UMiamiAudi

So I finished up my first year at college and was making the trip back from Miami to Boston. I was attempting to do the whole trip in one shot, and was surviving strong on Red Bull and my Valentine One. At about 5 am the oil pressure alert showed up on the screen....i pulled her over, checked everything under the hood, all was fine. I had no idea what to do...no shops open...in the middle of nowhere. So i woke up my freind who searched the fourums....he didnt find out much, but we came to the conclusion that it had something to do with the heat in the engine that had been running 84 mph on average for 20+ hours. So I hit the road and did'nt get the alert again until NJ turnpike. Again, pulled her over...no signs of overheating, no smoke, unfamiliar smells, nada. I would have brought it in to a shop in a second but none were open and with nothing else out of the ordinary, I decided to trek on. I made it to south attleboro, MA when i heard a little nock so I once again got off when the engine died. To make a long story short it is at a audi dealership and i have to live with the word of the mechanic "this could be a serious problem". So i am sh!tting my pants waiting....I bought it 3 weeks ago!
Before the trip I had to add engine coolant ....oil levels were a little above the mark, everything else seemed fine. After the engine died, the engine would crank but had no compression. The only thing that my mechanic could see after a quick glance is that it could have something to do with engine coolant leaking into my oil somehow, since the coolant levels were low and oil was above normal. For now I wait and pray 'till monday.
Has this happined to any others out there? Any Ideas comments? O, and to get it out of the way....yes, i know now i shouldn't have driven it at all after the warning...but in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, with no other signs of trouble, and no audiworld to consult on my own, I decided to treck on.
Thanks guys....I cant wait to become a regular on the forum once i begin to throw money into my car and have been reading threads here daily for months...you guys sure no what your talking about and hopefully someone knows something about my problem.
Thanks guys...pray for me!
Keith

pjorg

Little more info would help; what year, model and engine are you talking about?

In any case, low oil pressure is often caused by low oil level. First thing you should have done was checked the oil (maybe you did). Next thing would be a bad oil pump or a defective pressure sensor. You should hope it's the pressure sensor.

If you really did drive all those miles with low oil pressure, you may have seriously screwed your engine. If you're lucky, a bad sensor was just sending faulty readings. Make sure your mechanic checks the sensor before he tries to sell you an engine rebuild.

BTW - coolant contamination of the oil, or vice-versa, is often caused by a bad head gasket. Something else your mechanic should check.

Of course, if your car is still under warrenty, no worries!

Modern_man

As you described it looks pretty much like a blown head gasket! The coolant could be contaminating the oil or vice versa, that would cause de low oil pressure AND poor lubrification.
If this is the problem there are a few possible solutions, from cheap ones to expensive ones (a whole engine rebuilt).
If you hadn't lots of damage maybe just changing the head geasket, oil and coolant (probably you'd have to shave a bit off your head, to make it straight again), that would be the cheap one.
If all this already happened and, as you said, you drove the car a lot this way, maybe other internals are damaged, and you will only know when you open the engine to see the extense of the damage.
It is a pretty good idea to check the sensors first, as it was already said, but chances are you'll need a new head gasket.

UMiamiAudi

since the engine actually died, doesn't that rule out a sensor? ehh...guess we will find out when i call the mechanic tomorrow. Thanks again for the help.

Mighty Highlights

It happened to me! But in my case the oil went into the coolant and overflowed... which didnt happen in this case.

I ran out of oil and parked the car with the engine warning light as it was obvious it was bad. (no oild on stick and large pool below the car)