Oil Consumption?

I've had a 2015 4M Q7 for about 3 weeks now, I've done 1200 miles and have spotted a couple of problems. Its a full Audi Service History on 61k miles:

1. It's losing coolant - local audi dealer diagnosed valve needed replacing and wanted £1200 - I'm pleased this was spotted early as I understand it's a common issue. Supplying BMW(!) dealer has agreed to sort it but it means me having to take car 50 miles away to dealer but they will give me a courtesy car.

2. Of more concern is I think it's losing oil. When I first got it I checked the oil and it was full, checked it today and it's now just over half. This seems excessive for just 1200 miles. - can anyone comment if these 3.0TDis (272) usually burn oil? Is the gauge overly sensitive to engine temp or very slight gradients?


Any advice on typical oil consumption will be appreciated.

You’ll find on other posts that I had the coolant leak issue. £1200 sounded like a good deal for that but you’re not paying anyway rightly. On the oil, no mine’s always been rock solid over last 25k (55k now). The only time I ever had an issue was when I got my approved used car an it had a big service with oil change before I picked it up, and they’d not filled it up much at all stupidly. Dealer error. Yours sounds wrong unless anyone more knowledgable has better experience here, the 3.0TDi is a pretty well proven engine IMHO.


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Originally Posted by ckq7

Any advice on typical oil consumption will be appreciated.

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I don't use mine car to much against to others, but IMHO this oil consumption is ridiculous. I think, there is a problem with your engine, which should be figured out as soon as it possible.

3.0 TDI normally use very little to no oil. It could be a number of things. I would recommend getting it looked at.

Thanks for all the replies. It does seem very excessive. I’ve had the car less than 30 days so seriously considering rejecting it but I guess it will need a fight.

It’s a real shame and it’s a nice spec that took me a long time to find and I’m really enjoying it. However, oil consumption problems are rarely trivial!

It must be going somewhere, either leaking or being burned. If it has an underbody tray take it out and see if oil is pooling there. Could be a simple seal that needs fixing, such as on drain plug.

When it was "full" had it been driven, so splashed oil around? Might have been low all the time when settled.

Thanks for the reply. It was last serviced 9k miles ago so would be surprised if drain plug was issue but it’s defo something I’ll check. Shame I can find the previous owner just to drop them a note to see if they had issues.

When it was half full car was moving, when full it was off. I’ll check it again today once all settled to see if it’s reading the same as yesterday. I suspect dealer topped up before handover.

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Originally Posted by ckq7

Thanks for the reply. It was last serviced 9k miles ago so would be surprised if drain plug was issue but it’s defo something I’ll check. Shame I can find the previous owner just to drop them a note to see if they had issues.

When it was half full car was moving, when full it was off. I’ll check it again today once all settled to see if it’s reading the same as yesterday. I suspect dealer topped up before handover.

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Has your MMI been wiped? I remember when I got mine (approved used) there was a entry still in the contacts of the prior owner! Also of course look look at the V5C should tell you prior owners.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by ckq7

I've had a 2015 4M Q7 for about 3 weeks now, I've done 1200 miles and have spotted a couple of problems. Its a full Audi Service History on 61k miles:

1. It's losing coolant - local audi dealer diagnosed valve needed replacing and wanted £1200 - I'm pleased this was spotted early as I understand it's a common issue. Supplying BMW(!) dealer has agreed to sort it but it means me having to take car 50 miles away to dealer but they will give me a courtesy car.

2. Of more concern is I think it's losing oil. When I first got it I checked the oil and it was full, checked it today and it's now just over half. This seems excessive for just 1200 miles. - can anyone comment if these 3.0TDis (272) usually burn oil? Is the gauge overly sensitive to engine temp or very slight gradients?


Any advice on typical oil consumption will be appreciated.

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Observe the oil level longer. Electronic oil sensor is not very precise and it's indications could vary from inspection to inspection. Add oil to 3/4 and observe longer. You still have time for "black thoughts".:zx11:

I've got an update on this. The Q7 went back to the BMW dealer for a week and they got a local indy garage to replace the coolant valve and check the oil issue (£560+vat with 7.5hrs labour).

Picked it up yesterday and on the drive home the drive system amber warning came on the dash (yellow car with '!' on it) and had reduced power, switching ignition on-off cleared it.

I immediately drove back to dealer and they said they found the inlet manifold had an excessive amount of carbon build up, this was cleared out during the work and it was probably just the ECU re-programming following the extra air-flow... They advised me to drive home (66 miles) and if the car flags up further errors they will come and collect it and sort it out. It did flag up errors all the way home and went into reduced power mode. After about 30 miles the Emission Control Dash Light lit up and is now permanently lit (ignition on-off doesn't clear it).

The work the garage did was to replace the coolant inlet valve diagnosed by my local audi dealer, the parts used are a regulating valve (£79.17), connection pipe (£5.01), elbow connector (£7.09), 2 x spring clamps (£4.79) and pipe (£62.73). Do these parts seem right?

Any idea what would be the main causes of these dash errors - some sensor they could have disturbed during the work? Is the car undriveable? Would the AA be able to diagnose it at home?

On the oil situation, I put about 150ml in and it topped up to full! I'm not convinced it's got a major oil consumption problem but the electronic gauge is a bit sensitive, normally a half level on a dipstick would be 500ml+? The garage did look for leaks and exhaust soot etc. for oil leak during the valve replacement.