I need some help guys. I have a 2001 A4 1.8T Avant. 49k miles on the odometer. I was driving back from Steamboat last weekend when the oil pressure light went off at about 11k feet under heavy load (flying up mountain passes) Turned the car off started it back up and the light went away. Driving to work on Monday (Denver) and the light goes off again...so I went straight to the dealer. Dealer starts talking about oil sludge which I understand is a big problem with this car. Audi won't cover it because the first owner missed his first service by 1500 miles. They want $3100 to drop the pan and replace the pumps/lines etc. The other option is to do an engine flush for $179.

This is where my question comes in. What would you do? I'm thinking run the engine flush and see if the light goes off. I just can't imagine an oil sludge problem at 49k miles! Audi is on my $h!t list.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Dan

2001 Audi A4 Avant
1987 3.2 Carrera

 

Do a DIY flush with seafoam or auto rx...
But I think the real question is.. WWJD??

 

And a link to the car.

http://community.webshots.com/myphot...ecurity=eMCVAv




[IMG]local://upfiles/11457/0A52DAA86D584F809FBF31AFC9299480.jpg[/IMG]

 

So, since youve owned the car, have you used fully synthetic oil ? Has the updated larger oil filter been used as well? If not, thats your problem, or a possible cause.

 

I've been running convential oil and I haven't changed swapped out the oil filter. Do you think it would go back to normal by just adding synthetic? I know synthetic is thinner.

Thanks a bunch for the response,

Dan

 

I went through the same thing. Switch over once you drain all the oil and do a flush.

I had it all done at the dealership because I thought it'd be covered... anyways if I were to do it over again I'd call around and find out what shops do Auto RX flushes. If you have the equipment, drop the pan and buy a new pump and assocaited lines and replace them. Otherwise, have the shop doing the autorx flush replace the oil pump and assocaited hoses since they will be all gummed up.

 

synthetic isnt thinner.. its just a man made oil... i dont think just switching to synthetic/updated oil filter will fix much at this point, but after you do a flush, it could help. After the flush, do very frequent oil changes every 1000 miles or so for maybe 5k miles or so... Ask Audi how they do their engine flush exactly, if its more than just running a flush additive through it for $170, id let them handle it. If not, get some seafoam or auto rx and run it in the engine for a day or 2, drain oil, refill with synthetic (mobile1, amsoil, royal purple) and change it out including the filter every 1000 miles or so. You dont want to run the car with the seafoam or whatever in it for too long because it thins your oil and can affect your internal bearings/piston rings badly.

 

Awesome, thanks for the advise guys. I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes. I never want to see the oil pressure light again!

 

before you do the flush, change the oil with 10w30 then add the stuff in.. after you drain it, switch to 5w40 or 5w30 and change it out often like i said above.. Just dont run the flush with your old oil. So stock up on a few cases of fully synthetic 5w30 and get 4 or 5 updated oil filters.. www.ecstuning.com has pretty good deal on a lot of 4 or 5 updated oil filters and you can get petosin oil by the gallon from them as well, thats also good oil to use.

 

I just bought the 5 pack. Hopefully flushing the system works. $3000 seems like a rip off. I can almost drop a new engine in for that price.