Rolanday

Has anybody considered cutting a hole in the splash guard blocking access to the oil drain plug? It seems like an obvious solution to the problem of having to r&r the splash guard every time you want to do an oil change. Between oil changes, the hole can be plugged or covered so that the splash guard continues to serve its purpose. I'm a firm believer in frequent oil changes and even though I've got r&r'ing the splash guard down to about 15 minutes, let's face it, it's a pain in the a$$.

Also, as a side note, I followed RI RS4's advice on break-in procedure to the letter (it seemed to make good sense) and from what I've observed so far my car is not burning virtually no oil whatsoever. FWIW, I'm using Elf Excellium LDX 5W-40.

Mark RS4

I've read the posts about oil consumption and I guess I'm lucky. I've got 1,800 miles on the factory oil. I've checked it twice and it still shows full. I do mostly city driving with occassional 1 hour trips outside the city to stretch the legs....no aggressive breakin or wot yet. Will do the first oil change before 2k miles.

daveak05

I considered making a cutout panel below the drain plug, but then opted to just use an oil extractor. Unfortunately an oil extractor is not an option on the RS4. Every time you're removing the belly pan you are weakening it(the connection points).

Maybe try doing a cutout and then using flat clips to secure the cutout panel back in place...will need to be flush and secure though. Otherwise air turbulence may rip it loose.