High oil consumption?

dan_b

dan_b

A2OC Donor
Chaps. My oil warning light came on again today on 98500miles. I only topped it up with 1L of oil back in September after my 1600 mile round trip to France, and I've done about 2000 miles since then. The car was serviced back in September last year as a Long Life service at 88k miles.

My variable service indicator light is saying 5000miles to the next service.

Is this level oil consumption/ loss something to be alarmed about? Until the light came on in September I had never had oil level concerns since buying the car.

I've had a very quick look over the top of the engine and can't see anything obviously leaking, but haven't managed to get under the car to see if there is anything clearly wet and weepy down there. Of course with the undertray on I don't see any tell-tale drip marks from when the car is parked either.

Any thoughts? Any classic leak spots on the TDi to look out for?
 
As ULP suggests it's higher than 'normal' consumption, but IIRC 1L/1000miles is within Audi specification (I think it may be mentioned in the manual).

Are you doing lots of motorway driving, maybe driving quite fast? I ask, as my Smart car use to burn oil, but only on motorways, due to the high engine speed and load. But with the longer 5th gear ration I'd hope this effect would be reduced on your A2.

This below thread on crank breather pipe 'may' be of some relevance.
http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=12967
 
Cheers I'll take a look at that breather thread. Actually in the last 1000 miles I've done quite a lot of urban plugging - 15miles in 1 hour type journey to and from work places. In fact yesterday it took almost an hour to get the engine up to temperature on that drive as it was farking cold outside and I had the heating and de-mister on. I hope that's not indicating something suspicious either - I swapped the thermostat and temp sender earlier this year!
 
Slightly off-topic.....
These 'acceptable' oil consumption queries always make me reflect on the original Autocar test of the standard Mini-Cooper 1275S (August 1964)......
The consumption was exceptionally high, with SAE 10w/30 consumed at 725miles per gallon! A top-up at every fuel stop.
Car still received a good review though
 
Unipower 1964 mini, LOL

My A2’s oil consumption is less than that of My old mans A4 but nether the less I was wondering if somebody could explain to me what benefit Audi engines are getting from consuming oil while other car makers cars don’t. My old A Class for example never ate a single droplet of oil in-between services.

I’m just wondering what if any, mechanical/technological gain Audi deems it’s gets from oil consuming engines, as in the past only broken lumps, Jags and Uni's mini have behaved in such a manner.
 
I think I've discovered a potential cause of my seemingly high oil consumption during the summer/autumn of last year.
When I had the car up on the ramp at the weekend to determine the cause of the strange noise (which turned out to be the auxiliary drive belt), there was clear evidence of engine oil splatter on the undertray and down the back of the engine. Tracing it upwards revealed that the crankcase breather hose seems to be the culprit. There is oily mess on the pipe union and the rubber itself has gone hard and brittle. It's not too difficult to imagine that this was the cause!

Will be swapping a new hose in on Thursday along with a new aux drive belt.
Might be worth people checking the condition of the perishable hoses in the engine bay and undertaking any preventative replacement maintenance as necessary to prevent oil/water/boost leaks- as our cars are ageing so is the rubber in these hoses...
 
Hi Dan
I too have high oil consumption and regularly top up. I would appreciate the part number of your hose if you have it to hand so I can order mine.

Hope it sorts out your issue

Thanks
A2O2
 
I'm not sure if it's relevant to tdis but I read on the German forum that they changed to cam cover oil cap on 1.4 petrols to lessen oil usage, it could be worth checking. It's also worth checking if the top-up and cam cover caps are in the right location; they are different! I don't know how much effect if any that would have but it's free and easy to check. Mine are now the right way round with a newer spec cam cover cap to boot :)
 
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