but son had an Acura that used some for the life of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, I think you need to using in the neighborhood of one, or more, quarts every 1,000 miles to get the attention of the dealer.