audi a6 c5 3.0l v6 trouble?

[A11mcr]

Hi, I have just recently bought my 2003 a6 avant 3.0l v6 Quattro, but am having a few problems?,
the main one is it seems to be going through about a litre of oil in about ten days but there are no signs of any leaks and no smoke? is this normal?
everything seems fine and pulls well although a bit heavy on fuel, any ideas welcome?

cheers mark

[DGSdale]

I've just bought the exactly the same vehicle myself about a month ago, but not noticed any particular oil consumption yet. I changed the oil at the W/E so will start monitoring it. How many miles are you doing in 10 days? The Audi owners handbook states that one litre of oil per 1000Km (625miles) is acceptable.

[A11mcr]

about 150 miles, I would have thought even audi's guide is very excessive (to use 1L per 625 miles) knowing how much the oil cost? as all other cars I have owned never used any!

[DGSdale]

Absolutely agree its excessive but that's what they say. The only sources of oil use I know of are: Leaks, worn bores/rings, worn valve guides/valve stem seals, broken ring(s). All of these except leaks will be burning it and at the rate you're talking about I would have thought you would see very blue smoke out of your exhausts. Maybe the first thing to do would be to get a compression test. A least then you'd know the bores/rings are O.K. - or not! What oil are you using?

[kid-jensen]

Get someone to drive behind you and check the exhaust smoke. You can have quite a bit of smoke coming out without actually seeing it in the mirror (depending on the aerodynamics).

If it smokes the first time you put your foot down after a long coast down hill, it's probably valve guide seals, and worth fixing.

If it smokes all the time (generally on acceleration) it's most likely rings (or turbo if you have one) and probably worth selling...

[Lukenkarl]

If 1 litre per 625 miles is acceptable, 5000 miles is an oil change.

[ametlib]

Hi, I have just recently bought my 2003 a6 avant 3.0l v6 Quattro, but am having a few problems?,
the main one is it seems to be going through about a litre of oil in about ten days but there are no signs of any leaks and no smoke? is this normal?
everything seems fine and pulls well although a bit heavy on fuel, any ideas welcome?

cheers mark

Good thing is you didn't buy a 4,2, the worst cases of them use 10 litres of oil in about one day !!
A more serious answer is that it's also a question about wich oil is in your engine ? Instead of topping up, change th oil to something thicker