Good idea, especially for peice of mind, also might have him check the cam roller as well, another common problem...here's a good link for recalls too!
http://web.audiusa.com/recall/

 

Awesome. Thanks for the link. No recalls on my car, so that's a relief.

 

Is it just an impression I'm getting, or are these comments about the oil consumption becoming more rare (not just here, but everywhere on the Internet)?

Anyhow, we're on the first stage of the oil consumption test, where they change the PCV valve and so some tuning and measure the amount burned. One annoyance was that I had just changed the oil and filter myself at full Audi cost (bought the stuff at full price from the dealership), but they claimed they had no way to know the precise mileage at which it was changed!

So I had to pay again for another oil change (in just 40 miles!), $98 with tax, so they could legitimately be sure of the mileage.

It's going well (in Audi's favor) so far. Over 1,000 miles, and according to the gauge, it's not yet gone through one quart of oil.

I'm suspecting a strong reason the oil's not burning so fast, is they put the recommended 5W40 oil into the engine, instead of the 5W30 I've been using (5W40 Castrol Edge is hard to come by).

Is it really possible the 5W40 (a thicker oil, right?) burns very much more slowly than the 5W30 oil? The Audi recommended is 5W40, but 5W30 is acceptable.

I'm getting the impression I'll not get new pistons or rings anytime soon. Even if it uses "only" 1 quart for 1,000 miles they'll claim that's normal, right?

Maybe all I have to do, is redouble my efforts at buying the 5W40 oil instead.

 

UPDATE... 10 days later... the yellow oil warning light came on at 1,142 miles, so I made an appointment, and took the car in. I wasn't too optimistic, in case this meant it was burning "only" one quart per 1,000 miles.

But maybe the yellow light indicates 2 quarts were burned? Maybe it's doing barely 600 miles on a quart of oil??

Either way, SUCCESS! They called and said they'll be doing the pistons and rings!

This could be a smart move on Audi's part... I feel so good about them owning their problem, that I'll be far more likely now to buy another Audi.

I'm hoping they'll come out eventually with another blue-roofed convertible.

 

Please someone help me, getting the Audi runaround on this for months now.

My 2009 Audi A4 Quatro burns oil like no other. its random but I go through about 8-10 quarts of oil per month. The cost on that alone is astronomical!

I took it to Audi a long time ago and got the full runaround then after educating them on the issue and printing out the TSB and lawsuit they did the phase one and replaced the valve and updated the computer. This had no affect at all. They said they were booked up for several months and the "next" runaround process began.

No one wants to do anything. Ive been talking to Jonathan the Audi Service manager for months now, he's said multiple times that he has to contact audi customer service and get authorization. Last month my car went over the 80k limit and now "thats" the issue. Are you kidding me! I took it in to get it fixed, repeated delays and delays and now that I just passed 80k I'm out of luck???? Please tell me Audi does not really operate like this? Can anyone please tell me what I can do now. I cant even take a long road trip, and I have to always have spare oil in my trunk just to drive a car. This is not the 80's and my car should not have been made to do this. All the service people who have said its normal for an Audi to burn oil should be fired or made to drive one, I'm not sure.

If anyone can lend any advice I would be SUPER GRATEFUL!!! Thank you guys!

 

ARCREEF where are you located? Also you'll need detailed oil change history for a GOOD Audi dealer to see.

 

I agree with the previous responder..."get to a good dealer"! No matter what the service manager can get approval! Show your proof of the problem PRIOR TO THE 80k mileage.
Next...do a Google on businesses and get the US CEO name for Audi and send a registered or certified letter - not email - to the CEO at Audi. You must get above the local service MANGLER!
Sgt Steve

 

'another update... the piston/ring replacement took a couple of weeks, but no worries... we had an A3 loaner the whole time. Anyhow, I really can't be sure of any improvement till September, when the wife resumes her long commute. At that time she'll be doing enough miles so that we'll be able to see...

In the meantime, I rotated the wheels and discovered Audi had overtightened the wheel nuts! Phew! It took at least 130 ft lbs to get the wheel nuts off (the manual specifies 90). The danger here, of course, is you could snap your lock key, and then you'll have to be towed, if you had a puncture. In fact, it took over 155 ft lbs to unscrew one of the wheel locks. I simply hadn't expected them to mess with the wheels, otherwise I might've remembered to take off the wheel locks first :-(

One thing I couldn't resist, was to peek at the pistons by taking out the spark plugs. Super... nice new pistons visible in there! On the other hand, the spark plugs were set to only about 5 ft lbs (instead of, say, 16 or more, if that's the spec.).

So the wheels were overtightened, and the plugs undertightened. Better check again after a few thousand miles.

 

Oh, one other thing to mention. While there was no charge for the new pistons or the loaner, they did suggest putting in a new internal timing chain, while the engine was apart. That seemed like a no-brainer, tho' the parts charge was over $400 + tax. That effectively makes it like a new engine, I should think.

I'm only surprised they didn't suggest switching the exterior timing belt, which has now done 77,000 miles. But I should think that'll be a whole lot easier than the chain, when the time comes.

 

You don't have a timing belt . The timing chain replacement is exactly that it is for the cam timing. The belt is only for the accessories. I would look around at timing chain and tensioner parts as $400 sounded pretty steep.