Oil Loss Mystery

[curiousgeorge]

I have a 2006 2.0T and my low oil warning came on whilst on the motorway. I've never seen it on my old A3 which I had for 5 years. This car was bought and serviced last April.

When I check the dipstick, the oil wasn't even reaching the minimum, so I added a full litre and it only went to half way.

That seems like a lot of oil being lost. I checked under where I normally park the car. There's a carpet on the floor of the garage and this had several burn marks, the size of 1p and 2p coins. Not sure if this is caused by hot dripping oil but the amount of oil lost was probably more that a litre.

Could there be an oil leak somewhere or do these engines 'consume' lots of oil?

[curiousgeorge]

Anyone have any ideas about this?

[jimma04]

I am a vag mechanic and depending on mileage these engines can consume a fair bit

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks. I've only done about 4,000 miles.

[jimma04]

That does seem a bit exessive. Its either leaking or burning oil. The other possibility is that it was incorrectly filled at service !! But I would say that should be the least likley answer.

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks, I'm keeping an eye on it.

There are two months left till the used car warranty expires so I guess I should contact my dealer to inform them of the problem and could get it checked when I take it in for MOT (which will probably be after the warranty expires).

[engineermk]

I have a 2007 2.0TFSI and like you the oil level light scared me on the motorway. 40.000miles later its running fine but the oil needs topping up a lot between services. The engine is leak free so i assume its burning it.

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks, that's reassuring, somewhat.

Is excessive 'oil consumption' anything to worry about or can it indicate a problem, eg escaping into the fuel mixture or something?

[curiousgeorge]

Spoke to the Service Manager about this today and he said that long life oil is more likely to burn out as it's thiner and so more likely to escape and burn out throught the exhaust.

I'm using regular oil now so shouldn't expect it to happen again.