Engine oil burn

[Asif D]

Hi everyone. My Audi a3, 2007, 2.0 Turbo petrol automatic, has been burning engine oil like crazy. Topped up 5 ltr of synthetic engine oil on my last service and it's all gone after 2000 miles driven just for work. I've always had Japanese cars, they usually lasted at least for 10000 Km.

   Is it normal for this A3 series ? I haven't seen any leak or dripping from the engine bay at all. Didin't see any blue smoke from exhaust either.  What can I do to minimise oil consumption ? Any suggestion would be highly appreciated .

Thank you 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Asif D
Forgot the year

[cliffcoggin]

Asif.

One of the Audi petrol engines was notorious for rapid oil consumption caused, I believe, by a manufacturing fault. I don't recall which engine it was because the problem did not affect me, having a diesel, but one of the other regular contributors here may have more detailed information.

If it turns out yours is one of the affected engines there is little you can do. If it is not then we need to investigate the more usual culprits of wear and tear.

How many miles has the car done? Does it have a full service history? Did you buy it from a dealer?

[Magnet]

Hello Asif,

Thanks for joining and sorry to hear of your issue with this. 
When you say you topped up with 5ltrs of oil, can we take it you mean you did an oil change with 5 ltrs of oil?
Without me having to look this up, what is the oil capacity of this engine? 
It sounds as if you are burning oil at the rate of about 200 miles to the pint! Very much abnormal for this model year I believe, but others will be able to confirm or refute this. 
How long have you owned it? 
Kind regards,

Gareth. 
 

[Asif D]

Hello cliffcoggin, thanks for your reply. 
It's currently sitting on 132xxx. Last service was at 130,000. It does have service history since 97,000. Doesn't say anything about regular engine oil top up. Bought off a private seller.

[Asif D]

Hi Gareth, thanks for taking some time to reply. 

Yes you're right. When I had my service done @130,000 then it had engine oil change. It's a 2 liter turbo, I'm sure it's got 4.6 liter capacity. I was just charged for 5 liter according to my service invoice.

I'm with you on this one. Without any fault burning that amount of oil isn't just right. I looked under myself, no sign of oil leak, burning or any kinda smoke. Just gonna have to full diagnose the turbo and the engine itself I guess. 

 

I've had it for 5 months now. Drove not more than 5000 miles. Since the oil light came on, I had to top up a little for the time being. I'll update you once I get my mechanic to look at it .

Thanks 

Asif

[cliffcoggin]

Asif.

You have not mentioned yet, or I missed it if you have, what engine you have. Diesel or petrol?

[Asif D]

It's a petrol engine, to be specific, its an S line. 

[cliffcoggin]

Ah yes, on reading again I see you did mention that initially.

I am still unclear how much oil it is using. You said you topped up "a little" after 5000 miles, but what is a little? A quarter litre, a half litre, a litre? Am I right in assuming your first report of 5 litres was not a top up, but a complete change as is normal during a service?

[Asif D]

Sorry for the confusion, 

I did full service and the mechanic did full oil change. Since the service I have driven a bit over 2000 miles and oil needed refill as the engine oil light came on. 

 

safe to say it's drinking a liter per 500 miles 

 

[Magnet]

Many thanks Asif,

That’s alcoholic in terms of oil consumption, and I sorry to be pessimistic, but I’m not aware of anyone on here who has ever solved high oil consumption on any engine by any means short of an engine rebuild - or at least, no one has come back to say they have.

The problem is proved, and the route forward would seem to be a choice between getting rid of the car (via. an on-line mass buyer), spending a considerable amount of money on replacing/rebuilding the engine, or just keep adding vast quantities of cheap oil. 
You don’t tell us how long you have had the car, where you bought it from - if recent, and whether the issue suddenly occurred, or whether it was present from the point of purchase. 
The answer to some of these questions may decide whether redress is possible or not. 
Many thanks again and kind regards,

Gareth. 

[cliffcoggin]

I agree with Gareth that little short of an engine rebuild is going to solve the problem, however I do wonder where the oil is going. If it is being burnt at that rate I would expect a lot of blue smoke from the exhaust, if it is leaking externally there would be wet patches on and under the engine, if it is leaking internally the cooling system or gearbox would fill with oil.

[cliffcoggin]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:49 PM, Asif D said:

I'll update you once I get my mechanic to look at it .

Thanks 

Asif

I have seen no updates yet. What did your mechanic say Asif?

[Magnet]

Asif hasn’t returned to the forum since 1st September Cliff. 
Guess he’s busy buying oil! - bless him.

[cliffcoggin]

On 9/24/2022 at 12:08 PM, Magnet said:

Asif hasn’t returned to the forum since 1st September Cliff. 
Guess he’s busy buying oil! - bless him.

Guess that puts him on my "Ignore" list, along with a few others who regularly pose questions and fail to inform us of the outcomes. That's their loss, not mine.

[Asif D]

Hey guys, sorry about the late reply. Had to wait 3 weeks to get a mechanic appointment. I didn't want to give you guys wrong info without getting it checked by the professionals. I did the final checkup this morning. It's been a ride and a half.

 

So, I got my car checked with 2 different mechanics. First one thought by the initial check up , it could be a bad turbo. Took it back to the same guy for detailed diagnose. He found nothing. He kept the car for 2 days just to see how it behaves in the cold start. No blue nor black smoke upon raving the morning. He found no oil leak either. That result wasn't the sort I was hoping. I thought, he might have missed something, so I booked one of the best mechanics around and had to wait quiet sometime for the appointment.

 

Now these guys found nothing at all. Even they're quite surprised that this model still runs smooth without any major faults. They did thorough checkup, turbo came out good, engine oil level came out almost at the same when I topped up about a month ago. I drove almost 1000 miles since then. May I also add, that I only topped up when it was totally dry and it was just 2 liter of 5w-30.

One thing they recommended that to use 5w-40 oil instead 5w-30 as its thicker. It might last longer but again its not guaranteed. Apparently that's how this one runs. And they also think the previous guy who I did the servicing with, they might have used wrong oil or something which wasn't meant for this car.  

 

So I guess that's basically a dead end to this investigation. I got in touch with the nearest Audi dealership as well in between those two mechanics, and did a background check with them. There's no record of my one been recalled for any manufacturer fault.