Aldenh055

Hi all, this is my first post here. I'm a college student and recently bought a 2013 q5 2.0 from my parents after selling my Chevy hhr (ew). But having had the car in our immediate family since it was new, as of 8,000 miles, since they bought it slightly used to miss the huge depreciation hit of buying a brand new car, we know the car has been meticulously cared for and has only ever been serviced/repaired at a reputable oem quality audi/bmw shop in the area.

It has been requiring a quart of oil about every 1,000 miles since it has had about 80,000 miles which is a common issue, but however now at 104,000 miles I have been getting the red "low oil pressure. Turn off engine now" warning light. Keep note that this was never an issue until I had a major oil LEAK Which replacing the oil pressure switches fixed. However two days after that repair and the red light came on so I took it in thinking they gave me faulty oil switches but they said that due to the high oil consumption issue these engines have that the cam bearings were probably worn out prematurely causing oil to be able to flow too easily through them, hence the "low pressure" warning.

The shop owner, and I trust them, even took me to the back to show me a 2013 a4 2.0t that was having The engine overhauled/rebuilt to resolve the same issue. He told me that a4 only had 74k, significantly less than me!

The light only comes on at idle at red lights etc, then goes off pretty quickly or as soon as the car starts to move. The car drives perfectly, and no check engine lights or any other light on general. They put in an oil additive from liquimoly that seemed to significantly help the problem. They also to told me that given the engine has no codes and is running relatively well ohwrall it will be fine for a long time as long as keep the oil always topped off. What do you all think about this?

Also has anyone experienced this issue? And do you think it's worth spending the $4,000+ to do the repair that'll fix the problem vs saving up for a new car?

The car is super sentimental to me because I found/picked it out for my parents back in 2013 when they were cross-shopping the q5 with the glk and x3. I have loved everything about it and still do, yet I was literally "forbidden" to drive it until I was 20. Now at 22 it's a dream come true that I was able to save enough from working to buy it from them.

Any input would be greatly appreciated; thank you in advance!

Norskie

Hi Alden,

I'm sorry you're having oil issues with your Q5, that's pretty common with the 2.0t.

Low oil volume is different from low oil pressure, but if there's no oil there will certainly not be any pressure.

The main question is why is it consuming oil. If you fix the cam journal (and presumably $4k includes a new timing chain and tensioners), to get the oil pressure up, then you still have the oil consumption to deal with. That could be as simple as a PCV valve, but could be caused by the turbo ($2k) or piston rings ($5k+).

How are the control arms and shock absorbers? Those typically need to replaced at about 80-100k and will cost another couple grand to resolve.

Bob Petruska

So you “never” had the low oil pressure warning until the shop replaced the oil pressure switch. I think that you know where the fault is...... The best thing to have done is to have a test mechanical oil pressure gauge attached to the engine to read the true oil pressure at idle. If it indicates correct pressure then the new oil pressure sensor is faulty.

A6Gary

Agree.

Aldenh055

Thank you all for your responses. They replaced the oil switches again free of charge to be sure, and then tested the oil pressure again and it is indeed slightly low at idle but as soon as the rpms go above 1k the light goes away. They told me that the piston rings are basically shot and that the cam bearings likely also have "excessive wear" for the age of the car causing an oil cleaning issue, and that the piston rings and bearings would need to be replaced to resolve the issue.

They told me that since the oil pressure is only slightly low at idle when the engine is at minimal stress it is not doing any damage and that it will last a long time if we do "preventative maintainance" such as more frequent oil changes, adding oil thickeners etc. Thoughts on this?

I just took a trip from Maryland up to Massachusetts over the weekend and it still drives perfectly, no check engine lights or anything - just the oil pressure light at idle.

Thanks!

Aldenh055

Also I meant to add that I'm planning to switch to a Thicker grade oil and see if that helps. Currently it's using 5w-40 from liquimoly, but what thicker oil should I use since the other thicker oils I've found from liquid moly are only semi-synthetic?

silver_tt

5w-40 is already the most viscous oil you can run in this engine (actually a bunch of the oils listed on the VW 502 00 are 30 weights). Doing more frequent oil changes with high quality synthetic oil is a good idea.

Low oil pressure is different from oil consumption/piston rings as noted above. For the oil pressure you really should try to see what's going on there -- I personally would not use that mechanic that said low oil pressure is ok since it's only at idle. Possibly there is something blocking the oil pickup or an issue with the cam bridge/screen.

Norskie

Since it seems like you'll eventually need an engine anyway, sure, why not just drive it and keep putting oil in until it blows up? Just hope you won't get stranded far from home with an expensive bill.

I friend of mine with more than 100k on his Kia has piston slap. He has essentially relegated it to be his 'town car' and figure he'll just haul it to the dump when the piston no longer likes being in it's bore. He's been doing that for 20k miles ;-)

silver_tt

The real question is what kind of oil were you running and at what OCI? My 2014 2.0T has more miles than this and burns zero oil. Why would the cam bearings be shot? That is shocking.

You could do oil analysis (Blackstone Labs, etc) and see what your wear metals look like in your oil. The cam journals should not have any wear at that mileage unless you did damage by running low oil pressure, which is possible especially if the cam bridge screen ripped off and is blocking flow (mine was just sitting there in the oil gallery thank god). When I did the timing and my HPFP I inspected my camshafts and they had virtually no scouring or wear and my oil analysis also shows that my wear metals have been reduced to near nil. The only time it ever did when when I was running the OE Castrol while I was still under CPO warranty.

Aldenh055

It is shocking! And that is why I am so suspicious of this because it drives perfectly and was never an issue even with the major oil Leak that has been fixed. There's No smoke or anything which is seemingly a huge indicator of bad piston rings and the low oil pressure only comes on at idle and as soon as I pop it in neutral and Rev to only 1500 rpm or move it goes away instantly. I don't think it's faulty sensors because they replaced those again to be sure. Could a low quality oil filter possibly be the culprit? Down where I go to school there are not any German specific repair businesses so I took it up to a Mr. Tire for an oil change and they gave me a cheaper aftermarket oil filter apparently.