SD25Quattro

Hey Guys,

The reason I'm making this post is to see how many of you out there have an issue with consuming way more oil than the vehicle should?

My oil light comes on about every month-to-month-and-a-half, at which time I obviously need to continue to fill the oil... My mechanic and I were researching the problem for quite some time, after which I had him put a boroscope into the head and check out what the issue looks like. From what he found the valve seals are cracked and dry causing oil to leak into the exhaust manifold, in turn burning way more oil than it should. My car's warranty is long gone and this is a fix that is somewhere in the ballpark of $5000.00 or potentially more.

Since my mechanic and I really nailed down the problem on the S, there have been 6 more customers come to the same dealership (Barrier Audi in Bellevue, WA) with B6/B7 S4's and even a Q7 all with a major oil consumption issue similar or worse than my own. (Nearly all of these vehicles had less miles than my own, and some of which were near only 40k-to-50k miles!

I have been doing a little digging and research on the issue and it seems that this is a fairly common problem with the chain driven 4.2 litre V8 within our generation of vehicle. It is a very expensive fix, so I figure if I can find enough people that have the same issue or similar, it mayyyyyyy be enough to make a fuss at Audi Corporate or in a long shot scenario a class action lawsuit...

Bottom line, this is definitely an issue with the chain driven 4.2 litre V8, up here there have been 6 vehicles in the same dealership with the same problem within the last 9 months. And I would simply like to see if I (we) can get Audi Corporate to do something about it.

(And BTW 3 of those 6 vehicles were Audi S4 25quattro's! Including my own!) Can you believe that? They only made 250 of them! I want to see if they'll stand behind their product, because I love my car very much.


Let me know your thoughts!

_Stormin_

Please, take this as constructive feedback... I myself had a 25 Quattro up until a month and a half ago. Loved that car more than any other physical possession ever. It needed about 1.5-2 quarts of oil between the 10K oil changes since the day I drove it off the lot. It wasn't a real issue to me, and when it was traded in with over 80K miles on the car it was something that really didn't shock the heck out of me. Cars generally consume more oil as their parts wear. Seals get older, metal surfaces get worn, etc... This actually stayed remarkable consistent. Maybe a quart at the beginning and two at the end.

It's a performance sedan with a high output engine. Generally it's not driven daintily, and the cars experience a lot of wear as a result. Unless you have owned yours from new, and have driven as though you had a trunk full of glass, the amount of wear in your engine is going to result in increased oil consumption. At 65K miles mine put down a dyno run that (accounting for drivetrain loss) was still accurate with factory horsepower and torque numbers. (There's a video of it on YouTube somewhere)

Odds are, if your mechanic is at Barrier, my car is one of the Q's that he was talking about. I had it in to top it off but never complained about oil consumption as they always added a quart at no cost to me.

You have ZERO chance of successfully suing Audi over oil consumption on a now 7 year old car. Honestly, if you can find an attorney to represent you on contingency, you're talking with someone who has way to much free time on their hands.

The simple fix is adding oil every few tanks of gas. People have done it for years, and if you truly love your car and want it to last, you'll do the same. That little compartment on the left side of the trunk is the perfect holder for a quart of 0W-40. I always kept a spare in mine just in case. I have one in my new 2013 now (compartment is on the right side now), for the same reason. I've only got 800 miles on the car, but old habits die hard and I don't like being unprepared.



Sure do miss it some days.

SD25Quattro

Honestly I am not expecting any kind of lawsuit to arise, because it's extremely far fetched. The idea of the post was to see exactly how many people out there have oil problems with their Audi's.

I have a lot of friends who own high performance sports cars whether it's BMW M, Benz AMG, etc. And I have yet to see one of them with an oil consumption problem the way that the Audi S has.. I don't even believe I have a friend with anything that they would consider oil consumption as a problem at all...

I've done quite a bit of research, and my mechanic has been pretty avid about watching how many people are coming through with nearly the exact same issue... You may be right, parts get worn, cars get driven hard, etc. But I don't agree with your theory that going through 1-2 quarts of oil every few weeks to a month just because I drive a high performance sports car with upwards of 80k is normal. I actually have a good friend that has owned a Benz C43 AMG for years. The thing has nearly 250k miles on it and still runs like a champ. He doesn't ever need to fill the thing with oil, and let me tell you he drives it hard. Here's another post exactly the same with a poll... nearly 50% of the people seem to have an oil consumption issue. I'd say that's not exactly normal. But call it what you will, I love the car so much and don't plan on getting rid of it. This is part of the reason I posted in the first place, to get to the bottom of it!

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...il+consumption

toitle

Far too many variables here for anything to come about this. While I do agree that it is too high on some cars, I have had three 4.2 powered cars (S8, A6, S4) and maintained two others for family. None of them had oil consumption issues. All maintained at standard intervals with Amsoil. Using a C43 is a good example considering that a huge percentage of those cars had catastrophic transmission problems that Mercedes did nothing about. There is no doubt that these are finicky cars, they need to be maintained correctly from day one.

Michael A Pines

• did you find out anything from Audi or did you pursue a class action lawsuit?

D. Spencer

Reply to your request:
My S4 b7 4.2L has the same issue i top my oil off once a week. Any where from 1-2 quaurts. Never had my idiot light come on but i go through a 5qrt container every month. I wish you luck. Audi knew they had an issue with chain tensioner in b6 and never bothered to fix it. Im getting ready to do timing chain now and am purchasing my parts through jhm motorsports since they are the only ones to come up with fix. Yes owning s4 is expensive, 5600.00 just in parts for timing chain. That doesnt include all the other things your supposed to replace while engine is out. Thanks for info though, i was going to replace valve seals. Now i guess ill replace valve seats also

bpaine

im in! Same issue after spending $15,000 to have the chain guides done to discover massive oil use. Regret not doing a valve job when it was all apart. Researching one other possible cause but my sense is it is the valve seals. Mine is a B7 S4 Avant here in northern CA.