Major Oil Leak! Source?
08-13-2011, 12:56 PM
#1
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Major Oil Leak! Source?
My wife and I got back from shopping this afternoon and noticed a large oil spot in the driveway when we pulled in, right where the S4 was parked last night. I checked underneath and saw a very wet undercarriage. After pulling the car in the garage and getting it up in the air, I pulled off the plastic covers under the engine. A large amount of oil came running out and the whole underneath is covered with oil. I had the car serviced a week ago (5000 miles), so I assumed the drain plug was loose, but no dice. When taking the cover off, a stud with a copper(?) nut fell out along with another matching copper(?) nut. I could not find anywhere that it came from, but assume it has something to do with the leak. The corners on the nut are slightly rounded, like it was removed at some point. Audi is towing it to the dealer Monday morning. Any ideas what this could be?
Driveway:
Garage:
Mystery Stud and Nuts:
Driveway:
Garage:
Mystery Stud and Nuts:
08-13-2011, 01:15 PM
#2
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I don't know what it is but it looks like a stud its matching nut, and then another nut that presumably came off another stud that is still there some where. Usually a stud would only have one nut.
08-13-2011, 02:11 PM
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My wife and I got back from shopping this afternoon and noticed a large oil spot in the driveway when we pulled in, right where the S4 was parked last night. I checked underneath and saw a very wet undercarriage. After pulling the car in the garage and getting it up in the air, I pulled off the plastic covers under the engine. A large amount of oil came running out and the whole underneath is covered with oil. I had the car serviced a week ago (5000 miles), so I assumed the drain plug was loose, but no dice. When taking the cover off, a stud with a copper(?) nut fell out along with another matching copper(?) nut. I could not find anywhere that it came from, but assume it has something to do with the leak. The corners on the nut are slightly rounded, like it was removed at some point. Audi is towing it to the dealer Monday morning. Any ideas what this could be?
Driveway:
Garage:
Mystery Stud and Nuts:
Driveway:
Garage:
Mystery Stud and Nuts:
08-13-2011, 02:23 PM
#5
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Not sure about those studs. I've done every single one of my oil changes on my S4 and I've never noticed anything like that while changing the oil.
If the dealer forgot to use a washer on the drain pkug or if they tried to reuse the old washer that could also cause the leak. It wouldn't leak fast if the plug was tight...but it could easily leak about that much oil in a week. I'm sure the plastic underbelly absorbed some oil too.
The plastic underbellys run around $150 I believe. I'd tell the dealer you would like them to replace that if this was their fault. The oil on that cannot be fully removed from the soft absorbent material.
If the dealer forgot to use a washer on the drain pkug or if they tried to reuse the old washer that could also cause the leak. It wouldn't leak fast if the plug was tight...but it could easily leak about that much oil in a week. I'm sure the plastic underbelly absorbed some oil too.
The plastic underbellys run around $150 I believe. I'd tell the dealer you would like them to replace that if this was their fault. The oil on that cannot be fully removed from the soft absorbent material.
08-13-2011, 02:31 PM
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I always service my own cars, but this one was free, so I let them do it. I wish now that I hadn't, although it may be unrelated to the service. I think the studs may be exhaust, so that is definitely not related to the leak. The washer and plug looked good though, and there was oil up the sides of the oil pan, higher than the plug.
08-14-2011, 08:56 AM
#7
AudiWorld Super User
Yikes. That is scary. Hopefully they just spilled when they changed the filter. Those studs do look like exhaust studs and nuts, but IDK why they would have come out.
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_S4-.../OEM/ES259166/
http://www.ecstuning.com/Audi-B8_S4-.../OEM/ES259166/
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08-14-2011, 10:42 AM
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That looks like old oil, not a leak of freshly-changed oil.
Don't know about the S4, but I've had cars where it was damn near impossible not to leak old oil on engine mounts and hollow frame members with holes in them, as you took the old filter out, which would then drip a puddle the first day after the oil change, then slowly go to zero. From what I've seen of the S4 oil filter and location, that doesn't seem too likely however.
Don't know about the S4, but I've had cars where it was damn near impossible not to leak old oil on engine mounts and hollow frame members with holes in them, as you took the old filter out, which would then drip a puddle the first day after the oil change, then slowly go to zero. From what I've seen of the S4 oil filter and location, that doesn't seem too likely however.
